Ayuntamiento, Tarifa, Visitor Guide & Things to Do Nearby

The Ayuntamiento, Tarifa's town hall, faces Plaza de Santa María in the old part of the city in Cádiz province. The square matters less for the municipal building than for its garden fountain of eight ceramic frogs, which has given the place a nickname that locals use far more than its official name.

The story behind it

Most visitors read the name on the map as Plaza de Santa María, but people in Tarifa call it the plaza de la ranita, the little frog square. The name comes from the star-shaped fountain in the middle of the garden, with a ceramic frog on each of its eight points. The singular "ranita" for eight frogs is usually put down to the Andalusian habit of dropping the final s of plurals.

The square has had several names. At the start of the twentieth century it was known as Plaza de Alfonso XII. It was paved then and served as the courtyard of the Miguel de Cervantes school, a building that today houses the Municipal Library. So the open space in front of the town hall has already been a schoolyard as well as a public garden.

What to look for

• The star-shaped fountain in the centre of the garden, where you can count the eight ceramic frogs, one on each point.
• The town hall itself on the square, a working civic building that shows how the old town is still used for daily life and not only for visitors.
• The Municipal Library, the former Miguel de Cervantes school, whose past as a schoolyard explains why the square feels like a courtyard.
• The mix of visitors and residents around the garden, a good clue to which name people use for the square.

Tips for your visit

• Allow about 10 to 15 minutes to see the fountain and the square, longer if you want to sit in the garden.
• The square is an open public space, so you can see it at any time. The town hall is an administrative building, so check current opening hours before planning to go in.
• Ask for the plaza de la ranita if you want directions from a local, since that is the name most people know.
• Fit it into a wider walk through the old town, as it works best as one stop among several and not as a destination on its own.

See it on a quest

Discover Tarifa Through the Eyes of an Alchemist is a good way to see this square. You reach it on foot as one stop of a longer route through the area, the app tells you about each place as you arrive, and you solve a puzzle on the spot, with the frog fountain and the buildings around it in front of you. There is no guide to book and you can start whenever you like. One ticket covers the whole group.