The Old Town of Cáceres is also called Ciudad Monumental - the Monumental City. A little exaggerated from today's perspective, as the historic centre is well hidden in the middle of the modern city. You only realise that you have reached your destination when you stand in front of the old city wall at the Plaza Mayor (photo). This was certainly different in the Middle Ages, when the city wall and the massive towers were visible from afar.

The Plaza Mayor is the bustling centre of modern Cáceres with plenty of shops and bars. But the atmosphere changes as soon as you walk through the Arco de la Estrella and enter the core zone of the WHS, the intramuros town. The old town has been preserved almost unchanged as it was in the 16th century, there are almost no signs of modernization. It is like a journey back in time to the Middle Ages. One inevitably wonders how many people still live there today. And when I walked along the massive walls of the Renaissance palaces and looked up at the huge towers, I understood why it is called monumental.
I visited the Cathedral Santa Maria, I climbed the Torre del Bujaco where you can walk a short section of the city wall, and I visited the cistern in the Palacio de las Veletas (today the city museum). However, none of this is a real highlight. The highlight of Cáceres is roaming the narrow, cobbled streets. I enjoyed exploring the details of the architecture, climbing steep stairs, and perhaps finding an open door to peek into a hidden patio. The architecture is sober and austere, the whitewashed towers of the Iglesia de San Francisco Javier are a rare splash of colour in the monochrome brown of the stone walls.
One drawback is that cars are allowed on some streets in the old town. Actually, the entire core zone of the WHS should be left to pedestrians only.

I visited Cáceres in May 2019 on a stopover on my way from Salamanca to Merida. I heard that Cáceres is a popular destination for tour groups, but there were few people around that weekday afternoon.
I walked down every street at least once and visited a couple of churches and palaces, all without haste. Even so, it only took me less than three hours to properly visit this WHS. In hindsight, however, I would spend a night in Cáceres. In the dusk and darkness, the impression of being transported back in time is certainly even stronger.