Galicia: Santiago to the Rías Baixas

Route description

Santiago de Compostela is the end of the Camino, with the cathedral facing the vast Praza do Obradoiro and an old town of granite arcades. From here head west across the hills to the Costa da Morte, the Coast of Death, known for its storms and shipwrecks.

Cape Finisterre was the Romans’ end of the world and is the last stop for many Camino pilgrims; the lighthouse on the headland is the place to watch the sun set over the Atlantic. Then turn south along the rías, the long sea inlets of Galicia, passing fishing towns such as Muros and Noia.

Combarro, on the Ría de Pontevedra, is known for its stone granaries, called hórreos, lined up along the shore, and stone crosses in its narrow lanes; park at the edge of the village. The route ends in Baiona, whose fortress on a peninsula overlooks the bay where the caravel Pinta brought the first news of the Americas in 1493; a replica can be visited in the harbour.

From Baiona and Vigo, boats go to the Cíes Islands in summer, but a permit is required, so arrange it in advance. Galicia is green and rainy, even in summer, and its seafood is excellent in every port. Village roads are narrow, and the coast road around the rías is slow.