Galicia

[Fairislefandango]

Thinking of going on holiday to Galicia for a week this summer (me, dh, 2 teen dc). Ideally beachy but not too far from a nice town, or maybe actually in a town. Probably looking at Airbnb. Any recommendations for locations gratefully received!

If you are looking for a beach holiday, I suggest you go around June or July, in August it starts to become rainy in Galicia so it could be a gamble and those two months tend to be the more dry. Galicia is known as the “Scotland” of Spain so you get the idea.

For a beach city: Vigo, the city itself has nothing outstanding but the beaches are great if that is what you want. You can visit there the famous Cies Islands.

For history: Santiago de Compostela, a medieval town in Galicia is a must see.

Beautiful smaller villages: Combarro, Mondariz-Balneario, Sanxenxo, Baiona that I know, probably there are more that worth it.

Generally, the norther you go, the more windy/cold, southern, sunnier/hot. A Coruña is beautiful but the beach is always windy.

The seafood is great, a village called Carballiño is very famous for its typical Galician octopus dish.

We went to the Costa de la morte in 2019, south of A Coruña. It's kind of wild and Atlantic. Cheaper than nearer to Vigo and Pontevedra. We stayed in an apartment in Laxe, really nice little seaside town, about an hour from Santiago.

We went at the end of June and it was about 25 degrees most days. Kids still swam in the sea haha.

We went this summer during the heatwave which was not what we had bargained for, it was 37 degrees for days at a time..The Atlantic was freezing, however, amazing green countryside, exceptional seafood and fruit. Eating out for veggie DD was even more of a challenge than we'd expected.

That is amazing to hear. I am from Galicia, it is definitely different from Costa Brava but the landscape in my opinion is outstanding :) it has Celtic routes so there are a few Celtic villages around that could be visited like Santa Tegra near A Guarda.

I'll be reading this thread with interest; it's an area of Spain I've always wanted to visit

It's an amazing place. I live in Andalucía, which I love, but we really enjoyed Galicia and we would love to go back.

Ooh thanks everybody! We aren't too worried about it not being very hot - we live in Cumbria and swim in the lakes! Ds and I don't do well with very hot weather, so that's partly why I fancied the north. Very windy beaches don't sound ideal though. We can't go in June, because I'm a teacher and the dc will be in school, so July I guess. I speak pretty decent Spanish and the dc both study it, so we're also looking forward to using the language. What is the accent/dialect like in Galicia please, @Tamtam123 ?

So everyone there speaks Spanish, in Santiago and around people speak more Galician at home but everyone is bilingual. The accent is a bit closer than in Madrid, a bit like Portuguese from Portugal, if you are familiar with it. It has a melody to it, it should be easier than the accent from Andalusia. I suppose you won’t have issues to communicate and people will definitely appreciate that you at least try to speak Spanish. I would say that even with a bad Spanish level we kind of understand a lot.

about seafood, if you like it, give a try to “percebes” they are suppose to be a delicatessen, other typical dishes: lacón con grelos, carne ao caldeiro, caldo gallego, padrón peppers (Padrón is a village there). Alcohol: crema de orujo, licor café. Desserts: milhojas, tarta de santiago.

also Ourense has natural hot baths in the street in the city. I’ve never used them but it is definitely in the bucket list. During all summer every village has a gastronomy party, check the ones available in the dates you are going, every day a different dish in a different village, gastronomy is a BIG part of Galicia, and they have their own typical local dishes :)

I am from the south so I am a bit more familiar with that area, but I am sure you will like anywhere there. If there is another heatwave it will definitely be hot anywhere in Galicia.

I hope you have fun!

I've always fancied a trip to bilbao. Isn't that also galicia?

I stayed in Ferrol for a school exchange just before lockdown in Jan 2020. I loved it. Would love to go back on the summer to see the surrounding area.

Bilbao is in the Basque Country, not Galicia, that is near France, Galicia is in the north west coast. Bilbao and San Sebastian are amazing as well ❤️

Wow that's so helpful @Tamtam123 - thank you! Dh particularly likes the soubd of the gastronomy parties! Right - I'm googling all these places everyone's mentioned...

The other consideration is airport locations. As we are in Cumbria we don't really want to travel down south to an airport. Will have to check that out!

I normally travel to Santiago, then get a train from the main train station, the journey to Vigo is like 1:30h. You would need train tickets in advance if that is the case and travel by taxi from the airport to the station. I am not sure of flights from the whole UK, but from London you can definitely travel to Santiago, maybe A Coruña. From February I think, Vigo will sell direct tickets with Ryanair, another option is travelling to Porto in Portugal.

We love Isles de Cies -stunningly beautiful, Lugo - lovely walled town, Santiago of course - but so touristy it gets a bit much, Ourense - we always went to the free hot springs but actually was worth paying for the one that's not free when we tried it last year, Fragas De Eume - lovely walk (quite long) by the river up to the monastery.

If you want somewhere by a beach that's not crazy Atlantic windswept then I'd recommend Mino, I've never spent any time in the town itself so not sure what's that like although there's great parking all along the beach and Betanzos is a lovely little nearby town. Nearest airport would be A Coruna.

I've just had a look and I think it makes most sense to travel to Santiago, because we can fly from Edinburgh, which is still quite a trek from us, but flights look considerably cheaper! We'd be hiring a car while we're there.