The Rías Baixas are the drowned river valleys that cut into southern Galicia's coast, sheltered inlets of calm water and fishing towns between granite headlands, with the open Atlantic and its islands at their mouths. The inlets farm much of Europe's mussels on floating rafts, and the hills behind grow Albariño, the white wine that goes with them.
This page covers the three southern rías, Arousa, Pontevedra and Vigo, plus the coast down to the Portuguese border: the Cíes and Ons islands of the Atlantic Islands National Park and the permit system that controls them, the granaries of Combarro, Pontevedra's car-free old town, the river walk at Armenteira, Albariño in Cambados, the shell chapel of A Toxa and a boat trip to the mussel rafts, A Lanzada beach, the fortress of Baiona and the hillfort of Santa Tegra. Each entry has the hours, prices and rules checked in October 2026.
Get the Xunta permit and take the ferry to the Cíes Islands
Illas Cíes, Parque Nacional das Illas Atlánticas (ferries from Vigo, Cangas and Baiona)
A full dayTimed entry
A white sandbar about 1,200 m with a lagoon behind it, joining two granite islands with paths up to the cliffs and a lighthouse.
What it is
The Cíes are three granite islands at the mouth of the Ría de Vigo, Monteagudo, Faro and San Martiño, and since 2002 part of the Atlantic Islands of Galicia National Park. Monteagudo and Faro are joined by the Praia de Rodas, a white sandbar about 1,200 m long with a lagoon behind it, and paths climb from there to the cliffs and the lighthouse on Faro.
How to do it
Numbers are capped, and the order matters: at Easter (27 March to 5 April in 2026) and from 15 May to 15 September you first apply for an authorisation on the Xunta's site, autorizacionillasatlanticas.xunta.gal, then buy a ferry ticket with it. On other dates, the authorised ferry companies arrange the authorisation when you book. Ferries leave from Vigo, Cangas and Baiona.
Good to know
There is a campsite near Rodas, and campers apply for their own category of authorisation; book everything well ahead for July and August.
Time needed
A full day
Best time
A weekday in June or early September, authorisation first
Illa de Ons, Bueu (ferries from Sanxenxo, Portonovo, Bueu, Combarro, Pontevedra and Vigo)
A full dayTimed entry
A national park island with a small village still lived in, paths to a lighthouse and a sea sinkhole legend calls the entrance to hell.
What it is
Ons guards the mouth of the Ría de Pontevedra and belongs to the same national park as the Cíes, but it is larger, about 4 km², and still has a small village, with 62 residents in 2021. Paths lead from the pier past Area dos Cans, the busiest beach, to the lighthouse on O Cucorno, first lit in 1865, and to the Buraco do Inferno, a sinkhole by the sea that local legend calls the entrance to hell.
How to do it
The same permit rules apply: in high season, apply on the Xunta's site, which gives a provisional code valid for two hours, and use it to buy the ferry ticket. The ferry company Mar de Ons gives a cap of 1,300 visitors a day and a crossing of about 40 minutes from Sanxenxo, Portonovo or Bueu, and a little over an hour from Vigo or Pontevedra.
Good to know
The island is known for its octopus.
Time needed
A full day
Best time
Early summer; check the Xunta's daily occupancy before booking
A row of hórreos, granaries on stone pillars, stands right on the sea wall, among carved stone crosses packed into a few lanes.
What it is
Combarro is a fishing village on the Ría de Pontevedra, 7 km from the city, and its old quarter is a good place to understand two emblems of Galicia. Hórreos are granaries raised on stone pillars, built to keep maize and grain dry and out of reach of rodents, and here a row of them stands right on the sea wall, looking straight onto the ría. Cruceiros are carved stone crosses, set at crossroads and in squares, and Combarro has a great number of both packed into a few lanes between the shore and the parish church.
How to do it
It is free to wander, but in summer the lanes fill with day-trippers and souvenir stalls, so come early in the morning or towards sunset, when the light is low over the ría.
Good to know
The whole quarter has been protected as a historic site since 30 November 1972.
Time needed
1 to 2 hours
Best time
Early morning or towards sunset, before or after the day-trippers
Walk Pontevedra's car-free old town to the Peregrina
Pontevedra old town (Praza da Peregrina and Praza da Ferrería)
Half a dayFree
The city that took the cars out: granite squares for walking, terraces and children, and a church whose floor plan is a scallop shell.
What it is
Pontevedra is the city that took the cars out. In 1999 the council began pedestrianising its historic centre and the streets around it, and the model later won a UN-Habitat award in Dubai in 2014, so the granite squares of the old town are now for walking, terraces and children.
How to do it
Start at the Praza da Peregrina, on the route of the Camino Portugués, and the Santuario da Peregrina, the church of the province's patron, the Pilgrim Virgin: its first stone was laid on 18 June 1778 to plans by the master builder Antonio Souto, and its floor plan is shaped like a scallop shell, the pilgrims' emblem. From there wander through the arcaded Praza da Ferrería, the small Praza da Leña with its stone cross, and the lanes down to the basilica of Santa María a Maior near the river.
Good to know
Everything is free; stay for tapas in the old town in the evening.
Walk the Ruta da Pedra e da Auga from the Armenteira monastery
Ruta da Pedra e da Auga (PRG-170), Meis, from the Armenteira monastery
2 to 3 hoursNo booking needed
Follow a river down from a Cistercian monastery still lived in by its monks, past water mills from around 1700 and a miniature stone village.
What it is
Inland from the Ría de Arousa, the Ruta da Pedra e da Auga, the route of stone and water, follows the Armenteira river downstream from the monastery of Armenteira, a 12th-century Cistercian house with Renaissance and Baroque additions that monks of the order still live in. On the way you pass a group of water mills built around 1700 at Serén, once used to grind grain, and the Aldea Labrega, a miniature village of cruceiros, hórreos, wash houses and chapels carved in stone by the Pontevedra Stone Masons' School.
How to do it
The signposted path, PRG-170, is linear and about 6.5 km long, rated medium, though the gradient is gentle; a 2026 guide puts it at about two hours one way. Because it is one way, plan to walk back or leave a car at the far end.
Drink Albariño in Cambados and its Pazo de Fefiñáns
Cambados (Praza de Fefiñáns)
Half a dayNo booking needed
Drink Albariño in the town most closely linked to it, in a granite square whose manor still houses a winery on its ground floor.
What it is
Cambados, on the Ría de Arousa, is the town most closely linked to Albariño, the white wine of the Rías Baixas, and it was European City of Wine in 2017. Its showpiece is the Praza de Fefiñáns, a broad granite square closed by the Pazo de Fefiñáns, a manor built in the 16th century by Juan Sarmiento Valladares, an adviser to Philip II, together with its tower and the church of San Benito. The palace's ground floor still houses a winery, the Bodegas del Palacio de Fefiñanes, the first to bottle the area's wine under a brand, Albariño de Fefiñanes, registered in 1928.
How to do it
Walk on to the roofless Gothic ruins of Santa Mariña de Dozo, protected since 1943.
Good to know
The town's big party is the Festa do Albariño, of International Tourist Interest, held in the first week of August: in 2026 it ran from 29 July to 2 August, with wine stalls in the streets.
Time needed
Half a day
Best time
The Festa do Albariño, which ends on the first Sunday of August
A tiny chapel whose walls are covered from top to bottom in scallop shells, many carrying names and dates written by visitors.
What it is
The sight most visitors cross the bridge for is tiny: a 20th-century chapel, dedicated to San Caralampio though often called San Sebastián, whose walls are covered from top to bottom in scallop shells, the symbol of the pilgrims to Santiago. Many of the shells carry names and dates written by visitors, a habit you will see continued on every wall.
How to do it
A Toxa is a small island of about 110 hectares in the Ría de Arousa, joined to O Grove by a 19th-century bridge. Entry to the island and the chapel's surroundings is free. Combine it with O Grove's waterfront, the departure point for the boat trips to the mussel rafts, and A Lanzada beach just south.
Good to know
The island's fame began when its thermal muds and medicinal waters were rediscovered in the 19th century: a spa followed, then grand hotels and a soap and cosmetics industry whose old factories still stand.
Take a boat to the mussel rafts of the Ría de Arousa
O Grove port (catamaran station, Rúa Beiramar)
About 1 hour on boardBook ahead
Sail out among the rows of mussel rafts that produce around 40% of Europe's mussels, then taste them steamed with wine on board.
What it is
The flat wooden platforms you see moored in rows across the Ría de Arousa are bateas, mussel rafts with ropes hanging into the water on which the mussels grow. Galicia has about 3,300 of them, most in this ría, and according to the Xunta they produce around 40% of Europe's mussels.
How to do it
From O Grove's catamaran station on Rúa Beiramar, several companies run boat trips out to the rafts with a guide explaining how they work, followed by a tasting of steamed mussels with wine on board. Trips last about an hour; book a day ahead in summer and check what each operator includes.
Good to know
If you come in early October, O Grove's Festa do Marisco, held since 1963 and of International Tourist Interest since 1991, fills the town with seafood stalls: its 2026 edition ran from 1 to 12 October.
Time needed
About 1 hour on board
Best time
Calm summer days; in early October add the Festa do Marisco
Swim at A Lanzada and see the chapel of the nine waves
Praia da Lanzada, between Sanxenxo and O Grove
Half a dayFree
The open-sea beach of the Rías Baixas, 2.5 km of sand facing the Atlantic, with a 12th-century hermitage on a rocky point.
What it is
A Lanzada is the great open-sea beach of the Rías Baixas: 2.5 km of sand, more than 3 km counting the stretches at either end, along the south-west side of the isthmus that joins the O Grove peninsula to Sanxenxo. At one end, on a rocky point, stand the hermitage of Nosa Señora da Lanzada, built in the 12th century in late Romanesque style, the remains of a medieval tower and a hillfort. The chapel is tied to an old rite: on the night of the Saturday of the romería, held on the last weekend of August, women hoping to conceive bathe at midnight in the nine waves, a custom also kept on Saint John's Night.
How to do it
The beach is free and open all year.
Good to know
Unlike the sheltered beaches inside the rías, it faces the open Atlantic, so expect waves.
Time needed
Half a day
Best time
Summer afternoons; the last weekend of August for the romería
Walk around Baiona's fortress, where the Pinta brought the news
Fortaleza de Monterreal, Baiona
2 hoursNo booking needed
Walk around the walls of the fortress above the port where the Pinta brought Europe the news of a New World in 1493.
What it is
On 1 March 1493 the caravel Pinta, captained by Martín Alonso Pinzón, sailed back into the bay of Baiona, which made this little port the first place in Europe to hear that Columbus had reached a New World. Above the port, the Monterreal fortress fills its own peninsula with walls built between the 12th and 16th centuries, and since 1966 it has housed a Parador hotel.
How to do it
You don't need to stay there to enjoy it: a promenade runs right around the walls, past cannons and towers, with the waves breaking on the rocks below and the Cíes Islands out at the mouth of the ría.
Good to know
The landing is re-enacted every year in early March in the Festa da Arribada, and a replica of the Pinta, built in 1993 and 1994 for the fifth centenary, is moored in the harbour as a small museum, closed on Mondays.
Time needed
2 hours
Best time
Late afternoon for the walk around the walls; early March for the Arribada
Climb to the hillfort of Santa Tegra above the Miño
Monte de Santa Trega, A Guarda
2 to 3 hoursNo booking needed
Climb above the mouth of the Miño to the round stone houses of an Iron Age hillfort, with Portugal across the river.
What it is
At Galicia's south-western corner, the 341 m Monte de Santa Trega rises over the mouth of the Miño, the river that marks the border with Portugal, and its slopes hold an Iron Age hillfort: the foundations of a village of round stone houses, mostly from the 1st century BC to the 1st century AD. Two round houses were rebuilt by the road in 1965 and 1972; archaeologists question their accuracy, but they became an icon of Galicia's hillfort culture. At the top, the MASAT museum, founded in 1917 and since 1953 in a building by Antonio Palacios, shows finds from the site.
How to do it
Driving up the mount costs €3 per car plus a charge per passenger; the museum costs €1.50, or €1 reduced, and opens Tuesday to Sunday, 11:00 to 17:00 in winter and 10:00 to 20:00 in summer.
Good to know
The museum is closed all of January and until 15 February.
Time needed
2 to 3 hours
Best time
A clear day, for the view over the Miño into Portugal; the museum closes on Mondays
Vigo has an airport with domestic flights, and Santiago de Compostela's airport is about an hour's drive north. Trains run along the coast between Santiago, Vilagarcía de Arousa, Pontevedra and Vigo, the main towns for the islands and the rías. For the villages, beaches and viewpoints, rent a car: buses exist, but they are slow between rías.
Getting around
Base yourself in Pontevedra or Vigo for the southern half, or in O Grove, Sanxenxo or Cambados for the Arousa side. Distances are short: Combarro is 7 km from Pontevedra, and A Lanzada, A Toxa and Cambados are within half an hour's drive of each other. The islands are reached only by passenger ferry from Vigo, Cangas, Baiona, Bueu, Sanxenxo, Portonovo and other ports, and in high season only after getting the Xunta's authorisation.
How many days
In must30's view, four days: one for the Cíes, one for the Arousa side with O Grove, A Toxa, A Lanzada and Cambados, one for Pontevedra, Combarro and the Armenteira walk, and one for Baiona and Santa Tegra on the way to Portugal. With three days, pick one island.
When to go
Summer is the season for the islands and beaches, and also when permits for the Cíes and Ons are mandatory, from 15 May to 15 September and at Easter. Two food festivals are worth planning around: the Festa do Albariño in Cambados, which ends on the first Sunday of August, and the Festa do Marisco in O Grove in early October. Outside summer, the islands are quiet but ferries run less often.
Questions travellers ask
Do I need a permit to visit the Cíes Islands?
Yes, at Easter (27 March to 5 April in 2026) and from 15 May to 15 September. Apply on the Xunta's site, autorizacionillasatlanticas.xunta.gal, first, then buy the ferry ticket. On other dates the authorised ferry companies handle the authorisation when you book.
Which is better, the Cíes or Ons?
The Cíes have the famous Praia de Rodas and draw more visitors. Ons is larger, still has a small village of about 60 residents and is known for its octopus. Both need the same Xunta authorisation in high season.
Can I camp on the Cíes?
Yes, at the campsite near Praia de Rodas. Campers apply for their own category of authorisation on the Xunta's site, separate from day visitors, so state it when you apply.
Where should I stay in the Rías Baixas?
Pontevedra suits a trip without a car, with trains and an old town to come back to. Vigo is best for the Cíes. O Grove or Cambados are best for the Arousa side, the mussel rafts and A Lanzada.
.jpg){kind=link}
.jpg){kind=link}
