It doesn’t matter how much you’ve read about Galicia, how many times you’ve been there or how many things you’ve been told about it, Galicia will always surprise you! A lifetime is not enough to experience its breathtaking landscapes, its idyllic mountains, its stone-built villages, its cities full of personality and its tasty cuisine.

That’s the reason why we offer you a list of some of the essential things you have to do in Galicia, at least once in a lifetime.

1. Experiment the grape harvest in the area of Albariño, or at least try this delicious drink in any of its wine cellars.
2. Spot the Saint who’s wearing glasses on the façade of the Basilica of the Virgin Mary in Pontevedra.
3. Test your stamina making the route of the bars along Rúa do Franco Street.
4. See a “conxuro” of queimada in the moonlight, as if you were a Celtic druid.
5. Sail along the sea inlets avoiding troughs.
6. Experience the delights of Galician coffee liquor, home-made if possible.
7. Sit on the bench with the most stunning view in the world on Loiba cliffs.
8. Imagine what life was like on the mountains in Lugo visiting the thatched huts in Piornedo and O Cebreiro.
9. Walk the route of the Galician lighthouses, such as the one in Illa de Arousa, in Fisterra, in Ons, in la Torre de Hércules,…
10. Have a swim in a natural pool such as the ones in A Chavasqueira, Loureza or Mougás.
11. Appreciate the peculiar sound of the bagpipes in Ortigueira’s Festival.
12. Sail along the winding River Sil canyon.
13. Walk the route of the mills, such as the one in Barosa, in O Folón, in Guitiriz,…
14. Attend the camellia blooming in the Pazo Quiñones de León in Vigo or in Alameda in Santiago de Compostela.
15. Visit a fortified settlement, such as the one in Santa Tecla or in Baroña and experience what the Celts felt when they built them so high to be nearer the sky.
16. Contemplate the percebeiros bearing the wild waves in Costa da Morte.
17. Enjoy tapas in Lugo, learning what “free tapas” mean.
18. Walk the route of the “fervenzas” (waterfalls), such as the one in Silleda, in Belelle, in Vieiros,…
19. Indulge yourself with a relaxing, comforting and healing bath ina a health resort, such as the one in A Toxa, in Lobios, in Lugo, in Mondariz…
20. Try lamprea, that ugly but delicious ancestral bite, if possible in The Lamprea Festival in Arbo.
21. Travel back in time trying to identify the stone drawings on the petroglyphs in Campo Lameiro, in Freixo, Boallo, Mogor,…
22. Try bread in Cea, Spanish omelet in Betanzos, octopus in Isla de Ons,…
23. Pay tribute to the Galician well-known writers, visiting, for example Rosalía de Castro’s birthplace or Camilo José Cela’s foundation, in Padrón or going over the different settings in Valle Inclán or Julio Camba’s life and work, in Vilanova de Arousa.
24. Make a pilgrimage to San Andrés de Teixido, since if you don’t do it while alive, the legend says you’ll do it when you die reincarnated as a lizard, a toad or a snake.
25. Try to find Daniel’s mischievous smile on The Portal of Glory of Santiago de Compostela Cathedral.
26. Sit on the stony end by the Fisterra lighthouse and feel that you are, literally, on the end of the world.
27. Peel chesnuts in a popular “magosto” to free souls from the purgatory, as the Galician tradition says.
28. Let yourself be terrified by the horrific “peliqueiros” in Laza’s Festival.
29. Get steeped in “mariñeira” life in the fishing ports in Malpica, Cariño, Burela or Bueu.
30. Feel the excitement that generation after generation of pilgrims who through thousands of years have walked St. James’s Way felt when they sighted the towers of Santiago de Compostela Cathedral from Monte do Gozo (Hill of Joy). To do so, check our programmes HERE.