I always felt I was missing the secret to Spain. It is consistently Britons’ favourite destination for an overseas holiday. Yet my experience of the country felt like an unrealised friendship. Until this summer.
Galicia, an autonomous community with its own language (Galego, or Galician) and mild climate, was the answer. Almost one-and-a-half times bigger than its Celtic cousin Wales, with which it shares a similarly independent spirit, it is a region lapped by a dramatic coastline, in possession of a capital (Santiago de Compostela) that attracts tens, sometimes hundreds, of thousands of pilgrims each year and which shields islands on which you can camp for as little as €17.80 (£14.60) a night in the low season.
The British love of sunny resorts (parts of Galicia have twice as much annual rainfall as Spain’s national average, but I enjoyed five days of sun) have helped to keep the region off radar and retain its holiday value. Take the cost of a seven-night stay in the port city of Vigo. Based on a spot check of available rooms, the average price in a three-or-four star property in the last week of August was €787 (£675); in Ibiza Town that figure was €1,055 (£905). That’s around a quarter less spent on accommodation. And while Galicia’s coast is Atlantic, rather than Mediterranean, it has some of Spain’s best beaches.
I used Vigo as a base for a camping trip to the Cíes Islands (you need authorisation to visit and the ferry takes around 45 minutes), in the Atlantic Islands of Galicia Maritime-Terrestrial National Park. I woke around 8.30am to a light, salty breeze. Unzipping my tent revealed a pine tree-framed view to the side of Rodas beach reserved for wildlife. The camp was calm.
Ten minutes later, I was digging my toes into the weather-sieved white sand. By lunchtime, this approximately 700-metre long, gently curved slice of land would be filled with day trippers. Now it was empty, except for a formation of yellow-legged gulls serving as avian security guards. They’d proved themselves benign, if pushy, the previous afternoon on Figueiras beach.
A short walk from the ferry port, it was uncrowded compared with peak hours’ Rodas. There, I lay down my towel. To my left, pockmarked boulders marked a corner which attracts snorkellers. My attention lurched to the right. A naked man was ambling along the shore. This spot has an alias: Playa de los Alemanes (the Germans’ beach). Naturalists come to the islands for their bird life, but naturists know its best portion of sand.
I encountered other creatures, including cormorants and an ocellated lizard, on a sunset-seeking hike from camp to Cíes lighthouse. On the final switch before the beacon, a sharp-eyed gull stood with her fluffed up, outsized chicks. She let me pass. I was rewarded with a view that would surely gather crowds in the Balearics; in Galicia, I had just one family, a solo hiker and two teenage boys for company.
The “islands of the gods”, as the Romans named them, drew me to Galicia, but there were highlights on each point of my journey down from, and up from, Santiago de Compostela. I travelled around by rail, zipping between cities on Renfe trains. The time-warp squares of the capital weather a march of pilgrims. The city is the Camino de Santiago’s end point; some believe St James the Apostle preached in Galicia and that his remains lie in Santiago’s cathedral; others walk for fitness.
As I sat at a bar picking at Padrón peppers, I overheard a British woman. Jane Ingham, in her eighties, was from Wiltshire. It was her first visit: “I came for the seafood and the wine”. Albariño, Ribeiro and Godello are among the local varieties.
There are four restaurants in Santiago that have a Michelin star, 12 with a Bib Gourmand (good food at an affordable price), and one of those 12 holds a Michelin Green Star (highlighting commitment to a sustainable approach). Along a street off Plaza del Obradoiro, near the Parador (opened in 1509 as a pilgrims’ hostel; now a five-star hotel), I found Michelin-starred Casa Marcelo.
Here, parties were placed together on a trestle table surrounded by pop art-style décor (I faced a print of a green brain wearing glasses).
A chef asked diners’ preferences. There is no menu; the dishes of the day are tweaked as required. While tucking into several courses, including oysters and tuna sashimi with horseradish sauce and sesame seeds, I chatted to a young American couple. Elmer and Lizzie had travelled from Lake Michigan and were pleasantly surprised by the food offering. “We only booked this meal few hours ago,” said Lizzie.
I had another go at the capital’s guide-listed meals at A Horta d’Obradoiro, and enjoyed further plates of highly rated seafood in Pontevedra (Loaira) and Vigo (Casa Marco). My most energising dining experience was at Santiago’s Mercado de Abastos. I ordered razor clams, scallops and a Estrella Galicia (brewed in A Coruña). Football chants rang through the hall.
Santiago was the furthest I strayed from the water. Whether climbing to the 1st-century Tower of Hercules in A Coruña or wandering between hórreos (18th-century, or older, granary houses on stilts) in the fishing village of Combarro, I learned how the Atlantic and its coastal inlets (rías), shape this rugged region. What makes Galicia special? I asked Félix González, a Vigo native. His reply was simple. “We have it all.”
Travel essentials
Getting there and around
Vueling offers direct connections between the UK and Spain flying to Santiago de Compostela from Gatwick every day. Return flights from Gatwick start from £47. There are currently 23 direct routes on sale for the summer season from the UK to Spain and other European destinations, vueling.com.Renfe trains serve Galicia, renfe.com; thetrainline.com
Staying there
Hotel Praza Quintana in Santiago de Compostela has doubles from €101 (£87), hotelprazaquintana.com/enHotel Galicia Palace in Pontevedra, from €65, galiciapalace.com
Hotel NH Collection Vigo, from €115, nh-hotels.com
More information
turismo.gal
spain.info/en
