A Coruna or Pontevedra? Day trips from Santiago de Compostela

There is little left that is truly Roman in the Hercules Tower in A Coruña - basically the central core. The building that you see was modified over time. A Coruña is a pleasant city besides that lighthouse, but so is Pontevedra... Pontevedra isn't really coastal, however!

If you haven’t selected a hotel for Lugo yet, I’ll plug Hotel Monumento Pazo de Orbán e Sangro. It’s near the Roman wall, on the cathedral side of town. We enjoyed our two nights at it. I think it was a 5€ taxi ride from the train station. Walking along the wall was fun since you get some good views and it’s only 2km all the way around it.

In Santiago we stayed at Hotel Rua Villar. Loved it. It’s very close to the cathedral and a mile (uphill) from the train station. If you wanted to splurge, on another trip we stayed at the Parador, Hospital Real de Santiago de Compostela, right beside the cathedral.

I can’t help with the choice you’re asking about since I haven’t been to either city.

I spent a couple of days in A Coruna and while I did enjoy it, I’m not sure it would give you what you’re looking for. A Coruna is much less touristy than Portugal or Santiago de Compostela which I liked. I did a tapas tour one evening and it was fun but so much less polished compared to the food tours I did in portugal. The tour guide was shocked to have an American on the tour and was happy to be able to practice her English! That isn’t something I encountered in portugal! The area with the bars was very lively and full of people of all ages enjoying themselves. I had a great time and for me, being in A Coruna was kind of a vacation from my vacation because I didn’t feel as much pressure to go and see a ton of sights. I didn’t go to Pontevedra so I can’t speak to that. I tried to go to the tower in A Coruna but when I went, the tickets were sold out until later in the day and I accidentally took a nap and missed my pre booked time slot. There is a town called Betanzos outside of A Coruna that I wanted to visit because it’s supposed to be one of the nicest towns in Spain, but I didn’t end up having time to go. I tried to do an English tour of the Estrella Galicia museum but they didn’t have one available on the days I was there. I think you will enjoy wherever you decide to go in Galicia. I hope to go back some day and stay for longer!

I enjoyed both Pontevedra and A Coruna. I remember having a slight preference for A Coruna, but at this point (six years later) I cannot tell you why. I daytripped to Betanzos and really enjoyed walking all over the (hilly) city.

If you haven’t selected a hotel for Lugo yet, I’ll plug Hotel Monumento Pazo de Orbán e Sangro.

Thanks for the suggestion. It looks very nice. Did you use the spa? I have severe arthritis so the prospect of soaking in bubbling hot water is enticing.

By Santiago de Compostela we will have washing to do so are planning to stay in an apartment.

I daytripped to Betanzos

Betanzos looks very interesting. The pictures remind me of Litomerice in Czechia which was one of our favourite surprise destinations in 2019. Just had a look at the buses and we could drop in there for half a day on our way from Lugo to Santiago de Compostela.

No, we did not use the spa. We stayed there prior to walking the Camino for 5 days and we liked the look of it. Betanzos’ Plaza de Hermanos García Naveira is nice and has many of the enclosed balconies the town is known for.

We stayed in Baiona in the Patador on the water. This is where the first of Columbus’ ships returned to from the New World. Nice town. Then we enjoyed driving through the Rias Baixas , seeing the small towns and O Grove and Cambodia.

AussieNomad,

We may do something similar to you but in reverse order. How are getting between Santiago de Compostela and Portugal? I see the trains don't cross the border. :(

Thank you!

We may do something similar to you but in reverse order. How are getting between Santiago de Compostela and Portugal? I see the trains don't cross the border. :(

Since my original post we have changed the order of our trip and will now be entering Spain from Portugal, so will be going from Porto to Pontevedra or Santiago de Compostela.

We are planning to catch a bus. Flixbus has a direct bus from Porto at 7:05am or a slower one at 10:00am with a change in Vigo. We have used Flixbus in other parts of Europe and it is comfortable and cheap. Reverse direction - Santiago to Porto - they leave at 9:00am or 12:15pm.

Rede-expressos/Alsa also run direct buses. For us there is one that leaves Porto at 11:30am and gets to Santiago 3 and a half hours later. They also run buses from Santiago de Compostela to Porto.

Look at the Rede website

When I was there a few months ago, I did the train from Porto to Vigo (booked via Renfe website - very cheap I think 5 or 6 euro) and then another train from Vigo to A Coruna, but in retrospect, a bus probably would have been easier because of the train schedule and how slow the trains are.