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Galicia - four days, car vs train vs bus

We are two senior citizens, in shape and active, well-traveled through most of Spain, and we have a few days to spare before we leave from Madrid to go back home to the States.

We have never been to Galicia and would like to explore the sights, natural beauty, and culture. We like art, history, gardens, long walks and good food, but we are not luxury-seeking travelers. We hope to be able to stay places where we can walk to town and explore on foot.

I imagine the most efficient thing to do would be to rent a car and drive through Galicia so we have the freedom to go off the beaten path, but we will be coming off of a three-week multi-country trip with our adult children (whom we leave behind before Spain) and I imagine we may be too fatigued (and financially depleted!) at that point to figure out rental cars and routes and tolls and parking along the way.

That's a long intro to my question, which is this: Is it still possible to get a "feel" for the region by using train or bus to go from one transportation hub to the next over a period of four days or so? Vigo - Pontevedra - Vilagarcia - SdC? Or Coruña down to Vigo, hitting SdC and Pontevedra on the way down? And should we miss Lugo or Ourense? What about Finisterra or Ferrol?

Or would be missing truly wonderful locales if only sticking to these more well-traveled hubs? I should also mention we are hoping one day to make Spain our home (husband holds a Spanish passport, one of our kids already lives in Spain), so an added perk to this trip would be to see if Galicia is for us as future residents.

Thank you in advance.

Posted by
7984 posts

Routes, tolls, and parking wouldn’t be much of an issue. You could look up parking lots in the places you wanted to visit before you pick up a rental car. I always drive back roads on our trips and haven’t paid a toll in years. My trips are longer so there’s no hurry to get from place to place. Where you plan on visiting will determine the route you take.

Yes you can get a feel for a region using public transportation, but I’d hate to judge a region based on only four days visiting only a couple places. With the little time you have trains or buses would probably be your best option unless you wanted to visit a location not served by trains or buses.

I loved Lugo with its Roman wall that goes around the town. There were very few tourists when we visited for two nights back in 2019.

Posted by
46 posts

Thank you jaimeelsabio for your response. We will be visiting in late October of this year. I've read that's the rainy season in Galicia so perhaps renting a car for two tired folks would not be the best idea! We might take your advice and see Lugo and judging by not only your response but other trip reports I've read, we may need to tack on an extra day or two in the area. What do you think pf the following itinerary:
Using Pontevedra as a home base, two days to explore that city and Vigo and Ourense by public transportation. Transfer to Coruña where we stay for another 2-3 days and exploring SdC, Lugo, and Oleiros as day trips. We would then leave from Coruña (or SdC if it's better to use SdC as a home base) to get back to Madrid.
Thank you in advance.

Posted by
7984 posts

Sorry to say that in all my trips to Spain I haven’t visited Vigo or Pontevedra and I only spent one night in Ourense and that was back in 2004. I have been to Baiona and Tui in that area. Vigo doesn’t get great reviews on the forum, so hopefully someone who has been there will chime in.

Likewise, I haven’t been to A Coruña. The closest we got was Betanzos. I’ve been to SdeC three times and really like the town. If you’ve never been there it would be easy to spend three nights there.

Even though I’ve been to Galicia a few times, there are enough things on my still to see list to occupy a month.

Posted by
29366 posts

Skip Vigo; it's dull. Pontevedra is more interesting, and I enjoyed wandering around Tui for a bit. However, on a short trip to Galicia, especialy without a car, I wouldn't really recommend spending the time required to go to a tiny place like Tui. I'd say the same about Combarro and Cambados, although they are attractive.

Next to Santiago de Compostela, I liked A Coruna and Betanzos the best of the Galician towns and cities I went to. Betanzos seemed pleasantly undiscovered in 2016, but it is hilly.

You have to expect a crowd in Santiago, and lodging costs there were rather high even nine years ago.

Posted by
690 posts

We've made a few trips, with a car last June.

Most recently was a visit to Santiago La Toja, and Muxia..three weeks with a rental car.

Take a good look at the last town on my list.

Without a car. look at a split between Santiago and Pontevedra. There is a lot more to see in Santiago than the religious-oriented sights. We loved it...new town, great restaurants.....just get away from Rua do Franco, the main drag.

If you need info on restaurants or markets let me know...

With only four days I would spend them in Santiago and take one of the day tours offered by many agencies.....