Salnés region

Cambados, a beautiful fishing town in Pontevedra and capital of albariño wines under the Rías Baixas D.O., belongs to the wine route that links wineries across the Salnés region.

Birthplace of writer Ramón Cabanillas in 1876, it preserves a rich heritage that combines civil, religious, and maritime architecture.

The roofless chapel of Santa Mariña de Dozo, abandoned in the nineteenth century for political and religious reasons, was declared a National Monument in 1943. Its remarkable cemetery is part of the Association of Significant Cemeteries in Europe. Álvaro Cunqueiro called it “the most melancholic graveyard in the world.”

The most emblematic monument in San Tomé is the San Sadurniño Tower, a bastion built to defend the Arousa estuary and Compostela from Norse and Viking raids. Destroyed during the Irmandiño revolts in the late fifteenth century, it was rebuilt and eventually abandoned.

Fefiñáns Manor, erected in the sixteenth century by Juan Sarmiento y Valladares and completed by his nephew Gonzalo de Valladares, showcases Renaissance façades with circular balconies and heraldic shields. Today it houses the Palacio de Fefiñanes and Joaquín Gil de Armada wineries. It was declared a Site of Cultural Interest in 2012.

Round off the visit at the Montesacro Manor, an elegant eighteenth-century Baroque building that reflects Cambados’s noble past.

Illa da Toxa, linked to O Grove by a nineteenth-century bridge, went from grazing ground to spa reference after its healing muds and waters were discovered.

Today it is a leisure hub with thermal resorts, former soap factories, luxury hotels, a golf course, marina, casino, conference centre, and a dense pine forest that keeps the core of the island untouched.

The island chapel, shaped like a Latin cross, dates back to the twelfth century and was rebuilt in the nineteenth century, cladding its outer walls with scallop shells that make it truly unique.

Sanxenxo, on the Atlantic shoreline, is regarded as the tourist capital of the Rías Baixas thanks to its mild climate, marina, and lively atmosphere all year round.

Its coastline boasts thirteen Blue Flag beaches, restaurants serving the freshest catch, and a vibrant after-beach scene of wines, tapas, and ice cream at sunset along the promenade.

Before entering the town, stop at Praia da Lanzada and its hermitage, one of Galicia’s most iconic beaches for its open swell and protected dune.

The historic core of Combarro, impeccably preserved, is one of Galicia’s finest examples of traditional maritime architecture, with granaries facing the sea, cobbled streets, and stone houses.

Set inside the estuary, it sits close to the Salnés hotspots and to Pontevedra city, making it one of the most visited destinations in the Rías Baixas.

The earliest documents referring to Pontevedra, then Ponte Veteri, date from 1169 when King Ferdinand II granted the town its charter. It reached its peak between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries thanks to its commercial harbour.

After a decline, the city flourished again in the early twentieth century and now boasts a historic centre that, after Santiago’s, is the most important in Galicia.

Visit the Pontevedra Museum with its goldsmith collection spanning over 4,000 years, the Basilica of Santa María, the Ruins of Santo Domingo, and the Church of San Bartolomé.

Stroll through parks, tree-lined promenades, riverside walks along the Lérez, and lively squares with terraces open until late.

WE CONSIDER THIS ROUTE COMPLETE. 61 KM REMAIN TO SANTIAGO ON THE MOTORWAY, ABOUT 50 MINUTES AWAY.