I spent time in northwestern Spain a few years ago. Loved, loved my time there!

I went to a number of places mentioned on this thread. Maybe my pictorial TR may help you decide where to go. First pic is the route that I took, it doesn't include my day trips. Each location is noted on the first pic of that town/city. There are also more detailed notes if you play the slideshow mode.

Hope it helps!

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...ctures.cfm#top

There was a tragic accident on the train line last October between Oporto and Vigo. While it could be repaired, a bus is recommended.

I personally find A Coruña a bit dull. However they have got a good Aquarium This website lays it all out for you: http://www.turismocoruna.com/web/index.php
city buses. http://www.tranviascoruna.com/en/lineas-y-horarios/
You should pre-purchase your train tickets to get a discount. All journeys have to be with a reserved seat. Times are frequent. http://www.renfe.com/
The train station in SdC is a little way out from the city centre. City buses.http://www.tussa.org/web/transporte.php?lg=cas
What to do in SdC. http://www.santiagoturismo.com/
For accurate information about crossing the border between Galicia and Portugal see my post in this thread.
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...omment-9874391
Outside of cities you may well find getting between them using public transport a little difficult.
Either use the limited train lines, or the bus http://www.monbus.es/en
Getting to small villages may prove quite difficult. Time tables often do not allow day trips. Same goes for the best parts of the countryside. Just plan with care.

PS I had to smile when I read "In travel we love to found anything we dont have home, Food, some museums" What no food or museums? However I understand what you mean.

Thnaks for those answers ! You have to take in account that obviously english is not my usual language, of course we ahve food and museums here, but not the same ones !

About the train accident, I dont know at which point this is something we have to take attention to. I means there's plenty of car or bus accidents veerywhere and we haven't stop to take them.

For now we are more inclined in getting a plane from barcelona to Porto and rent a car there and do a round trip in Galicia that would take us From Porto to Pontevedra, Santiago de compostela, maybe A Coruna (opinons abouty that place are very different from one person to another), Oviedo Leon, Lugo and back to Porto. Of course we still have to decide the must see.....

We have 5-6 days to do that round trip.

Mark me down as another person who finds A Coruna of limited interest. All the other places you mention I enjoyed greatly. If something needs to go in your itinerary, suggest you drop A Coruna unless you are using its airport.

Since A CoronA got mixed review I guess we will drop it...

It would be a great help is someone told me about whjat itinerary we should have in 5-6 frome Porto (and goig back to Porto) is it something realistic or we should allow all that time for Portugal ?

Unfortunately, we cannot tell you what you will or will not like. Any number of us have offered suggestions; you need to consult some guidebooks and do some research on driving times, etc.

Good luck!

Not A CoronA bot A Coruna ! Sorry for that !

KJa: Of course I will do reading and all the help i've received is very much appreciated. What I want to know now if it's plane to Porto plus car rental and 5-6 days road trip is more realitic than 6 days from Barcelona to Porto by car.

Of course everybody got personnal taste, but there must be ''not to be miss'' places.

I think your plan is very realistic if you eliminate A Coruna. I did almost exactly the same thing, except I spent time in Lisbon and Porto before picking up my car. Even in this part of Spain very little goes on in the towns during the middle of the day. Plan to do a lot of your driving between 3.30 pm & 7pm.

I am not sure of the wisdom behind the decision to fly to Portugal and then go back to Spain. It seems a better use of time would be to fly into Galicia and then drive/tour around before dropping the car and taking the train or bus to Portugal.

We flew into SdP, rented a car, and did day trips to see what we wanted to see. You might enjoy these few pictures from our trip.

https://flic.kr/s/aHskVpt6Ns

Yes there are accidents all of the time.
What you have not seen is that in amongst this information is the fact that the train service could end. Hence my warning.

A little more about La Coruña. Haven't been here myself yet, but it comes recommended by close people who have for great food/wine and the atmosphere, what The Guardian calls "the bracing saltiness of a harbour city" and long nights at "terrace tables with good-natured, raucous crowds". https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2...h-food-culture

Tend to think a lot of Guardian travel articles are driven by the availability of easy cheap flights to a continental destination. I didn't have a terrible time in A Coruna, and it's true that it's a busy port, not just a tourist town. But I did run into a lot of annoying traffic and thought other towns in the same area were much more fascinating. I wasn't inclined to go to the beach, but I would be "braced" for winds if beaches were the attraction.

My recollection is that there are a number of airports in that area with domestic connections to major cities in Spain, although I also seem to recall many flights were not daily. Makes sense to search for a flight into a Spanish airport that saves time & is affordable, but if in the end Porto looks like the best choice, I found it very easy to drive between Pontevedra + Porto. The road is wide and fast. I stopped to look around Tui, which is beautiful, just over the Portuguese/Spanish border.

If you have never been then why add articles in newspapers that usually are sponsored by the tourism industry?
Quote "Paul Richardson was a guest of Turismo La Coruña......"
Just look at the hideous buildings along the sea front.
The beach in summer. http://l7.alamy.com/zooms/ecb245f72d...rie-fj336j.jpg
or this one.
https://www.coruna.es/IMG/P_Entidad_...49dc4d916c.jpg
Galicia has a load more beaches, which are far more attractive.
There is no trouble in Spanish cities so why should A Coruña stick out in this area?
You can find good food anywhere in Galicia. Empanadas too.
Wine everywhere, now we have loads of micro breweries every city. This article is too old to know about that.
It is a place that should not be on ones top list of Galician locations.
Videos.
Driving into the city:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjAnydezHbM
The city centre
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIrCQ-bsi4o
it is so dull that even Cunard move onto SdC in the same video prompting the place.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-x6qxrua-Q

What is SdP or SdC mentionned in your posts ?

Sundruedtopepo: you sais that it doesnt look logical to fly to Porto to the headback info Spain, maybe it isnt but heres the reasons why we have thought about that option:

1) since we are with kids we gave to buy kids seats ( dont want to drag ours and rental with car company is expensive). Renting two cars ( one in Spain and one in Portugal) would mean to drag those seats between Galicia and Porto.

2) flights to Porto and À Coruna cost about the same. Santiago de Compostela is more expensive. We would lose time going in a place (À Coruna) that doesnt seems to deserve it if we fly There.

3) Porto is at half an hour from Galicia is not really time consuming to get there first

Wow, that was a hearty recommendation for A Coruña, ribeira ;-) Perhaps I should rethink my plans to go here, but have had some great recommendations from people I trust and who know my taste of Spain.

And sure there are many fine beaches elsewehere in Galicia, but seems also that one should be a bit careful as it's the region with the by far highest concentration of "poor water quality" beaches in all of Spain acoording to the European Environment Agency: http://www.eea.europa.eu/themes/wate...bathing-waters

Something is wrong then. Read through this and there is no problem anywhere in Spain.
Spain has got the greatest number of blue flags.
http://www.spain.info/en/reportajes/...us_playas.html
http://www.playas.es/
http://www.abc.es/sociedad/abci-espa...1_noticia.html

tostaky, ah I never thought of car seats for the children.

In that case since you want to travel from Porto, I would not go north as far as A Coruna. But be sure to visit Santiago de Compostela, that is SdC.

Here are some other ideas:

https://www.lonelyplanet.com/spain/g...articles/77390

http://www.spain.info/en_CA/que-quie..._da_morte.html

http://www.spain.info/en_CA/reportaj...nasterios.html

I must admit something ( hoping Ribeira_Sacra will take good note of my comment) I thought i've read that thread thoroughly but I was wrong. Ther,s a lot of information in thise thread. Wow thanks a lot a lot.

KJA: I've read your trip report (very interesting reading by the way ) Of course I'Ve read more deeply all the parts about Catalunya. I still have a question, if you go there again (Catalunya) what would you do again and what would not do ? I mean I've seen what you like or not (not much it seems !) but for that region is ther any most or letdowns ? Do you have specific advice ?

Sundriedtopepo: I've really pass over the pictures link you sent me. Thanks for those pics ! If I understand it well you'be been, obviously, in Galacia but you think that Catalunya should be a bettre plan for me depsite you think that Galicia is a very cool place ?

Ribeira_sacra: i Must admit to have put a lot of effort to answer me, and believe me I appreciated it a lot. We dont have the same poiint of view about forum posting but I hope that It wont totally stop you to give me some help if needed. You obviously know that part of the world very well and yours insights will help me a lot.

Frencharmoire, Aussiefolk, Imdonehere, Kimhe....Big thanks to for all your grain of salt (can we say that in english ? )

We are on the merge of buying our plane ticket from Barcelona to Porto, confirming that we will be 6 days in Catalunya and that we will leave Galicia beside for that trip....I'm still not sure at all about this !

Very thorn between the better weather Galicia offer, visit to Santiago de compostella, Pontevedra, Ourense and the trip to Girona, Dali museum, Besalu, Cadaques....

"KJA: I've read your trip report (very interesting reading by the way ) Of course I'Ve read more deeply all the parts about Catalunya. I still have a question, if you go there again (Catalunya) what would you do again and what would not do ?"

Thanks for your kind remarks on my trip report! :-)

Frankly, I'm not sure how to answer your question. There is nothing about my time in Catalunya that I would change except, perhaps, pay for dinner at Tablao Cordobes (even if I skipped dinner there), just so I could have had a seat that allowed me to actually see the flamenco dancers' feet. That, and book a room that wasn't right at the plaza where the soccer match was celebrated.