We will be staying with friends in Santiago for 10 days in May, our 3rd visit to this beautiful town. We need to fill in 5 days whilst they will be at work. I am interested to know of any day trips which we might be able to take from Santiago to see a bit more of Northern Spain.

Hi JCSydey,

How lucky for you! We are ourselves heading back to Santiago in March and I can't wait.

I am sure other more knowledgeable posters will chime in. I can suggest you can do either by bus or train Coruña and Pontevedra. There might also be a way to go down towards Cabo Finisterre using public transport and also seeing Muros and Noia on the Rias Baixas ( we did this a few years ago on a day tour).

I am looking forward to see what other suggestions you get!

JCSyndney,
I've just done research about this since we have an upcoming visit to Santiago which may include time for a day trip.

Here's what I've found:

Day trips by train:

A Coruña (40 min.- 1 hr.)
Pontevedra (50 min.-1 hr.)
Vigo (1 hr. 20 min.)

See the schedules at
www.renfe.es

By bus:

The Castromil bus co. runs buses to

A Coruña (90 min.)
Pontevedra (50-90 min. depending on route)
Cambados (90 min.-on a La Unión bus)
Betanzos (1 hr. 45 min.)
Noia (1 hr.)

buses to Noia go on to Muros but take 30 min. longer.

to Fisterra it can take from 2 hr. 40 min. to almost 3 hrs. depending on the route. Buses going out there go through Noia, Muros, Carnota and Cee before reaching the end.

See the bus schedule for all at
www.monbus.es

Having visited most of the above, my first choices for an easy, quick day trip with frequent connections would be to Pontevedra and A Coruña as cruiseluv suggests.

Some travel agencies may run organized excursions to some of the above-I just don't know.

Hope this helps.