Base for 3 days in Galicia

Old Oct 2nd, 2015, 08:40 AM
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Base for 3 days in Galicia

early next june, wife and i need a base to wander galicia - will have car. coming from duoro valley in portugal and then finishing our month trip with 6 days in astrias and basque. would rather not stay in large city. what should we not miss?

thank you in advance for your advice.
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Old Oct 2nd, 2015, 09:20 AM
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Form this thread I thought you was heading straight away to The Basque country for those days.
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...r-interior.cfm
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Old Oct 2nd, 2015, 10:05 AM
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I really enjoyed driving around Galicia, but I didn't find the driving particularly speedy, so if there is someplace in particular you would like to see -- like Santiago de Compestela, which I skipped -- you might want to make sure you are in a spot convenient for doing that, even if you don't want to stay in the city itself. I road-tripped around Galicia and did not see the eastern half of it, and I made a loop out of northern Portugal because I needed to go back to Porto at the end. But my favorite towns in Galicia were Pontevedra (and the beautiful coast around there), Lugo and Tuy (or Tui). Even if you only visit Tuy briefly on your way to someplace, it is still very rewarding. It is right on the border with Portugal.
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Old Oct 2nd, 2015, 10:08 AM
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that was just a preliminary itinerary, have booked 2 days in picos de europa and 4 days in getaria. the galicia base will complete our 30 day trip to spain and portugal. then needed research day trips from our 9 bases.

thanks
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Old Oct 2nd, 2015, 11:39 AM
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Do not miss Santiago de Compostela, a highlight of our six week trip to Portugal and Spain.
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Old Oct 2nd, 2015, 11:44 AM
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Santiago actually makes a good base for touring parts of Galicia. Cambados is only an hour's drive south of Santiago and Lugo is 1-1/2 hours away.

Santo Estevo de Lires, and Cape Finisterre, is 1-1/2 hours to the west, at the end of the earth.
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Old Oct 2nd, 2015, 04:23 PM
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I agree that Santiago would be a good base. Loved that lown!

Add A Coruna as a daytrip from there, too.
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Old Oct 2nd, 2015, 05:48 PM
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Santiago is a good place as a base. We found a hotel we liked very much-Hotel Peregrino Santiago Compostela.

Some of favorite places in Galicia-Rías Baixas y Altas

Costa da Morte
Lugo
Muxia
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Old Oct 2nd, 2015, 06:55 PM
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I couldnt imagine being in Galicia and not going to Santiago (maybe because I love the place, have been there 7 times!). I also happen to think it makes a good base if you only have 3 days in the area. Maybe on the way from Portugal you can stop in Pontevedra, another lovely city. Agree with advice above to do some driving on the Rias and include Coruña to the north. But I would stay put a couple of days in Santiago and enjoy what the city has to offer.
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Old Oct 3rd, 2015, 04:08 AM
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In June there is a festival in Lugo called Arde Lucus.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw4ZoIRt51M
https://youtu.be/0TTAUpLcBxs
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Old Oct 3rd, 2015, 04:29 AM
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People who can't imagine how other people travel are not people from whom I take travel advice. Not only are we generally not "base/commuter" travelers in Spain -- since so many towns simply shut down during the day -- but my road trip was entirely about being a present to my husband and its focus was on food. In addition, we both LOATHE pilgrim-oriented destinations (and this one sounds particularly repulsive), and we were traveling at the height of the pilgrim season. We'll go sometime in winter to see the architecture, but I was really very happy to be in towns with very few foreign tourists in Galicia for my experience.

We went to Finisterre and it was one of the least rewarding of the many places we visited on our driving tour. It has the tourist cache of being "the end of Europe" (tick that box) but is otherwise not very uplifting place to be. There are other places of considerably more charm and beauty (and certainly better food) along the coast.

Galicia is a rich destination, and obviously we only saw a small part of it, but that would have been even more true had we parked ourselves in Santiago de Compostela and tried to commute to other places of interest. We would have missed a lot of what we enjoyed most.
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Old Oct 3rd, 2015, 10:28 AM
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You don't want to stay in San Sebastian? Getaria is a beautiful small village, not much going on except a great beach and a few world class restaurants. (well there are txakoli vineyards and the Balenciaga museum too). San Sebastian is the bees knees as the kids say.
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Old Oct 3rd, 2015, 11:38 AM
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"Getaria is a beautiful small village" usually what we look for as a base. we try to avoid bees as much as possible. will run in for a day and then consider another. only 30 km or so away.
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Old Oct 3rd, 2015, 11:42 AM
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"There are other places of considerably more charm and beauty (and certainly better food) along the coast." ok sandralist, what were they? i'm not rick steves and i don't write travel blogs to ruin the out of the way places. promise.
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Old Oct 3rd, 2015, 03:22 PM
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We holed up in El Grove for 4 or 5 days because we found a fabulous restaurant there and ate every single meal there. Were in Santiago before the Camino fad days so just regular tourists there, none of the backpacker pilgrims, TG.
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Old Oct 3rd, 2015, 06:59 PM
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Sorry , but cannot understand the aversion or loathing , as Sandralist so eloquently describes it, to pilgrims. They don't hurt anybody, just make the city a more vibrant place. People here are really weird sometimes...
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Old Oct 3rd, 2015, 07:11 PM
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Sandralist is weird most of the time.
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Old Oct 4th, 2015, 08:28 AM
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<run in for a day and then consider another> in San Sebastian.

Outside the famous Parte vieja/Old town, I think you would enjoy wander around the local feel Gros district, just across the city river Urumea, or in and around C/Matia in the charming Antiguo district at the western end of La Concha bay. Many fine pintxos bars, restaurants and cafes in both areas (some of the best in town are in fact in Gros).
Gros: http://theboywhoatetheworld.com/2014...gros-district/
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