happytravelin

My husband and I will be in Galicia for a week or more in May 2015. We will be coming from Portugal, and would like to find a good location for a week in Galicia. We would like a small town with good access to day hikes and countryside if possible. We usually like to rent an apartment or small house in or near a town, with walking access to restaurants. We will have a car. Any recommendations?

IMDonehere

Take a look at Sarria. Santiago is a small city but you can be the country in 10 minutes.

You might consider walking a small segment of The Camino. You can gain your Compostela (certificate that you walked the Camino) 100km in a week.

sandralist

I really enjoyed Pontevedra, and that would be my first pick. I also enjoyed Lugo. No doubt there are many other interesting choices, perhaps some with immediate access to good hiking trails.

If there are any areas of Galicia that tend to be less rainy in May than others, looking there might be a priority if you plan to spend a lot of time outdoors.

If you are coming from Northern Portugal, I found it quite wonderful to stop in the town of Tuy (or Tui) just across the border and see the magnificent cathedral there. The town itself is small and attractive, and worth spending some time enjoying.

I found this website's extensive list of Galician small towns with brief descriptions very helpful when I was planning to visit Galicia, although some of the information may be out of date. It also gives on the left hand menu long descriptions of Galicia's major towns:

http://www.galiciaguide.com/Pontevedra-index.html

http://www.galiciaguide.com/Towns-index.html

ribeirasacra

That Galicia guide website has not been updated for some time and is getting old. A project that had good intentions but the owner has lost interest in.
To answer the OP.
How about Monforte de Lemos? Not a hugely attractive town but a great location for getting out to the wine area of the Ribeira Sacra and into the mountains of Los Ancares.
http://www.spain.info/en/reportajes/...e_galicia.html
http://es.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/find.d...1%2C&q=Ancares
http://www.spain.info/en/reportajes/...nasterios.html
http://es.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/find.d...=ribeira+sacra

sandralist

I still think the Galicia Guide is useful for describing the small towns. For instance, I looked up Monforte de Lemos on the website, and it has 2 pages of detailed information about the town that goes considerably beyond the kind of promotional material on the state-run tourist board.

http://www.galiciaguide.com/Monforte-de-lemos.html

http://www.spain.info/en/que-quieres..._de_lemos.html

The same is true if you look up Sarria. It is a good way to find out additional information about the very small towns being suggested here.

It is hard to find much detailed personal writing about Galicia for travelers beyond the self-absorbed "Camino" stuff, even in guidebooks. The Galicia Guide is notable for being so straightforward and actually about the towns from a visitors point of view, rather than being about me, me, me. Rather than try to steer people away, it would more helpful, I think, to point out if there are any important things in the descriptions that are out of date. When I brought up that issue, I was referring to restaurant info and opening times of sites, or transport link. Those things should always be double checked. But if there are other recent developments that have had a great impact on the character of the town, for better or worse, and the overall description no longer reflects the reality of these towns, that would be worth knowing. But otherwise, many towns and vistas in Galicia are old towns and storied vistas, and descriptions of their essential character don't go out of date.

IMDonehere

It is hard to find much detailed personal writing about Galicia for travelers beyond the self-absorbed "Camino" stuff, even in guidebooks
_____________

What an idiotic characterization and ignorant statement regarding available information.

If the OP is interested in this, I would be happy to provide here with many on-line and paper guides.

ribeirasacra

You are right the national tourist board website lacks that something no matter what is covered.
Like I said that guide is out of date and does not include some recent changes.
I prefer to link to the tourist website of the town.As it not only is up to date, but covers more.
http://www.monfortedelemos.es/es/con...?sec=31&id=623
or maybe the official tourist website for Galicia.
http://www.turgalicia.es/ficha-recur...=36842&ctre=47

ribeirasacra

Just re-reading the Spain.info website about Monforte it not well written I quote: "principal among which is the south route of the Camino de Santiago." Such a shame they could not get even this small detail correct. It is called the Camino de Invierno. Nothing to do with it being south of anything.

HappyTrvlr

We liked Baiona and O Grove in the rias baixas as well as Santiago de Compostela.

Robert2533

You might be interested in checking out Casa Grande de Soutullo, which is located north of Ourense, off the N-525. It's a member of Pazos de Galicia (pazosdegalicia.com) and recommended in Sawdays "Special Places to Stay".

happytravelin

Thanks everyone for your suggestions. I will take time looking into all your suggestions, and return with more questions once I have learned more. I will also update with any decisions we make.
To IMDonehere, I am happy to get any additional material you may suggest.
One question, sandralist mentioned looking at places with chances of better weather. Any ideas on weather patterns, or places to look for that information?
Thanks to all

Bedar

For us O Grove was great. Found a restaurant there on the water that was stupendous. Ate every meal there for 5 days. Glad to see O Grove mentioned here.

HappyTrvlr

The area is called Green Spain and to be green requires rain...don't let that stop you though.

ribeirasacra

Weather is unpredictable. Yesterday we had a small shower with a lot of thunder , 25km down the road there was a down pour and 40 km the other way total sun.
Recently Ourense was the hottest city in the whole of Spain.
Anyone can give you a link to a weather history site but that only proves the averages. So this proves nothing.
It does not rain in Galicia all of the time or we could not grow red wine.
The Casa Grande de Soutullo maybe too isolated for what you need only scores 8.8 in booking too. http://bit.ly/booking-soutullo

IMDonehere

The climate in Galicia is moderate as it is verdant. The summers can get hot and the winters cold and you can see by the chart below the months that are dryer.

Here is a chart for Santiago.

http://www.climatedata.eu/climate.ph...xx0208&lang=en

Here is a list of the paradores in Galicia

http://www.paradores-spain.com/regions/galicia.html

There are also casa rurales

http://gospain.about.com/gi/o.htm?zi...s-enteras.html

rialtogrl

I love Pontevedra but I wouldn't call it a small town. It is a small city (with some great restaurants!) If it is a small town you are after and want to base in the south O Grove is a great suggestion.

Earlier this month I spent the weekend in Cedeira on the northwest coast - it is a picturesque fishing village very close to a lot of hiking (and beaches that would be excellent for day walks.) Just one more area to consider

Your hardest decision will be where to base, there are so many beautiful areas in Galicia!

HappyTrvlr

Three recommendations for O Grove!