Get FREE email communications from Fodor's Travel, covering must-see travel destinations, expert trip planning advice, and travel inspiration to fuel your passion.
We've compiled the best of the best in Galicia, Asturias, and Cantabria - browse our top choices for the top things to see or do during your stay.
Across the river, on the eastern edge of town, this rustic museum contains traditional Asturian houses, cider presses, a mill, and an exquisitely painted granary. Also here is the Museo de la Gaita (Bagpipe Museum) celebrating the area's centuries-old bagpiping tradition. Bagpipes from other parts of the world are on display as well.
At the northeastern tip of the old town is St. Anthony's Castle, a 16th-century fort that houses A Coruña's Museum of Archaeology. The collection includes remnants of the prehistoric Celtic culture that once thrived in these parts, including silver artifacts as well as ruins from castros, the Celts' stone forts.
Housed in the splendid Monastery of San Vicente (behind the cathedral), this museum contains fragments of pre-Romanesque buildings. Descriptions are in Spanish only, but pamphlets are available in English.
North of Acibechería (follow Ruela de Xerusalén) is the Museo das Peregrinacións containing Camino de Santiago iconography: sculptures, carvings, azabache (compact black coal, or jet) items, and more. For an overview of the history of St. James, the cathedral, and the pilgrimage, as well as the Camino's role in the development of the city itself, this is a key visit.
Housed in two 18th-century mansions connected by a stone bridge, this museum includes exquisite Celtic jewelry, silver from all over the world, and several large model ships. The original kitchen, with a stone fireplace, is intact; below, descend steep wooden stairs to the reconstructed captain's chamber on the battleship Numancia, which limped back to Spain after the Dos de Mayo battle with Peru in 1866. Complete the loop by going upstairs in the first building, where there are Spanish, Italian, and Flemish paintings.
Next to the Centro Galego de Arte Contemporánea stands the medieval convent of San Domingos de Bonaval. The museum within holds photos, farm implements, traditional costumes, and other items illustrating aspects of traditional Galician life. The star attraction is the 13th-century, self-supporting, spiral granite staircase that still connects three floors.
This museum has a large collection of clocks and sundials you may want to take the "time" to see.
