Galicia the heart of Green Spain
GaliciaSpain.net is designed to help you explore and plan a holiday in Galicia. It will tell you all about this culturally rich part of Spain and provide you with hotel, flight and car hire services. You will also see information about other Galicia and Spain related services throughout the site. The intention is to provide you with as much information as possible about this beautiful northern Spanish territory.
Often described as green Spain or real Spain, this temperate north western corner of the country is rich and fertile with an abundance of beaches and spectacular mountainous views. It also has historic cities, a culture descended from the Celts and a warm welcome for all of its foreign visitors.
There are actually three Galicia's in Europe, one in Poland and another in Turkey, but the one that we are interested in is in the north of Spain and shares its southern border with Portugal. Spain's Galicia faces the Atlantic Ocean to the west and is bordered by another scenic Spanish region, Asturias, to the east. To the north lies the infamous bay of Biscay.
If you want to find out more about the geography and climate, or the history of Galicia, click on the appropriate link.
Here are a few holiday facts
Galicia is made up of 4 different provinces, la Coruna, Pontevedra, Ourense and Lugo. The capital of the region is the city of Santiago de Compostela and it is this city that attracts 80% of Galicia's overseas visitors.
A direct flight from Heathrow London, Gatwick London, or Stansted airport in Britain will take under 2 hours to reach either Santiago de Compostela, la Coruna, or Vigo international airports.
Booking hotels and villas in Galicia is not the problem many assume it to be. There is no shortage of city hotels and an increasing number of houses or casas are now been advertised for seasonal summer rental. Many of these are in beautiful rual settings.
The single most popular attraction on Galicia's tourist map is Santiago de Compostela cathedral. This building is claimed to hold the body of saint James, who is also the city's patron, and is the target destination for pligrims following the famous Camino Christian pilgrimage from France and Portugal.
Galicia is a popular holiday choice with many Spaniards living in the southern and central cities of the country. They like to holiday in the north to escape the oppressive heat and enjoy Galicia's famous seafood based gastronomy. For this reason the month of August (Spain's national holiday period) is always the busiest time. June, July and September are much quieter.
The Galician's have their own language called gallego, but all speak "standard" Spanish too. The number of Galician's who speak English is also increasing in line with greater foreign tourism and most bars in the bigger cities will have waiters and waitresses who speak some English and possibly French or German. Hotel staff in cities like Santiago de Compostela, Pontevedra and Vigo often have some foreign language skills too, so you can usually make yourself understood.
The population of Galicia is approximately 3 million and an amazing 90% of this number live by, or very close to, the coast or in one of the major cities. The region is known for having a fishing based economy, but many of these small towns now double up as summer holiday resorts. Agriculture is also a big part of the Galician economy and the most popular crop is the common potato. Sweet corn is also popular and is grown as an animal feed.
The parliament of Galicia has introduced many initiatives aimed at increasing foreign tourism to the region. All tourist offices offer free maps and city guides and most are available in English and many also have bi-lingual staff. Most towns will have their own small tourist office offering local advice, so information is never hard to come by.
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