Ría de Pontevedra

The Ría de Pontevedra stretches roughly 23 kilometres from the mouth of the River Lérez to the headlands of Udra and Cabicastro, where the estuary opens to the Atlantic Ocean. It is the third of the Galician Rías Baixas from north to south, set between the Ría de Arousa and the Ría de Vigo, and its southwest orientation partially shields it from Atlantic storms, producing calmer waters in the inner reaches. Mussel rafts dot the surface in geometric rows that fade into the morning haze, and the smell of salt and seaweed mingles with pine resin drifting from the trees that run down to the shoreline.

The southern coast between Bueu and Sanxenxo holds some of the longest beaches: A Lanzada, with over 2 kilometres of surf-exposed sand; Silgar, more sheltered and urban beside the town of Sanxenxo; and the coves of Cabo Udra, reached only on foot after a 40-minute coastal path through pine and gorse. On the northern bank, the island of Tambo — military-owned and closed to the public — sits at the centre of the ría, while the island of Ons, at the mouth, belongs to the Atlantic Islands National Park and receives visitors in summer under a daily quota. The white sand of Melide beach on Ons contrasts with a seabed where seagrass meadows alternate with granite rock colonised by goose barnacles.

Pontevedra city, at the head of the ría, has 83,000 inhabitants and has pedestrianised almost its entire old quarter. The squares of A Ferrería, A Leña and Praza da Verdura form a circuit of Romanesque churches and stone arcades where taverns serve pulpo á feira, grilled scallops and Salnés albariño. The Pontevedra Museum, spread across five buildings, houses one of Galicia's most important archaeological collections. Towards the mouth, Marín is home to the Naval Military Academy and an active fishing port, and Combarro preserves a cluster of hórreos above the sea — more than thirty stone granaries lined up facing the water — forming one of the most photographed ethnographic landscapes in Galicia.

The ría's cuisine centres on seafood and nearby market gardens. The fish markets of Bueu and Marín auction octopus, hake, monkfish and shellfish daily, and restaurants in Sanxenxo and O Grove serve seasonal menus that change with fishing bans and catches. Raft-farmed mussels, cultivated in the ría's inner waters since the mid-twentieth century, are eaten steamed, pickled or baked in empanada, and their production makes Galicia Europe's second-largest mussel producer. Food festivals — the Festa do Marisco in O Grove each October, the Festa da Vieira in Sanxenxo — draw thousands of visitors to communal outdoor tables.

Access to the ría is direct from the AP-9 motorway (Vigo-Santiago), with exits at Pontevedra, Marín and Sanxenxo. Vigo-Peinador airport lies 25 kilometres from central Pontevedra. To travel along the coast, the PO-308 road runs along the southern shore linking Bueu, Aldán, Hío and A Lanzada beach on a winding route that offers natural viewpoints over the ría at every bend.