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Spain Travel Information
Travel City Guides - A Coruña - Galicia
La Coruña: Glass windows from which to look at the sea!
A blue and white city, buildings with glazed balconies that reflect the blue and green colours of the sea and the changing colour of the sky, watching the sea from the Tower of Hercules, a Roman lighthouse that still nowadays helps the sailors find their way to the port. It is a rich, pleasant and developed city, based on the prestige and experience of the past, which faces the future with confidence.
A Coruña is located in the farthest point to the west in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, in Galicia, in the Rías Altas.
From A Coruña, we can go on a trip round the Rías Altas which will take us to Betanzos, to Pontedeume, with its bridge and medieval towers, to the sandy areas of Valdoviño, to the small estuary of Cedeira, to Santa María de Ortigueira, finally reaching the Estaca de Bares cape, the northernmost point of the Iberian Peninsula.
If we continue southwards, following the coastal line, we will find the estuaries of Corme and Laxe and the estuary of Camariñas, before reaching Finisterre, considered to be the “end of the world” in antiquity.
With approximately 250 000 inhabitants, it is the second city in Galicia after Vigo, which has about 290 000 inhabitants.
It is easy to get to A Coruña:
By plane, you will arrive at Alvedro airport, in the city itself, or at the airports of Lavacolla (Santiago) or Peinador (Vigo).
By car, you can take the A-6 (toll-free motorway) if you are coming from Madrid, or the A-52 if you are coming from León. In Portugal, there is a motorway from Lisboa.
A Coruña is a city whose origin goes back to the Antiquity. Its surrounding fortified settlements or the texts of the classical geographers bear witness to it.
Its name comes from the Latin word Caronium, since it was a Roman oppidum.
Until the 13th century, the city remains under the influence of Santiago de Compostela.
At the beginning of this century, a code of laws and privileges is granted by the king Alfonso IX.
Traces of the Middle Ages are preserved in the structure of the streets and the squares of the Old City, in churches such as the church of Santa María, Santiago, San Francisco y Santo Domingo, which have been later restored and renovated throughout the centuries.
In the 16th century, A Coruña becomes a great sea power.
However, the fact that the Spanish Armada was launched from its port has been, perhaps, one of the most imporant events in its history, as it brought subsequent and consecutive attacks by the English fleet. In the 18th and 19th centuries, there is a strengthening of the economic and administrative activities, and the city continues growing.
Since the 19th century, A Coruña consolidates as an important business, administrative and cultural centre.
The Tower of Hercules is, perhaps, the most important and representative monument of the city. This lighthouse ws built by the Romans in the second century AD.
In La Coruña, a visit to the Old City is a must. We could take a quiet and relaxing walk through its narrow streets, discovering its medieval origin, full of mysticism. From the religious monuments, the following ones stand out: the Santa María del Campo Royal Collegiate Church (13th century), the Santiago church (12th century) and the Santo Domingo church, where you can find the patron saint of the city, the Virgen del Rosario. The Palacio de Capitanía and the city wall are other points of interest along the walk.
Furthermore, most of the museums of La Coruña are located in the Old City: the House Museum of María Pita, the heroine that led the struggle against the English in 1589 and that saved the city from the siege; the House Museum of the writer Emilia Pardo-Bazán, in which the Royal Acedamy of the Spanish Language is nowadays based, the Military Museum, the Sacred Art Museum, situated in the Santa María Collegiate Church, the Luis Seoane Foundation, which gathers works of art by Galician avant-garde artists, or the San Antón Castle, which hosts the Historical and Archaeological Museum.
However, the most appealing features of the Old City of La Coruña are its large and small squares, the narrow streets, all full of charm, like the squares Plaza de las Bárbaras and Plaza de Azcárraga and the gardens Jardín Mirador de San Carlos and Jardines de la Maestranza. It is also worth walking through the Modernist part of La Coruña, of the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th, the “Ensanche” or urban expansion area.
The most representative buildings of this time are located on the Juana de Vega, Picavía, Feijoo, Plaza de Lugo, and Plaza de Pontevedra streets.
The Esplanade is being rebuilt since 1986 and it is already 9 kilometres long nowadays, becoming a new meeting point for the people of La Coruña and a cultural space, in which we can find the Domus or Casa del Hombre (House of Mankind) and the Aquarium or Casa de los Peces (House of Fish), as well as the Tower of Hercules and… the Riazor Football Stadium, where the city football team, the Deportivo de La Coruña (usually known as “El Depor”), plays.
As in the rest of Galicia, in La Coruña, in the summer indeed it´s hot but it´s not so hot like in the south of Spain. The winter aren´t very cold. The average of the temperature is by 20°C - 25°C in summer and 8°C - 10°C in winter. In spring, winter and autumn there is some rainfall.
In A Coruña, and in Galicia, you will discover a wide variety of dishes: ham and turnip tops, Galician stew, Galician pies and, especially, fish and seafood.
There are very different kinds of fish, the most delicious ones are those that are caught in the estuaries or near the coast: hake, turbot, sea bass, halibut, sole…
They are prepared in traditional ways (grilled, Galician, caldeirada) or in sophisticated ways. And for those who enjoy seafood, the delicious common prawn as an appetizer, as well as the squids and the cuttlefish, fried or in ink, or the crabs, or the goose barnacles, the grooved carpet shell clam, the oyster, or seafood as a main dish, such as the spider crab, the lobster, the king prawns, the scallop, the mussel or the typical “á feira” octopus.
As well as the traditional dishes, La Coruña offers innovative gastronomy.
Whatever you choose, you will be tempted to taste it again. We should definitely mention the wines who have a guarantee of origin and quality: Ribeiro, Rías Baixas, Monterrey or Valdeorras.
The local festivals take place on the 7th of October, the patron saint’s day, in honor of the Virgen del Rosario: religious ceremonies, processions and festive activities (open-air dances, performances, sports competitions),…
In August, there is almost every day some celebration or special event. In this month, the festivals of María San Pita are celebrated, in order to commemorate the attack by the English in 1589.
See you soon in Spain !
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