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 adverts for these and other Galicia and Spain related services on most pages.
Often described as green 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 foreign visitors.
There are actually three Galicia’s, 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 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 link. Find out more about Galicia below these ads.
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, or Stansted airport in Britain will take under 2 hours to reach either Santiago de Compostela or la Coruna international airports.
- Booking hotels and villas in Galicia is not the problem many assume it to be, there are no shortage of city hotels and an increasing number of houses or casas are now been advertised for seasonal summer rental.
- The single most popular location 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 Camino Christian pilgrimage from France.
- Galicia is a popular holiday choice with Spaniards living in the south 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.
- The Galician’s have their own language called gallego, but all speak standard Spanish too. The number of Galician’s who speak English is increasing in line with tourism.
- The population of Galicia is approximately 3 million and an amazing 90% of this number live by, or very close to, the coast. The region is known for having a fishing based economy, but many of these small towns now double up as summer holiday resorts.
- 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.