Where to Stay in Pontevedra, Galicia

What is Pontevedra known for?

A collection running from the sixteenth century to the eighteenth stands within a few streets, the Basilica of Santa María la Mayor at the head of it and the Ruins of San Domingos Convent left open to the sky. Pilgrims come through as well. The Portuguese branch of the route to Santiago passes through, and Sculpture Island Park supplies the modern counterweight.

What are the main landmarks in Pontevedra?

The Basilica of Santa María la Mayor is the one to see first. San Bartolomé Church, the San Francisco convent and the Virgen del Camino church continue the run, while the Ruins of San Domingos Convent stand roofless at the edge of the old town. Pontevedra Museum takes the rest.

Its rooms fill the Pazo de García Flórez, the Pazo de Castro Monteagudo and the Castelao Building, while outdoors the Sailor's monument and the Soldier's monument stand not far from the Tree monument and the Children's fountain.

What is the history of Pontevedra?

A bridge named the place. Pontem veteram, the old Roman bridge, was the first structure to span the river here, and the city that grew beside it has carried that name ever since. Earlier ground exists too.

The Área arqueológica de A Caeira holds traces from before any of it. Religious houses shaped the plan. The San Francisco convent and what are now the Ruins of San Domingos Convent stood at the edges of the medieval town, while the Monastery of San Salvador de Lérez and the San Xoán de Poio monastery kept to the country outside it.

Parish churches filled in around them. The Basilica of Santa María la Mayor, San Bartolomé Church and the Virgen del Camino church belong to the collection running from the sixteenth century to the eighteenth, and the Colegio de la Compañía came out of the same period of building. Pilgrims kept coming through.

The Portuguese branch of the route to Santiago runs by the old town, and the churches stand along the way walkers take. Families with means built in stone. The Pazo de García Flórez, the Pazo de Castro Monteagudo, Casa de los Vaamonde and Casa del Correo Viejo survive from that, the Pazo of Lourizán stands further out, and the Bells House keeps a name of its own.

Museums took the buildings over. Pontevedra Museum occupies several of the pazos and the Castelao Building besides, the Archbishop's Towers Interpretation Centre explains what the towers were, and Sculpture Island Park is the newest layer of all. Administration settled here as well.

Pontevedra is capital of its comarca, of the Province of Pontevedra and of the Rías Baixas.

Where is Pontevedra?

118 square kilometres reach well past the streets. Pontevedra is capital of the Rías Baixas and of its own province, and the municipality around it takes in Lourizán and Salcedo as well as the old town beside the river. Water runs through the middle.

Sculpture Island Park and the Área arqueológica de A Caeira both belong to that outer ground.

What is the climate of Pontevedra?

The Rías Baixas set the pattern. Water reaching inland from that coast keeps Pontevedra mild through winter and stops summer turning severe, and rain arrives often enough to explain how green the ground stays out around Lourizán. Bright spells are short.

Stone streets in the old town dry quickly, and Sculpture Island Park is best seen on one of those afternoons.

How do you get to Pontevedra?

The old bridge came first. Pontem veteram carried the earliest road over the river, and the town grew around that crossing rather than around any later one. Walkers use the Portuguese branch.

It runs through Pontevedra on the way to Santiago, while the Rías Baixas and the Province of Pontevedra open out beyond the municipality for anyone driving.