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Santiago de Compostela

Santiago de Compostela

Santiago de Compostela, alternatively abbreviated to Santiago or Compostela, is the capital of the autonomous community of Galicia, Spain.

Plan a trip to Santiago de Compostela From Ranón

It is located in the province of A Coruña, in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula. The city has its origin in the shrine of Saint James the Great, now the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, as the destination of the Way of St. James, a leading Catholic pilgrimage route since the 9th century. In 1985, the city's Old Town was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Get in

Getting to Santiago de Compostela

There are several airports around, from which you can reach the city quite easily.

  1. 01
    Santiago Rosalía de Castro Airport

    This has seasonal flights from across west Europe, the UK and Ireland by budget carriers such as Ryanair.

  2. 02
    Santiago Train Station is a kilometre south

    The station is small and functional with ticket desks, a café and waiting room.

  3. 03
    Bus Station
See

Worth seeing

  1. 01
    Catedral de Santiago de Compostela

    Massive cathedral built from 1075 but only consecrated in 1211.

  2. 02
    Monasterio de San Martiño Pinario

    Praza da Inmaculada 5 (50 m north of cathedral),.

  3. 03
    Museum of the Cathedral of Santiago
  4. 04
    Museum of Pilgrimages and Santiago
Do

Things to do

Pilgrim Reception Office (Centro Internacional de Acollida ó Peregrino), 33 Rúa das Carretas (100 yards north of cathedral plaza),. Daily 10:00-18:00. Get your pilgrim's certificate for completing El Camino de Santiago. Pilgrim House, Rua Nova 19 (100 m south of Plaza de Quintana),. Apr-Oct Mon Tue Thu-Sat 11:00-20:00. Offers support and resources to pilgrims who have just finished the Camino.

Eat

Where to eat

The city goes strong on seafood, especially pulpo, octopus. Local cheese and cakes are worth seeking out. Tapas are served everywhere. "Pimientos de padrón" are part spicy, part not, so practise saying "Os pementos de Padrón, uns pican e outros non". The main eating strip is along the two alleys south of the cathedral, Rúa da Raíña and Rúa do Franco.

  1. 01
    Restaurante Tarará

    Rúa das Carretas 22 basement,.

  2. 02
    Mamá Peixe Taberna

    Grand little place for seafood, better book.

  3. 03
    Restaurante Petiscos

    Especially good value is the lunchtime menu del día, with vegan and GF choices.

  4. 04
    Taberna O Gato Negro

    Slick unpretentious place for trad Spanish cuisine.

  5. 05
    A Noiesa

    Mesón 42 at Franco 42 has tapas with big portions.

How locals move

Getting around Santiago de Compostela the local way

  • Get inOne heroic bus traverses the country north-south, from A Coruña via Santiago to Pontevedra, Vigo, Ourense, Zamora, Salamanca, Bejar, Plasencia, Caceres, Merida, Zafra, Seville, Jerez, Cadiz, Tarifa and Algeciras, for ferries to Morocco.

From Wikivoyage: Santiago de Compostela, CC BY-SA. Not yet checked by us. Last edited 2026-09.

Text adapted from Wikipedia and Wikivoyage, CC BY-SA 4.0. Photograph: Wikimedia Commons (see Commons), Wikimedia Commons.