Vigo in 1 Day: all you need to know

Visiting Vigo in one day will only make you want to come back soon to see more of the city, so in this itinerary of things to see and do in Vigo in 24 hours, I will show you some of the best options in and around the city, not counting the Cíes Islands.

Shopping in the city, tours of the best of Galician gastronomy and visiting the main museums and historical and cultural sites are some of the activities you can't leave out when you decide to stay in Vigo for a day.

To start with this tour of the best places in Vigo, you are going to start by traveling from the city center, from where you are staying, to a beach area. Let's assume that you will do the tour the day after you arrive in the city and have made the transfer from the airport to Vigo.

You will take advantage of the whole day to see the best of the city and its surroundings. Tombo do Gato beach is excellent for getting to know the coast of the city without having to drive for a long time.

It is located just 13 minutes by rental car from the city center. To enjoy the whole day without waste, I recommend leaving the hotel where you are staying very early, to get to the beach no later than 8:00. The idea is that you can have breakfast in one of the beach bars that are placed on the shore of the beach.

In this place you will stay no more than two hours, to take advantage of the whole day and see other places that are also of tourist and cultural interest in the region. You can take a swim and you can also take many pictures of the landscape. You can go on your own by rental car, or you can choose an excursion that will take you to the beach.

Details of interest

• Price: The entrance to the beach is free, then the consumption in the beach bars may vary according to the food options available in each place.
• Hours: Open all day.
• Means of transport: You can go by rental car, cab or even on a guided tour.
• How to get there: If you go by private car you have to drive along Beiramar Avenue and Atlantida Avenue.

After a nice walk on the beach and maybe a swim in the warm waters of Tombo do Gato, it's time to continue with your day trip in Vigo. By this time it should be approximately 10:00. The next stop is the Museo do Mar de Galicia.

This place is just a few meters from the beach of Tombo do Gato, and is one of my favorite places to visit in Vigo because it is where you can find all the maritime history of this city that is par excellence of fishermen.

Inside this museum you can see valuable objects of the maritime history of the city of Vigo, as well as countless videos, and listen to many audios that tell the history and development of the maritime industry in the area. All this makes it an interesting place to visit with children.

The opening hours of this museum are from 10:00 to 14:00, so it is a perfect opening time for you who would be arriving at 10:00 or a few minutes later, to the place. To go through the whole museum, you won't need more than an hour and a half or two hours, so you would be leaving this place by 12:00 at the latest.

Details of interest

• Price: Children under 8 years old and school students get in for free, while the entrance fee for the rest of the public can cost between 1 and 3 euros. The variation depends on the age or condition of the visitor, whether student, retired, people under 18 years old.
• Hours: In winter it opens from Tuesday to Friday between 10:00 and 14:00 and between 16:00 and 19:00, while on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays it opens between 11:00 and 14:00 and between 17:00 and 20:00. In summer it is open from 11:00 to 14:00 and then from 16:30 to 20:00, every day.
• Means of transport: You can get there on foot from Tombo do Gato beach, but you can also get there by private car.
• How to get there: If you go by car, you only have to drive along Atlantida Avenue from the beach to the Museum's door.

When you leave the Museum of the Sea of Galicia, you will follow your way to a fishing village that perfectly reflects the seafaring characteristics of Vigo. It is located very close to the museum, so to get there you will have to drive along Avenida da Atlántida and then turn at the traffic circle to go towards Camiño da Veiguiña, to return to Atlántida and continue to the village of Bouzas.

One of the things you will like most about this village when you arrive is its large number of two-story houses, as well as its cobblestone streets and its very traditional commerce. You will be able to enjoy the food market and above all the beautiful promenade of almost 3 kilometers that is located in the town.

This is a place to take the time to walk it street by street and get lost in it. It has many traditional things to show, in addition to a coastal and traditional cuisine that you can not miss. It is in this place where I recommend you to look for a good place to eat. A good place to taste good food from Vigo is A Gavela and Los Fogones de Ana.

You can also visit this village by means of a guided tour, which will surely be one of the best excursions from Vigo that you can find to do. Between the visit and lunch in this place, you can take no more than 2 hours, so let's assume that you will leave this town at approximately 14:00, heading to your next destination.

Details of interest

• Price: There is no price to go to this village, unless you decide to take a guided excursion. What you do have to pay for is the food in the restaurants where you go to eat.
• Schedule: You can visit the village at any time you want, but during the day is much better. Now, if you go on a guided tour, the time will be proposed by the travel team.
• Means of transport: If you go on your own, I recommend you choose to go by rental car. If you go on a guided tour, you may travel by bus or car with all the comforts.
• How to get there: To get there you have to drive along Avenida da Atlántida and then follow the road to the village of Bouzas.

Leaving the outskirts of Vigo and driving in the direction of the old town, which will be one of your last stops, you will turn off towards the Port of Vigo. This is a must-see place if you go to Vigo for a day, because this place represents to a large extent what is the main economic activity of this region, fishing.

It is one of the main ports of Galicia and the whole of Spain, so why not visit it? You can go on your own, or you can choose to take a guided tour. The advantage of guided tours is that they will tell you much more than you can see, you will learn much more about the fishing history of the region and you will also learn about the current fishing activity.

Another thing you will like about this place is that you will have the opportunity to see for your own eyes, all the structures that converge in this place. Undoubtedly a visit that you will love to do with your family, with friends or with your partner, it is even a good place to include among the things to see and do in Vigo with children.

The schedule for these visits is from 11:00 to 13:00 and usually lasts at least two hours, then offer a seafood. Assuming you arrive at this place after 14:00, you will be able to participate in the mariscada, which will serve as lunch. If you want to eat something additional, you can do it in a restaurant in Bouzas.

Details of interest

• Price: If you go on your own, you can tour the port for free, but if you go with the intention of enjoying a guided tour, you can pay a fee of approximately 8 euros per person, although the price may vary depending on your age. In case you take a private guided tour, prices may vary according to the package.
• Hours: The port can be visited between 11:00 and 13:00 if you want a guided tour. If you want to visit on your own, you can do it at the time you want. The mariscada is from 14:00 to 17:00.
• Means of transport: You can arrive by private car or take a guided tour, in which you will go by bus with all the comforts.
• How to get there: To get to the Port from the town of Bouzas you will have to enter through the private streets that lead to the port.

About 14 minutes from the Port of Vigo is the emblematic Porta de Sol Square. It is located on the border between the old Vigo and the expansion of the city, although nobody knows this side of the city as such.

In any case this place is very special because in it stands one of the most popular sculptures of the whole city of Vigo, the Siren, which represents the symbiosis between a human being and a fish, alluding to the main economy of the region.

The square Porta de Sol gets its name because in the past one of the entrance gates to the old walled city was located in this place, that's why today you can see the difference between the old city and the modern one.

This is a good place to visit around 16:00 or 16:30, after arriving from your walk around the port. I recommend you to start here to make a complete tour of the surrounding places.

Details of interest

• Price: Being in this square is free.
• Time: You can be in this square as long as you want and at the time you want.
• Means of transport: Getting to this square is easy, you can do it by public transport, rental car or on a guided tour.
• How to get there: To get there from the port, you will have to go out to Beiramar Avenue, to continue to the center of Vigo.

A few steps further in from Porta de Sol, towards the old town of Vigo, you will be able to see the different nuances of the historic center of the city of Vigo. The best way to get to know the old town of Vigo is to take a guided tour with an expert tour guide, who will tell you everything you need to know about this place.

There is a lot to see in the old town, and in fact, it is a good place to have a coffee and a snack, because there are many interesting places and cafes that you can visit to taste the typical gastronomy of the region, some of these places are Nakez Coffee, Lauténtica and Vitruvia Café.

On the other hand, among the places you can not miss if you want to visit the historic center of Vigo, are: the Cathedral of Vigo, the Plaza de la Constitución, the church of Santa Maria and the Rúa de la Pescadería.

One of the best tours of Vigo with special attention to the old town and even the entrance of Porta, can take no less than 2 hours, so you will probably finish this activity around 18:00, just in time to continue to your next stop on the itinerary.

Details of interest

• Price: On your own you don't have to pay to enjoy the historic center, but if you pay for a guided tour, you can pay between 14 and 50 euros to walk around the city, the price varies according to the way the tour is done.
• Schedule: If you go on your own, the tour can be done at any time you want. If you go on a guided tour, you can coordinate with the guide, the time of the tour.
• Means of transportation: You can arrive by private car, walking or by bus if you go on a guided tour.
• How to get there: From Porta de Sol to the historic center, you can get there on foot because it is just a few steps away.

Very close to the historic center of the city of Vigo you will find one of the best museums in Vigo, which is also a bastion of the city in terms of art and culture. One of the best things you can find in this museum is the large number of educational and training programs offered for children.

For the rest of the tourists, the temporary exhibitions according to the latest artistic production are always changing, to offer the public a unique experience in each visit.

And speaking of visiting, the opening hours of this museum are until 21:00, so if you leave the Casco Historico at 18:00, you will have enough time to arrive and tour the museum. A service that you will like, especially if you arrive just at 18:00, is that precisely at that time the museum offers free guided tours to all visitors to the museum.

You will also have the opportunity to look at the permanent exhibitions, where you can learn about national and international art from a historical and reviewed point of view. In addition, admission is free to MARCO, which is excellent if you are going for a short time and with little money.

Details of interest

• Price: Free admission and free guided tours at 18:00.
• Hours: Monday closed. Tuesday to Saturday from 11:00 to 14:30 and from 17:00 to 21:00. Sundays from 11:00 to 14:00.
• Means of transport: Private car, on foot, by cab or guided tour.
• How to get there: You can reach the museum by private car and park near the museum. You can also arrive by cab or public transport. As you are coming from the historic center of Vigo, you can also get there on foot.

The castle on top of Monte O Castro is open to the public 24 hours a day. One of the historical sites do have a specific schedule, but in the case of the castle, you can visit it whenever you want.

This place is ideal to look at the whole city from a better perspective. I would say that it is one of the best viewpoints in the city, so it is worth going up right after leaving the Museum of Contemporary Art. By this time it should be no later than 20:00 hours.

At night time you will be able to see the whole city illuminated, so going up at this time is a good activity to include among the best things to do in Vigo at night and especially to get to know the place inside. The castle is fully illuminated, so you will have no problem seeing the whole place.

The visit to Monte O Castro won't take more than an hour, so when you go down, your watch should be no later than 21:30, a perfect time to grab a bite to eat and stay and party in the city of Vigo.

Interesting details

• Price: You can enter the place for free. If you go with a guided tour, you can pay a little more.
• Opening hours: This place is open to the public 24 hours a day.
• Means of transport: You can get there by private car, on foot or by public transport.
• How to get there: To get there you will have to climb the mountain which is approximately 150 meters high.

This is the place par excellence for parties and live music in Vigo. This is the place where the locals go out to party, so I recommend you to know the locals that are located in this place. This experience will start from 22:00.

Some of the places where you can taste the best tapas of Vigo's gastronomy are: Black Box Vigo, Pub Transylvania, 20th Century Rock and La Iguana Club. Also many of these places are ideal to stay and enjoy live music and discotheques.

The hours to enter these clubs vary according to each of the locals, as well as varying prices according to the offer of each of the establishments that are in the locality. The best thing about this place is that it has a varied gastronomic offer that not only includes traditional Vigo food, but also international food.

Interesting details

• Price: The price of admission to each place varies according to the policies of each one. The prices of the food may vary according to the menu of each establishment.
• Hours: This party and music venue is basically open at night. Some days it usually has daytime hours as well.
• Means of transport: You can arrive on foot, by public transport or by private car.
• How to get there: If you go by car, you can park near any of the establishments.