The 21 Best Things to See and Do in Santiago De Compostela, Spain

Planning a visit to this underrated Spanish city? Enhance your trip by booking a spot on one of these bookable tours in Santiago de Compostela.

You can’t go to Santiago and not visit its cathedral. Built during the 1300s, the changes over the subsequent centuries have added Gothic and Baroque features to its Romanesque architecture. The grand Plaza del Obradoiro leaves enough room to admire the Cathedral’s impressive size and design, and through the front doors you will find the Portico de Gloria, the Corticela chapel and the relic of Saint John – all for free. For a small fee you can climb to the roof and admire the view over the city. Every day at noon there is a mass, and if you’re lucky you might see the famous Botafumeiro, an incense spreader weighing 80 kilos and measuring 1.6 meters high!

After visiting the cathedral you should also visit the Cathedral Museum, which is inside the cathedral. Here, the layers of history, the very bones of the city, are unveiled and it is only then that you can truly understand the place. The exhibitions are well displayed, there are a number of artworks including a collection of tapestries and paintings, and during your visit you can also see a medieval stone choir, a cloister, a library and a lovely view from the top floor.

If you’re feeling hungry you should head over to the San Franciscan convent, which housed Franciscan monks in the 18th century. The monks have now moved to a more modern building and the old convent serves as a hotel and restaurant. The food is delicious, and they offer a special Pilgrim menu with typical convent or monastery dishes. The unique food, combined with the architecture and décor, will make for an unforgettable experience. If you have time, check out the chapel and Holy Land museum next door.

This is a beautiful park with wonderful views of the cathedral and the old town from the Ferradura walk. Alameda park is great place to seek peace and quiet away from the busy center or to eat a lunchtime picnic. One of the park’s many statues is ‘Las dos Marias’ (the two Marys), which depicts a fun piece of local history. The two women became famous during the 1950s and 1960s by walking through the city center every day at 2pm sharp, dressed and made up in what was considered an eccentric manner, and flirting with the university students.

The 10th-century baroque Benedictine monastery and church are open to visits for a very reasonable fee. The church has a beautiful stairway and its walnut choir stalls made by Mateo de Prado are considered the most impressive in Galicia. When you visit, try to imagine the bustle of the daily lives of the monks who only left towards the middle of the 19th century. The Monastery is now used as a university residence, a hotel, and it also houses a museum with a miscellaneous array of historical artifacts. Lucky students who have the privilege to live there!

Designed by Peter Eisenmann, the City of Culture is a great white mound copying the curves and bumps of earthy hills. The construction costs have been the cause of great controversy, but Santiago’s City of Culture is still worthy of a visit if only to see the extraordinary architecture. Visit the library and check out the events program to learn about any exhibitions they are running, and they also organize concerts and workshops. To get to the City of Culture there are buses from the city center.

Only open during the semana santa (Easter Week) and the summer, this museum is a little jewel. Walking through its front door is like walking back to the end of the 19th century, when the building served as a boarding house for university students. The place was the source of inspiration for Alejandro Pérez Lugín’s novel La Casa de la Troya. Anyone who was ever a student will find it fascinating to compare the 19th century university life with their own experiences.

San Pelayo Church and Monastery is just a stone’s throw away from the main cathedral. The church contains several baroque altarpieces and there is a small Sacred Art Museum attached to it which is worth a tour. There are still nuns living in the monastery who sell scrumptious baked goods – such as the typical Santiago almond cake – from a revolving window. Dare to ring – if you’re lucky you might hear them practice their music or Gregorian chants.

Eugenio Granell was a Spanish-born surrealist painter. The foundation owns a collection of his works as well as a collection of artifacts he and his wife collected throughout their travels. The foundation also owns works by other surrealist painters such as Miró, Copley or Cruzeiro Seixas. They organize temporary exhibitions, workshops, theater plays and conferences, and they are currently amassing an ever-growing library dedicated to Surrealism and 20th-century art. This is a perfect find for any art lover.

Casco Historico in Spanish means Historical Center. Take time to explore the little streets around the cathedral and you will find lots of hidden squares, like the Plaza de Cervantes, with beautiful statues and intricate fountains. The district is alive with activity, and as you walk around the old streets you are likely to chance upon a mass or the gathering of a procession. There are also lots of cafés and restaurants where you can sit down to enjoy some Spanish tapas and watch the world go by.

The Galician Centre for Contemporary Art is the place for Galician art, and it also offers one of the best views of the city. It sits in a modern building, designed by the Portuguese architect Álvaro Siza. Its permanent collection houses 1,200 pieces, and there are also changing temporary exhibitions to see. Recommended by Esme Fox.

Santiago’s main market, the Market of Abastos is the second-most visited spot in the city after the Cathedral. The market, built in 1837, has around 300 stalls selling everything from local cheeses to cured meats and empanadas (filled-pastry pies). Recommended by Esme Fox.

The Catholic Monarchs commissioned the Hostal dos Reis Católicos – which sits on Praza do Obradoiro square, next to the Cathedral – in 1501 as a hospital for sick pilgrims who walked the Camino de Santiago. Today, the building serves as one of the most luxurious Parador hotels in Spain – the five-star Hotel Parador. Recommended by Esme Fox.

Santiago de Compostela is most famous for being the last stop on the Camino de Santiago, so why not find out all about it at the Museum of Pilgrims and Santiago? Housed in the old Banco de España building, it was redesigned by award-winning architect Manuel Gallego Jorreto and reopened as a museum dedicated to the city and its famous pilgrimage route in 2012. Recommended by Esme Fox.

You can’t visit Galicia without trying its most famous regional dish – pulpo a la Gallego or Galician-style octopus. The octopus is boiled and then chopped up into small chunks, served on a layer of potatoes and sprinkled with paprika. One of the best places to try this dish in Santiago is the traditional Restaurante Pulpería Fuentes. Recommended by Esme Fox.

Housed inside the old Convento de Santo Domingo de Bonaval, built in the 14th century, the Museum of Galician People is dedicated to the preservation and promotion of Galician culture. It houses 11,500 items, including art, archaeological and agricultural objects, costumes, jewellery and musical instruments. Recommended by Esme Fox.

Platerías Square sits south of the Cathedral. It was named after the silversmith (plata is silver in Spanish) workshops, which used to be located here under the arches. The Cathedral’s single Romanesque façade, the Casa del Cabildo and the Casa del Deán – an 18th-century palace-house – borders the square. In its centre sits the Fuente de los Caballos (Fountain of the Horses). Recommended by Esme Fox.

The Palace of Xelmírez is a beautiful 12th-century Romanesque building, which was once the Bishop’s Palace and commissioned by the Archbishop Diego Xelmírez. Inside, you can see an old medieval kitchen and the 13th-century dining hall used for meals. Recommended by Esme Fox.

The Museum of the Holy Land sits inside the Hotel Monumento San Francisco, which, in turn, is housed inside the old San Francisco monastery. It houses around 700 pieces from the Paleolithic era to the present – artefacts all brought from Jerusalem in the Holy Land. There’s everything here from ornaments and carvings to military objects, models and ceramics. Recommended by Esme Fox.

Santiago’s Museum of Natural History is part of the University area and lies within an innovative building designed by César Portela. The structure, built as a series of cubes, has various rooms dedicated to natural sciences, including a soil room, an African savannah room and a South American jungle room. Recommended by Esme Fox.

The Collegiate Church of Sar’s Museum is a small museum housed in the Romanesque Church of Santa María de Sar. It houses a number of important historical documents, gold and silver items from the 18th century and a series of pieces from the old Romanesque cloister. Recommended by Esme Fox.