Ribeira by boat from Vilanova: the great fishing port of the Ría de Arousa and Coroso beach

Look at a map of the Ría de Arousa and you'll see its mouth is guarded by two headlands: O Grove to the south and the Barbanza peninsula to the north, with Ribeira at its tip. It is the largest town on the whole northern shore, it has the most important inshore fishing port in Europe, and yet hardly anyone who hires a boat on the ría thinks of it as a destination. We hire out our skippered boat from the port of Vilanova de Arousa, and we've been crossing over to Ribeira for years whenever the weather allows. We promise you it is one of the saltiest, most authentic trips we do.

In this guide we explain what Ribeira is, what you see while crossing the ría, where we anchor, what to eat and how we fit the route into a half-day or full-day boat hire.

Where Ribeira is and why it's worth the crossing

Santa Uxía de Ribeira, which everyone simply calls Ribeira, is in the province of A Coruña, at the tip of the Barbanza peninsula, directly opposite O Grove and the island of Sálvora. It is a town of around 27,000 people that lives from the sea in every possible way: inshore fishing, canning, mussels, beach tourism and, increasingly, leisure boating.

From Vilanova we see it every day across the water. In a straight line it is about 10-12 nautical miles, which in our 8.5 metre boat means 40-50 minutes of easy cruising, depending on the wind and on whether we stop along the way (we always do).

Three reasons we love taking people there:

• It's a real working port. Ribeira is not a marina lined with café terraces: it's a huge fish market, hundreds of inshore boats, nets on the quay, gulls and the smell of sardines. If you want to see authentic seafaring Galicia, there's no better spot on the ría.
• It has a huge town beach, Praia de Coroso, almost 1.5 km long, facing into the ría and therefore calm for anchoring and swimming.
• It sits on the edge of the open Atlantic. From Ribeira, Sálvora is a stone's throw away and, round the point, you find the Corrubedo dunes, the only natural park in the Rías Baixas, with a moving dune a kilometre long.

The crossing: what you see between Vilanova and Ribeira

We leave the port of Vilanova de Arousa and head north-west. The first thing we leave to port is the Illa de Arousa with its bridge and, at its northern tip, the Punta Cabalo lighthouse. From there we enter the mussel raft zone: the Ría de Arousa is the largest mussel farm in Europe and crossing it means sailing between thousands of these wooden platforms. We go slowly, because this is where the wildlife is: cormorants drying in the sun, herons on the floats and, with luck, a bottlenose dolphin coming over to have a look.

Around halfway across, on the left, the Illa de Rúa appears with its little white lighthouse, a granite islet that seems placed there just for the photo. Further out, closing the ría to the west, is the long silhouette of the Illa de Sálvora. And straight ahead, growing all the time, Ribeira: the white mass of the town, the port cranes and behind them Mount A Curota, which at 500 metres is the great viewpoint of the Barbanza.

What to do when you reach Ribeira

The port and the fish market

We enter slowly through the harbour mouth and tour the port from the water. It's impressive: the Ribeira fish market handles thousands of tonnes of fresh fish every year, mainly sardine, horse mackerel, mackerel, octopus and shellfish. If we arrive late morning we'll see boats unloading; the auction itself takes place in the afternoon and can be visited from the gallery, but we prefer to watch it from the boat, which is how the people who work there see it.

In the same port the big trawlers share space with dornas, the traditional boat of the ría, with its sharp bow and lug sail. Ribeira gives them a festival of their own, the Festa da Dorna, every 24 July: a regatta of hand-built dornas made from impossible materials and a whole town in fancy dress. If your dates coincide, don't miss it.

Praia de Coroso

Leaving the port eastwards, ten minutes away, is Coroso, Ribeira's big beach. It is a town beach, but a vast one, with a lovely promenade, the San Roque recreation area at one end and calm water because it faces into the ría. We anchor a few metres off the shore and this is where we make the long stop: swimming, paddle boarding, snorkelling among the rocks at the point and lunch on board if you've brought it.

Aguiño, Castiñeiras and the mouth of the ría

If the day is long and the sea is calm, we carry on westwards along the Ribeira coast: we pass the fishing villages of Castiñeiras and Aguiño, with their tiny harbours full of dornas, and peer out at the mouth of the ría, where the Atlantic starts to make itself felt. From here Sálvora is less than two miles away and the Corrubedo dunes lie just behind the point. We don't usually round the point to Corrubedo with clients, because that is open sea and the experience changes, but looking out at a horizon with no land on it is one of the moments of the day.

If you go ashore

Ribeira has a marina and you can land for a while. House recommendations:

• Eat fresh fish in any tavern by the port: here the sardines, horse mackerel and octopus come straight from the market. Ribeira is the land of empanada de xoubas (small sardine pie) and caldeirada (fish stew).
• Drive or take a taxi up to the A Curota viewpoint if you want the aerial photo of the whole ría with the boat below.
• For those coming back another day: the Axeitos dolmen, around 6,000 years old, and the Castro da Cidá hill fort are ten minutes from the centre.

Half day or full day

Ribeira is one of those destinations where the choice matters:

• Half day (4 h, €300): direct crossing, tour of the port from the water, an hour anchored at Coroso and back. It's doable and enjoyable, but tight, and we don't go ashore.
• Full day (€500): this is what we recommend. A relaxed departure with stops at the mussel rafts and the Illa de Rúa, the port of Ribeira, lunch and a long swim at Coroso, a run out to Aguiño and the mouth of the ría, and back to Vilanova with the sun already low behind the Illa de Arousa. If you like, we return along the Carreirón side of the Illa de Arousa, which is wonderful at that hour.

In both cases fuel is extra, the skipper is included and the boat takes a maximum of 6 people.

Practical tips for going to Ribeira by boat

• Watch the north-westerly wind. This is the most exposed crossing we do inside the ría. With a north-easterly or calm weather it's a pleasure cruise; with a strong north-westerly we postpone or change the plan, and we'll tell you in advance.
• Autumn is a great time. In October and November the water is still mild, there is less traffic on the ría and the light over the Barbanza is spectacular. It's also high season for fish at the market.
• Bring a warm layer even if it's sunny: there is always more breeze crossing the ría than on the coast.
• Book ahead in summer: in July and August full days fill up fast.

Book your trip to Ribeira

If you want to see the great port of the Ría de Arousa, swim at Coroso and look out at the Atlantic from the mouth of the ría, message us and we'll tailor the plan to you: WhatsApp +34 685 74 24 20. We depart from the port of Vilanova de Arousa, half day €300, full day €500, fuel extra, skipper included and up to 6 people.

Ribeira is waiting across the water. We'll take you there.

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Photos: Luis Miguel Bugallo Sánchez (Lmbuga) — CC BY-SA 3.0 / CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.