Routes to visit the Rías Altas. Between cliffs and castles

Touring the Rías Altas is an experience that you must live if you are looking for spectacular beaches, great views from its lighthouses, incomparable monuments or delicious cuisine based on the sea.
The Rías Altas comprise the entire Galician coast from La Coruña to Ribadeo, although in some places it is said that they begin in Fisterra, the limit between the Rías Altas and the Rías Baixas. To make it more complete, here we are going to do the tour from Fisterra.
Get ready to travel through one of those areas of Spain that you have to visit whenever you can. Here we show you 4 routes. The best thing is that you dedicate a different day to each of them to be able to enjoy them carefully.
The different routes to discover the Rías Altas of Galicia
The north of the Costa da Morte. From Fisterra to La Coruna
In the heart of the Costa da Morte we can begin our tour.
In the place where the world ended is the Cape Finisterre Lighthouse, from where you can enjoy one of the best sunsets you can experience.
To the north of Fisterra we find two towns, one opposite the other in the Ría de Camariñas. One of them is Camariñas itself.
The other is Muxía, a town with a long history, where in addition to enjoying its maritime atmosphere you can also visit the Sanctuary of the Virgen de la Barca, although it was recently destroyed in a fire caused by lightning.
Before reaching this area is Cape Touriñan, which is the westernmost point of Spain.
And further north Cape Vilán, from where you have great views of the Galician coast, and the Cemetery of the English, where one of the most terrible shipwrecks of the Costa da Morte occurred in 1790. 172 sailors died there. English ship.
As we get closer to La Coruña we have other points of interest such as Laxe, whose beach is one of the most beautiful in Galicia thanks to its white sand, and Malpica, where you can admire its fishing port and its narrow streets, before going to Cape from San Adrián, to have great views of the Sisargas Islands.
The estuaries of La Coruña, Betanzos and Ferrol
La Coruña by itself is already worth several days since taking a walk through La Marina, through its Old Town, through its beaches, the San Antón Castle or the Tower of Hercules are already enough reasons to spend a good time in this city..
Very close to La Coruña we have a very unique place, the Castle of Santa Cruz, located on an island in front of the beach of the village of Santa Cruz, which is accessed through a walkway. It is one of the most beautiful places in the area.
About 25km from La Coruña is Betanzos, a very interesting town with a very well preserved Old Town where we can find numerous churches and monuments, which make it the capital of Galician Gothic.
Our path continues towards Ferrol, leaving behind Ares or Pontedeume, and the Fragas do Eume Natural Park, until we reach the capital of the Ferrolterra region.
Ferrol is a city dedicated to the sea thanks to the importance of its port and that has important monuments such as the Castillo de San Felipe, near the mouth of the Ría de Ferrol.
Cape Prior should be the last visit on this tour for fantastic views of the coastline.
Enjoy the Costa Ártabra
It is one of the best preserved coasts in Galicia. Ferrol and Cabo Prior, which we have already talked about, are at one end of the Costa Ártabra, which extends to the Ría de Ortigueira.
Leaving behind exceptional beaches, the first great point of interest that we find is Cedeira, a beautiful fishing town with a lot of tourism and where you can visit the Castillo de la Concepción.
Nearby is San Andrés de Teixidó, the main place of pilgrimage in Galicia before the Camino de Santiago became popular.
According to legend, whoever offers to go on a pilgrimage to San Andrés de Teixidó and does not do so in life is obliged to do so once they are dead, taken by their relatives.
After admiring the truly impressive cliffs that surround San Andrés de Teixidó, we can head to Cape Ortegal, where the town of Cariño is located.
From Cabo Ortegal, there is no other choice but to enjoy the cliffs and the coast at your feet and admire the Estaca de Bares from afar, the northernmost point of the Iberian Peninsula.
Until there we will go to have a new view of the steep Costa Ártabra but not before visiting Ortigueira,
From Viveiro to Ribadeo and the Beach of the Cathedrals
From here on, the coast is less steep and seems to smooth out, but it does not lose its beauty for that, as we come across a series of towns that you should visit.
In the first place you have Viveiro, with an important artistic heritage with beautiful churches, forts, the remains of its walls, the buildings that overlook the Ría de Viveiro and its beautiful Plaza Mayor that you should not miss.
Celeiro, Burela and Foz are the following destinations where you can enjoy a typical marine environment of the area and especially its beaches.
But the beach of all beaches is the next point of interest, the Playa de las Catedrales.
Little can be said about the Playa de las Catedrales that has not already been said.
It is a fantastic place that you have to visit both at high tide to see how the water hits the cliff with force and at low tide to enjoy its sandy area and walk through the caves that the water has left free when it retreats.
Visiting the Playa de las Catedrales is a must if you travel to this area.
And to finish the tour of the Rías Altas, we find Ribadeo, a beautiful town with a very interesting old town where the Torre de los Moreno stands out.