Logbook · 10 places

What to see and do in A Illa de Arousa

What to see and do in A Illa de Arousa (Salnés, Pontevedra): 10 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 3 Monuments · 3 Nature · 1 Activities · 1 Curiosities · 1 Historical milestones

How far each place is from the centre of A Illa de Arousa

Towns near A Illa de Arousa

What to see in Vilanova de Arousa 2.9 km · 7 places
What to see in Cambados 6.1 km · 11 places
What to see in O Grove 6.6 km · 12 places
What to see in A Pobra do Caramiñal 7.6 km · 18 places
What to see in Ribadumia 9.7 km · 7 places
What to see in Ribeira 11 km · 24 places
What to see in Boiro 11 km · 18 places
What to see in Vilagarcía de Arousa 11 km · 10 places

Spain › Galicia › Pontevedra › Salnés › A Illa de Arousa

What to see and do in A Illa de Arousa

A Illa de Arousa
Village
A Illa de Arousa, split off from Vilanova de Arousa in 1996, is the only island concello in Galicia: around 4,813 inhabitants (INE 2025) on barely 7 km², linked to the mainland since September 1985 by a two-kilometre bridge. The island was already inhabited in the Palaeolithic, from which mámoas remain on the islet of Guidoiro Areoso, and it preserves Roman remains near the punta do Naso and a necropolis on the dos Bufos beach; in 912 half the island passed to the monastery of San Martiño Pinario, and in 929 King Alfonso IV founded that of San Xián. From 1845 onward the salting industry and sardine fishing developed, with as many as seven factories. Its southern tip, O Carreirón, is a protected area much frequented by migratory birds.
Bridge of a Illa de Arousa
Monument
A box-girder bridge linking the Illa de Arousa with the Salnés coast, level with Vilanova; it was inaugurated on 14 September 1985, at the time one of the most notable civil engineering works of its era and, at almost two kilometres, the longest bridge in Galicia. Its construction, demanded for decades by local residents - who held the Festa Pro Ponte in 1979 to call for it -, was budgeted at 1,500 million pesetas. The structure has a continuous girder of 38 fifty-metre spans plus two more of forty metres at the ends, laid out on a curve with a radius of 2.5 kilometres, on piles reaching down to 40 metres. At its inauguration the island belonged to the municipality of Vilanova de Arousa; in 1996 it regained its status as a separate municipality, and today each one is responsible for half the bridge.
Natural area of the Carreirón
Nature
The southern tip of the island, with lagoons, dunes and coves, declared a special protection area for birds and included in the Natura 2000 Network; herons, cormorants and waders make it a leading spot for birdwatching.
Beach of Area da Secada
Nature
Area de Secada is a 250-metre stretch of fine white sand in the north of A Illa de Arousa, reached by dirt tracks, though paved at the exits. It has a walkway running from the IGAFA (Instituto Galego de Formación en Acuicultura) to the end of the beach, and meets the requirements for the blue flag, which it obtained in 2007 together with Camaxe beach on the same island. It is a very deep beach, so much so that even at low tide you need not walk ten metres before the water is over a person's height. Fairly far from the island's town centre, it is the busiest beach in the municipality and a usual starting point for kayaks.
Islet of Areoso
Curiosity
A sand islet a little over a kilometre from A Illa de Arousa where erosion has laid bare several Neolithic mámoas and a dolmen; the retreat of the dune now threatens that megalithic cemetery.
Lighthouse of Punta Cabalo
Monument
The Punta Cabalo lighthouse stands on rocks at the north-eastern tip of the Illa de Arousa, within the ría de Arousa, to mark the shoals of the estuary. Its construction began in 1853 under the direction of the engineer Celedonio de Uribe, and its light was lit for the first time on 19 October of that same year; it was originally tended by two lighthouse keepers, a post abolished in the early 20th century. From its base one can take in the maze of bateas that fills the interior of the estuary and the silhouette of the island of Cortegada, as well as the Area de Secada beach, off which runs what is known as the dolphin route, where dolphins come to feed on the fish that cross this part of the ría.
Con do Forno
Nature
The highest point of the island of Arousa, at barely 68 metres of altitude; from its summit, and from the neighbouring mirador do Santo, one commands the whole ría and the string of sandy beaches that surround the municipality.
Canning Industry Interpretation Centre
Monument
An exhibition space devoted to the island's canning industry, where sardine has been tinned since 1845 and where in 1879 the Goday factory opened, one of the pioneers of the ría of Arousa.
The restoration of the municipality of A Illa de Arousa
Historical milestone
The island recovered its own town council after having been a municipality in 1833, passing to Vilanova in 1873 and to Vilagarcía between 1935 and 1945; in 1934 it went so far as to proclaim an independence that lasted hours.
Festival of a Navalla
Activity
An event on 27 July devoted to the razor clam, the mollusc extracted by free diving from the sandy beds of the ría; it opens the island's gastronomic calendar, which continues with the mussel and the octopus.