Logbook · 7 places

What to see and do in Baiona

What to see and do in Baiona (Vigo, Pontevedra): 7 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

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

When to go to Baiona: festival calendar

March: A Arribada (first weekend of March)

How far each place is from the centre of Baiona

Towns near Baiona

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Spain › Galicia › Pontevedra › Vigo › Baiona

What to see and do in Baiona

Baiona
Village
Baiona is a town of around 12,000 inhabitants located at the entrance to the ria of Vigo, in the Miñor Valley district, within the Vigo metropolitan area. It owes its fame to 1 March 1493, when the caravel Pinta, commanded by Martín Alonso Pinzón, arrived on its shores after Columbus's voyage, making Baiona the first town in the Old World to learn the news of the discovery of America; on the first weekend of March, the event is re-enacted in the medieval festival of La Arribada. Its harbour holds a replica of the caravel at the foot of the fortress of Monterreal, today converted into a parador. The origin of its name, documented as Baiona since the 13th century, remains a subject of debate among specialists.
Fortress of Monterreal
Monument
Walled precinct of medieval origin, enlarged in the sixteenth century, on Monte Boi, the peninsula that closes the ría: some 18 hectares and close to three kilometres of wall and wall-walk, with the towers do Príncipe, da Tenaza and do Reloxo. Since 1966 it has housed the Parador Conde de Gondomar.
Virgin of the Rock
Monument
A colossal stone sculpture of the Virgin Mary, 15 metres tall, raised on Mount Sansón or San Roque, 100 metres above sea level, in the Rías Baixas, in the municipality of Baiona. The idea came from the engineer Laureano Salgado Rodríguez; the first stone was laid on 18 September 1910 and the work, financed by public subscription promoted by Mercedes de la Escalera, was inaugurated on 14 September 1930. The stone carving is by the architect Antonio Palacios, while the face and hands, of white marble, are the work of the sculptor Ángel García Díaz. Through its hollow interior runs a spiral staircase that climbs up to the boat the Virgin holds in her right hand, turned into a viewpoint.
Former collegiate church of Santa María of Baiona
Monument
A church of the second half of the 13th century, with three naves and austere Cistercian forms linked to the monastery of Oia, in the passage from Romanesque to Gothic; it was a collegiate church from 1482, by order of Bishop Diego de Muros, until 1850.
Beach of a Ladeira
Nature
A long beach at the mouth of the river Miñor, backed by a dune system and joined by the coastal promenade to the town of Baiona; it is one of the council's beaches awarded a blue flag and a regular spot for sailing and kitesurfing. It stretches between the parishes of Baíña and Santa Cristina da Ramallosa, on a coastal spit that gives it its name, and at 1,300 metres is the largest beach in the municipality of Baiona. Next to it there is a first-category campsite.
A Arribada
Activity
A festival that re-enacts, on the first weekend of March, the arrival in Baiona of the caravel Pinta, captained by Martín Alonso Pinzón, on 1 March 1493: on the return voyage from America, a storm had separated the ship from the rest of the fleet in the Azores, and on board was the Baiona man Cristóbal García Sarmiento, who set course for Baiona, the first place in Europe to receive news of the discovery of America. The town turns for a weekend into a 15th-century port, with a medieval market, guilds and crafts, a replica of the ship moored at the quay and thousands of costumed participants; on Ribeira beach the account Pinzón gave to the magistrate of Baiona is staged. Declared a festival of international tourist interest of Spain in 2015, it gathers around 30,000 people each year.
The arrival of the caravel Pinta
Historical milestone
The caravel Pinta, commanded by Martín Alonso Pinzón, separated from Columbus's expedition by a storm during the return voyage, arrived at the port of Baiona on 1 March 1493, even before Columbus reached Palos with the Niña; the Galician town thus became the first place in Europe to learn the news of the discovery of the New World. Rodrigo de Triana had sailed on that same ship, the sailor who on 12 October 1492 first sighted American land. Ever since it was declared an official local festival in 1974, Baiona has re-enacted every year, at the Festa da Arribada, a medieval market and the dramatized arrival of the caravel; a replica of the Pinta, today housed in a museum, is kept in the town's port.