Turismo de Galicia

Relaxation among hot springs

We’ll arrive in Lugo around noon. After dropping our bags at the hotel in the Old Town, we’ll eat in any of the restaurants dotting its streets.

Another option is to go for tapas, a deeply rooted custom in the city. No wonder its culinary motto is: “And to eat, Lugo”.

We’ll head back to the hotel to enjoy its Hot Springs Club, where parents can relax peacefully while the children have fun in the area designed for them adjacent to the swimming pool, in complete safety. You can access both facilities during your three-day stay.

Visit a nature reserve and take a journey to Roman times

After breakfast, we’ll take the car to Outeiro de Rei (16 km from Lugo in the direction of A Coruña), where Marcelle Natureza – a small zoo located in a natural setting – is to be found. Here, the family will spend a morning discovering the world of the fauna and flora.

The zoo has different areas over which species from different continents are spread, from zebras, ostriches and bisons to wolves, kangaroos, bobcats and reindeer, among many others. We’ll be amazed at both snakes and giant tortoises in the reptile centre.

To enjoy the visit as unhurriedly as possible, we recommend that you eat at the zoo itself, or bring your own picnic and allow yourselves to be enveloped by nature and the banks of the River Miño, which has been declared a Biosphere Reserve. This experience will serve to raise the awareness of children and adults about caring for nature.

The Wall of Lugo and its cathedral

Back in Lugo, we can take a walk along its Romanan wall, a World Heritage Site, and even stroll its full length, which extends just over two kilometres. Alternatively, take the Campo Castelo stairs up to Torre de A Mosquera, a recreation of what one of the towers in the wall would have been like at the time of its construction, and then descend to catch increasing glimpses of the cathedral, descending from the wall via the Puerta de Santiago, ramp, which is the only access for people with reduced mobility or those with children in strollers.

Entering the cathedral will lead us to a unique interior since, of the five bishoprics in Galicia, only Lugo retains its choir stalls in the centre of the church. Another surprise awaits us in the apse: the Chapel of the Virgen de los Ojos Grandes, of whom there are many devotees in the city.

The Cathedral of Lugo is the only one in Galicia that preserves the choir stalls in the centre of the church.

The Wall Interpretation Centre.
We’ll exit the cathedral through its north door, and enter the maze of streets in the Old Town until we reach the Praza do Camposquare. We head over to the Wall Interpretation Centre on its construction and daily life in the city. Videos and touch screens will take both children and adults back in time to the Roman era, when temples, houses, buildings and walls were built in Lucus Augusti, the name given to the city when it was founded as one of the capitals of Gallaecia, the Galicia of the Romans.

Later on, in one of the restaurants and tapas bars for which Lugo is so famous, we’ll allow ourselves to be tempted by fish, meat or vegetables typical of Galician cuisine.

Hot springs and a trip through history

In the morning, there will still be time enough for one last dip in the pools of the hot springs club. Or – while the children enjoy the play area, depending on their ages – parents can enjoy health, aesthetic or beauty treatments in one of the booths in the hotel’s facilities.

Before leaving Lugo we recommend that you pay a visit to the Provincial Museum, housed in a former Franciscan convent. Entrance is free and in its rooms will take us on a trip to the past. We’ll get a close-up look at torques and other gold jewellery worn by the inhabitants of our fortified pre-Roman Iron Age villages, the remains of mosaics that decorated the floors of the richest houses in the city, or the recreation of a traditional Galician kitchen with a lareira (hearth), potes (pots) and cantareiros (jug racks), along with other characteristics items and utensils. The ensemble comes complete with paintings, sculptures and an exhibition of ceramic and porcelain from Sargadelos, together with a collection of fans and timepieces that will amaze you.

Our steps will lead us to the Alameda or Praza Maior, with its terraces, and to the City Council. We’ll take one last family photo next to the monument depicting the city’s founders. Then we’ll return to the hotel to collect our bags and finish off this journey through the history of Galicia, its natural beauty and the benefits of its micro-medicinal waters.

The Lugo Provincial Museum houses a recreation of a traditional Galician kitchen