Cambados, the albariño town on the Arousa estuary.

Cambados is a seafaring town in the Salnés, on the south shore of the Arousa estuary, and the capital of albariño from the Rías Baixas Designation of Origin. Its old town is a Site of Cultural Interest, with one of the finest ensembles of pazos (manor houses) and stately homes in Galicia, and around it, among vines trained on pergolas, are the bodegas. You can see it in a day from Pontevedra or Santiago; with a night, you enjoy it without driving after tasting.

How do I get there from Pontevedra or Santiago?

By car. From Pontevedra, along the Salnés road, it is about half an hour. From Santiago it is about 65 km along the AP-9 and the Salnés expressway, with the exit for Cambados. In the centre parking is harder in summer; the seafront promenade and the area around plaza de Fefiñanes are the reference. If you are going to taste wine, arrange for someone who doesn't drink to drive: the bodegas are outside the town.

Which bodega should I visit?

There are two in the town, in very different styles. The bodega of the Palacio de Fefiñanes is in the centre, inside a palace that is a monument, and is one of the historic albariño houses; it opens Monday to Saturday by reservation. Martín Códax, in Vilariño, on the outskirts, is the big bodega, with a tasting terrace over the estuary and tours every day by reservation: from €21 for the Orixe visit, of 75 minutes and two wines, which admits children.

Ten or twenty minutes by car, through the interior of the Salnés, there are three more. Granbazán, in Tremoedo, 3 km away, receives visitors in a blue-tiled building, for €25 with tasting and half price for under-12s. Paco & Lola, in Meaño, is a cooperative of more than 430 winegrowers, with a three-wine tour for €15. Pazo Baión, in Vilanova de Arousa, also shows the estate, with the dairy and the dovecote, from €25, and under-18s do not pay.

On Sundays, neither Fefiñanes nor Martín Códax runs tours, and Granbazán does not either. The exception is the Gourmet Visit at Paco & Lola, on Saturday and Sunday at 13:00, subject to availability.

What else is there to see?

The walk around the old town starts in the great plaza de Fefiñanes and reaches A Mouta beach, with the remains of the Torre de San Sadurniño. At the top, the ruins of Santa Mariña Dozo, a roofless Gothic church turned into a cemetery, share the site with the Museo Etnográfico y del Vino. To get away from the wine, learning to gather shellfish with the estuary's shellfish gatherers is a three-hour experience that also admits children. And for a morning on foot, the Ruta da Pedra e da Auga descends 6.5 km beside the river Armenteira, past more than thirty mills, from A Armenteira, a quarter of an hour by car.

Where do I eat and sleep?

For a special meal, Yayo Daporta, with one Michelin star, in a former 18th-century hospital: creative Galician cooking with shellfish and seaweed from the estuary; it opens on Sunday lunchtimes and is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. To sleep, the Parador, in the Pazo de Bazán, on the seafront and with a seasonal pool, or the Pazo A Capitana, a 15th-century house among vines on the outskirts.

When to go

From May to October. In September the grape harvest arrives. Around the first Sunday of August the Albariño Festival is held, with the bodegas out on the street; book everything well ahead for those days. In winter it is quiet and you eat just as well, but the bodegas receive visitors by reservation and not all open on Sundays.

How long do I need?

A day is enough for a bodega, a walk around the old town, Santa Mariña and a good meal. With a night you add a second bodega in the interior and the estuary at dusk without watching the clock, or the mill route in the morning.