Getaways from Pontevedra: day trips and destinations close by.

The AP-9, the backbone of almost every route

The AP-9 is the backbone of almost every route. To the north it takes you to Santiago de Compostela in an hour; to the south, to Vigo in half an hour, where the boat leaves for the Cíes Islands. Without leaving the ría, the PO-308 skirts the Poio coast to Combarro and continues towards Sanxenxo, and the Salnés expressway takes you to Cambados in about half an hour. Inland, the motorway leads to Ourense in an hour and a quarter, and from there to the Ribeira Sacra. To the south, past Tui, the Portuguese motorway heads down towards Braga, Guimarães and Porto.

Without a car, the Eje Atlántico train links Pontevedra with Santiago and A Coruña to the north and with Vigo to the south, and scheduled buses leave the city along the Poio coast. For the Cíes, the boat leaves from Vigo's Estación Marítima. For the rest, the Costa da Morte, the Sil canyon or the Gerês, you need a car.

The whole ría, less than half an hour away

Less than half an hour away is what fits into a morning: the granaries of Combarro and the Poio monastery, 14 minutes; Vigo harbour for the Cíes, 28, and Cambados, 29. It is the strip of the ría, with fish lunches without needing to get up early.

Around an hour are Santiago, 61 minutes, with a direct train, and Ourense, 75, with its hot springs beside the Miño.

Between an hour and a half and two hours the day lengthens and crosses borders: Guimarães, 104 minutes; Muxía and Camariñas, 108; Monforte de Lemos and the Ribeira Sacra, 110; O Ézaro and Fisterra, on the Costa da Morte, 116, and Porto, 119. From here several destinations call for a night: the Ribeira Sacra in two nights, the Costa da Morte sleeping in Fisterra or the Gerês, 125 minutes away via Braga.

More than two and a half hours away, Lake Sanabria, 160 minutes, is already a weekend trip.

Xunta authorisation and a booked boat for the Cíes

From mid-May to mid-September the day on the Cíes Islands rules, with Xunta authorisation and boat booked beforehand; June and September are the months with fewer people. In summer it is best to reach Combarro before ten, and in August the Albariño Festival fills Cambados.

In September comes the Salnés grape harvest and, from mid-September to mid-October, the deer rut in Sanabria and the Sierra de la Culebra. In October and November the terraced vineyards of the Sil turn yellow: the autumn Sunday in the Sil canyon combines the catamaran with two hours at the Outariz hot springs.

From October to June, Ourense's hot water shines more in the cold air: the thermal Sunday or the bathing weekend, which do not depend on the weather. For rainy days, Monforte de Lemos, with El Greco and trains, and Santiago, with the cathedral roofs also work.

The granaries of Combarro first thing

• Without leaving the ría: Combarro and Pontevedra. The granaries of Combarro first thing, the Pontevedra Museum, free on Sunday morning, lunch in the old town and the Poio monastery in the afternoon.
• With wine and no hurry: albariño in Cambados. Half an hour by car, a winery with the Arousa ría in front of you and the afternoon among the ruins of Santa Mariña and the pazos; better for someone who is not tasting to drive.
• Across the Miño: Porto on a Sunday. Two hours of motorway to climb the Clérigos Tower, go down to the Ribeira, see the six bridges from the river and taste port in Gaia. Closer, 104 minutes away, is Guimarães with its castle and the Penha cable car.