42.42° N · 7.48° W
A catamaran along the Sil canyon, tastings at Doade, the Balcones de Madrid and Monforte de Lemos, an hour from Lugo and Ourense. What to book and where to eat on Sunday.
Part of Unusual places to stay in Spain
What to do
Each plan says how long it takes, who it's for and whether you can book.
Boat · 2 h round trip to Santa Cristina de Ribas de Sil · €9, reduced €5 · Guide included · Booking compulsory with named ticket
Viewpoint · Short walk · Free · Stone balconies over the deepest part of the Sil canyon
Boat · 1 h 30 · About 12 km through the Sil canyon · From €13 · All ages · In winter, only Fridays, weekends and public holidays
Itineraries
Days and weekends already planned out, with how to get between each stop and who to book with.
Plan the trip
Each choice narrows the next: the season shapes how best to travel, and how you travel decides where you stay and where you eat.
When to go
May, for the green, and from September to early November, for the grape harvest and the colour of the vines. In summer it is hot at the bottom of the canyon; in winter many places open only some days.
How you travel
Choose how you're travelling and we'll tell you where to stay, how to get around, where to eat and which services you'll need. We only show the ways of travelling that make sense here.
The Ribeira Sacra has no useful public transport between jetties, wineries and viewpoints: it is done by car. The roads are narrow and winding, and crossing from one bank of the Sil to the other means finding a bridge. Plan fewer stops than the map suggests.
Who you're with
A trip with a toddler is not the same as one with a teenager. Pick yours to see what works and what to bear in mind.
With children, the Ribeira Sacra works if you swap wineries for boats and trains. A catamaran in the morning, lunch and, in the afternoon, the Monforte Railway Museum: an unhurried day with little driving.
For the youngest, the canyon is best seen from the water: the boats are calm, have a guide and do not ask you to walk. Off the boat, the train museum is the stop that lasts longest.
The Ribeira Sacra combines canyon scenery, boats on the Sil and the Miño and wineries with terraces above the sloping vineyards. For a group it is a slow-paced plan: you sail, taste and eat looking at the river. For a group, the Ribeira Sacra needs organising: ideally a boat with a winery or waterfall on Saturday, a long tasting with lunch on Sunday and accommodation among the terraces to serve as a base. The boat trips have a minimum number of people and the wineries are visited by reservation, so settling the number of friends before calling avoids last-minute changes.
Where to stay
We show you what suits the way you travel.Change how you travel
© ParadoresHotelWhy we like it: Parador in the San Vicente do Pino monastery and the palace of the Counts of Lemos, at the top of Monforte: rooms around the cloister, outdoor pool and jacuzzi.
Why we like it: 1511 pazo in Rosende, Sober, with 13 rooms, a chapel with frescoes and over 10,000 m² of walled garden and vineyard; breakfast and dinner extra.
Why we like it: 18th-century manor house with Castinandi frescoes in Anllo, Sober, between the Cabe and the Sil: bathrooms with baths, library with fireplace, own garden and home-cooked dinner at €29.
© ParadoresHotelWhy we like it: Parador in the Benedictine monastery of Santo Estevo, above the Sil canyon: rooms in the former monks' cells, three cloisters and a spa in the cellars.
Services for this trip
Areas, for any way of travelling
| Area | Who it's for | Average night |
|---|---|---|
| Monforte de Lemos | Parador, museums, tourist office and services | |
| Doade and Sober | Bodegas, landing stages and rural houses | |
| Parada de Sil | Viewpoints, Santa Cristina, Mao walkways and a bodega | |
| Belesar, Chantada and Pantón | Boats on the Miño, a bodega and a monastery |
Where to eat
From set lunch menus to Michelin stars. We mark the price level and what to order at each place.
What to order: the Esencia menu if it is your first time; dishes without meat or fish, only on the menú carta
What to order: the Galician caldo and the Caurel kid, or the €49 wine-tourism menu with four house wines
© ParadoresWhat to order: home-made empanada, pulpo á feira and the caramelised filloa
What to order: a house mencía with some tapas, before or after the winery visit
Nearby
The closest places, whichever country they are in.
42.34° N · 7.88° W
By car
42.46° N · 6.77° W
By car
42.12° N · 6.72° W
By car
41.72° N · 8.16° W
By carBy campervanCamping
Tips
The Diputación boat only lets you on with a ticket bought online, and you must be there 30 minutes early with your ID.
Algueira closes on Wednesdays; Vértigo, Tuesdays and Wednesdays; Santa Cristina, on Mondays.
Between Doade and Parada de Sil there is almost an hour of bends, even if they look close on the map.
On the water and in the shade of the canyon it is quite a bit cooler than at the top.
The Ribeira Sacra is the stretch of the rivers Sil and Miño where the water runs wedged between slopes hundreds of metres high, and those slopes are covered in terraced vineyards. They have been worked by hand for centuries, and the Romanesque monasteries hidden in the forest gave it its name. This page focuses on the Sil canyon on the Lugo bank, between Monforte de Lemos and Doade, on the viewpoints and walkways of Parada de Sil, on the Ourense bank, and on the Miño side, between Pantón, Belesar and Chantada. If you set out from Ourense, the Santo Estevo catamaran and the hot springs have their own page at Ourense.
By car. Monforte de Lemos is the gateway: from Lugo it is a little under an hour and from Ourense about 50 minutes on the N-120. From Santiago or Pontevedra, allow nearly two hours. From Monforte to the Ponte do Sil bridge landing stages it is 18 km and about 20 minutes along the Castro Caldelas road, the OU-0605. Doade, with its bodegas, is ten minutes further, uphill.
Within the Ribeira Sacra there are no buses that are of use for getting from a landing stage to a bodega and a viewpoint. Without a car you can reach Monforte, but not the canyon. The roads are narrow and winding, and to cross from one bank of the Sil to the other you have to find a bridge. Always allow more time than the map says.
Two boats leave from the Ponte do Sil bridge, one on each bank. The Diputación de Lugo catamaran is the cheapest, €9 and €5 for the reduced fare, and the one that goes furthest: two hours to the monastery of Santa Cristina, with compulsory booking on its website. Opposite, at A Abeleda, leaves the Catamarán Río Sil catamaran, an hour and a half for €13, at 11:00 and 16:00, and also the Algueira bodega's boat. The Diputación boat at Belesar, on the Miño, is suspended until the end of the season; on that river the small boats of Belesar now leave.
For a full Sunday, take the 11:00 boat. You finish around one o'clock, in time for lunch at Doade.
In Doade there are two bodegas that open for visits by reservation and combine well with the boat. Regina Viarum runs sessions from Thursday to Monday in winter, with a tasting of three to five wines and a glass on the terrace. Algueira is open every day except Wednesday and has its own restaurant, O Castelo. On the same estate as Regina Viarum is Vértigo, with a Michelin star. If you are driving, choose the shortest tasting or let someone else drive.
On the Ourense bank are the Balcones de Madrid, granite balconies over the deepest part of the canyon, and the monastery of Santa Cristina de Ribas de Sil, among chestnut trees, which opens Tuesday to Sunday by reservation. For walking, the PR-G 98 links the two in an 18 km loop from Parada de Sil, and the Mao river walkways are an 850-metre stroll over the water, open all year. On this bank, the Ronsel do Sil bodega shows its terraces with a tasting and a tapa for €18.
North of Monforte, the Miño forms a wide reservoir with meanders and vineyards that run down to the water. From the Belesar landing stage two small boats leave, from Sacra Activa and Vista Sacra: the boat on the Miño runs from one hour, from €30, to almost three with a stop and a tasting at an old bodega, for €48. Five minutes away, the Vía Romana bodega runs tours of 60 to 90 minutes, from €18, one of them through the sloping vineyard. On the way, at Ferreira de Pantón, the Cistercian monastery opens its Romanesque church every day and the nuns sell their sweets. It is all brought together in a day on the Miño.
Monforte deserves half a day. The Colegio de Nuestra Señora de la Antigua, known as the Galician Escorial, holds paintings by El Greco and Andrea del Sarto; on Sundays there are tours at 12:45 and 16:45. The Wine Centre explains the landscape and gives tastings of three wines at 12:30, and the Railway Museum is the children's stop. Up on the hill, the Parador occupies the monastery of San Vicente do Pino next to the keep, which in November 2026 is temporarily closed.
A Sunday is enough for the boat, a bodega or a meal and a viewpoint at sunset. With a night, add Monforte and the Balcones de Madrid first thing, with the mist at the bottom of the river. With two, there is room for the walking route and Santa Cristina.
In May everything is green and the boats sail daily. From September to early November comes the grape harvest and then the colour: the vines turn yellow and red. In summer it is hot at the bottom of the canyon and there are more people. From November to March many places open only some days: Regina Viarum, Thursday to Monday; Santa Cristina, Tuesday to Sunday; the catamarans, mostly at weekends. The Monforte tourist office publishes a guide every month with all the opening hours.
Questions
€9 for the Diputación de Lugo one from Ponte do Sil, with a reduced fare of €5; €13 for the Catamarán Río Sil one from A Abeleda, with €5 for ages 4 to 12.
Not on the Diputación one, which admits only assistance dogs. To the viewpoints and the walking route, yes, on a lead.
Yes. Leaving at 9:00 you reach the 11:00 boat, have lunch at Doade and still have time for a viewpoint or Monforte.
Yes. Regina Viarum and Algueira only receive visitors by prior reservation.
At O Castelo, at Algueira, and at Vértigo, both in Doade and open at midday, or at the Parador de Monforte restaurant.
The Diputación de Lugo one does not: it is suspended until the end of the season. The small boats of Sacra Activa and Vista Sacra do leave, from €30, with a minimum of six people.
Geocaliahttps://www.geocalia.com/en/spain/galicia/ribeira-sacra
