Guided visit to the cathedral and its museum with Optimus Tours

If it is your first time, the cathedral is best understood with someone to tell you about it. The Optimus Tours visit goes through the museum (Master Mateo's stone choir, the library, the Relics chapel and the cloister) and then the nave, ambulatory and crossing of the basilica; with the Portico option, you end in front of it. It lasts between 1 h 40 and 2 h 15, from €25, with museum entry without queuing.

What is included

An official tourist guide accompanies you, and the Cathedral Museum ticket is included, with no queuing at the ticket office; the Portico of Glory ticket only if you choose that option. The company applies a reduced rate to over-65s, pilgrims and accredited students. The website does not break down the price of each option or say which duration goes with which: you see it when you choose a date. Optimus Tours is a travel agency registered in Galicia (XG-764) that also does private visits.

What you will see

In the museum, besides Master Mateo's stone choir, the library where the botafumeiro is displayed and the 16th-century Gothic-Renaissance cloister. In the basilica, the 94-metre Romanesque nave, the ambulatory with its chapels and the crossing, under the dome. With the Portico option you enter the more than 200 figures of Mateo, from 1168 to 1188, which the guide helps you read: the Old Testament on the left, the New on the right and Saint James in the centre.

Times and meeting point

It leaves from Praza do Obradoiro, opposite the cathedral; the guide carries an orange umbrella and you should arrive five minutes early. The Turismo de Santiago activities hub publishes sessions at 10:00, 12:00 and 17:30. Book on its website; the company warns that places sell out easily, especially in summer and on long weekends. The visit is in Spanish; there is an English version.

What to bear in mind

It is not wheelchair accessible, does not allow pets and you may not enter with a large backpack or staff into the museum or the Portico. Inside the museum you may not take photographs. If you prefer to go on your own, the basilica is free and the museum has its own ticket: see the Cathedral and Portico of Glory and the Cathedral Museum. To see the rooftops, the cathedral roofs are done with a guide from the museum itself. To ask about other visits in the city, the tourist office is on Rúa do Vilar.