A day trip to Finisterre and Muxía from Santiago de Compostela is the perfect way to end your Camino journey, although you don’t have to have walked the Camino de Santiago to enjoy a trip to ‘the end of the world’.
After walking the Central route of the Camino Portugués I had no time constraints on getting home so decided to take the bus to Muxía, stay overnight after exploring the town, walk to Finisterre the following day, and then spend a night there before returning to Santiago.
However, after walking the Coastal route I only had one extra day in Santiago so my friend and I decided to take a day trip.
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There’s a big choice of day trips leaving from Santiago. We booked ours through Galicia Travels which was a full day (9.5 hours) tour to Finisterre and Muxía with several other stops on the Costa da Morte along the way, and which cost €49 for two people. Prices are correct as of October 2024.
Day trip to Finisterre and Muxía itinerary
This was the planned itinerary for this particular trip but these are likely to vary by tour company and, indeed, the order of our day trip did change from the one which was advertised.
However, this post will give you a good idea of what to expect on any day trip to Finisterre and Muxía.
Our tour started at the Galicia Travels office on Rua das Casas Reais 31 which is at the entrance to Santiago’s old town.
We were told to arrive ten minutes earlier than the expected departure time of 8.45am to be sure of setting off on time but it was all a bit chaotic when we arrived as, although we had our tickets, we still had to go into the office to have our names checked off a list. This wasn’t really clear in the joining instructions so there was quite a lot of confusion among everyone waiting outside the office.
However, once all the logistics were out of the way we were introduced to our guide for the day and boarded the coach.
Our guide was Albert who advised that the order of the day’s activities was going to change slightly but that we would still be seeing all the same sights so we wouldn’t be missing out on anything.
Stop One – Ponte Maceira
Ponte Maceira is a tiny village of less than 100 residents and is most recognised for its Roman bridge, A Ponte Vella (Old Bridge), which crosses the Rio Tambre.
Ponte Maceira is on the route of the Camino Finisterre for any pilgrim who decides to continue towards Finisterre on foot after arriving in Santiago. Given its position on one of the routes of the Camino de Santiago there are many legends linked to the town. One is that St James’s disciples had to flee from Roman soldiers and, after crossing the bridge to avoid capture, it collapsed leaving the Romans behind and the disciples able to escape.
We were only stopping here for around 25 minutes – long enough to wander across the bridge to admire the views and take a look at the church as well as a rather lovely country house, Pazo de Baladrón.
As Storm Kirk had recently lashed Galicia the river was pretty swollen and fast flowing so, while some of the group were happy to clamber on the rocks, most of us stayed on and around the bridge.
Stop Two – Muros
Muros is a small harbour town with a long history of fishing. We parked by the harbour and had around 40 minutes here. This was long enough to have a wander along the seafront, where we stopped for a coffee with views overlooking the harbour.
We walked back to the coach via the old town past the town hall and through Plaza de la Pescadería Vieja with its interesting stone fountain.
Stop Three – Hórreo de Carnota
If you’ve spent any time in Galicia, particularly if you’ve been walking the Camino de Santiago, you’ll be familiar with hórreos as they have pride of place in many gardens along the way.
Hórreos are grain stores on raised legs originally designed to keep corn, wheat and other crops dry and free from rodents and, in the small town of Carnota, there’s the longest hórreo in Spain. It was built between 1760 and 1783 and stands at almost 35 metres long.
This was a short stop of only around 15 minutes.
Stop Four – Cascada del Ézaro
Ézaro waterfall flows down Mount Pindo from the Rio Xallas and is the only waterfall in Europe to flow directly into the sea.
From the carpark it was an easy walk along the road past the buildings of a hydroelectric power plant and, from there, on boardwalks to the waterfall with viewing platforms at certain spots along the way.
We had around 40 minutes here which was plenty of time to walk to the waterfall and back enjoying the beautiful scenery.
Stop Five – Cape Finisterre
Cape Finisterre is commonly known as the end of the world and takes its name from the Latin ‘finis terrae’ (end of the earth).
A lighthouse stands on the very tip of the cape and is the most western lighthouse in Europe. Built in 1853 it’s still active today – not surprising as the Costa da Morte, or Coast of Death, is a stretch of dangerous coastline which has had plenty of shipwrecks over the years, which you might guess from its name.
At the head of the road leading from the carpark down to the lighthouse there’s a 0 km way marker for anyone who’s walked here from Santiago and lining the road there are some lovely art displays which change shape and theme annually as part of a competition. For 2023 – 2024 the sculptures were shaped like women’s heads and were placed looking out to sea, with mosaic designs depicting different themes on the subject of women in the time of emigration from the area.
We stopped at Cape Finisterre for around 45 minutes.
Stop Six – Finisterre
After spending time at the Cape we headed to the small town of Finisterre (or Fisterra as it’s known in Galicia). We had around an hour and a half there so plenty of time for lunch as well as some sightseeing.
There’s a castle, Castelo de San Carlos, on the coastline which was built during the reign of Charles III of Spain.
The town also has a thriving fishing port plus some golden beaches. Along the harbour front there are plenty of restaurants to tempt you in – naturally fish and seafood is in abundance here but we opted for a pizza from As Baleas. I’d visited As Baleas Muxía in 2022 and loved it so was more than happy to visit their Finisterre branch and, yes, it was just as good as I remembered!
A warning – the pizzas are big so you could easily share one between two and then have room for an ice cream afterwards!
Stop Seven – Muxía
Our last port of call was in Muxía where we had 45 minutes.
Our stop in Muxía was at the Santuario da Virxe da Barca, a church right by the sea where the waves were crashing onto the rocks.
Just like at Cape Finisterre, there’s a 0 km marker in Muxía. This one is on the hill next to the monument relating to the Prestige oil tanker that spilled an estimated 60,000 tonnes of oil into the Atlantic Ocean in 2002, making it the largest environmental disaster in Spain’s history.
This striking sculpture called A Ferida (the Wound) was designed by Alberto Bañuelos and erected in 2003 as a monument to all the volunteers who helped clean up the beaches after the oil spill.
From here we started to walk up the hill behind the church. There’s a lookout point at the top, Miradoiro do Corpiño, which we didn’t have time to reach but the views from even halfway are pretty good. However, having walked to the top on a previous visit I can highly recommend it so spend your 45 minutes here wisely if you want a stunning view over the town of Muxía.
It was then about a 60 minute drive back to Santiago where Albert continued to educate us all with tales of myths and legends of Galicia including that of Santa Compaña, a procession of the dead who wander through villages at night.
Is a day trip to Finisterre and Muxía worth it?
If your time is limited then, absolutely, it’s worth taking a day trip to Finisterre and Muxía. Albert was extremely knowledgeable and gave us lots of information that we wouldn’t have known about otherwise and we also got the opportunity to visit smaller towns along the way that we wouldn’t be able to reach easily using public transport.
However, if you do have time then I would suggest spending a little longer. Muxía town, for example, has some great street art around the harbour and there are excellent views over the town from Miradoiro do Corpiño.
Likewise, in Finisterre, there are some beautiful beaches to relax on, boat trips out to watch the sunset from the sea, and the walk from the town itself out to the Cape is worth doing.
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