As Catedrais

The beach at Las Catedrales is unique in Galicia. The extensive erosion by the sea on the schist and slate cliffs has created indentations and protrusions in the rock, passages, “frunas” or caves and rocks standing alone or attached to the land by gigantic rock arches.

You will find “As Catedrais” beach immediately on entering the municipal boundary of Ribadeo. It’s important to find out about the tide times as the rock formations are only fully visible at low tide. The formations on this beach are completely natural and, if you visit the area, they are something that you should make a point of visiting.

In 2005, As Catedrais beach was declared a Natural Monument, it is also a Special Area of Conservation within the Natura 2000 Network, a Special Protection Area for its Natural Value, as well as a Biosphere Reserve since 2007.

Year after year, Las Catedrales beach has had its Blue Flag and the Q for Quality Tourism renewed.

Together, it is possible to preserve this natural monument so that future generations can continue to enjoy it.

Book access to As Catedrais beach

Xunta de Galicia (the Regional Government of Galicia) has taken measures to preserve the most famous beach in Spain, and which was recently chosen as 6th best in the world. Entry to the beach is through free prior reservation. A limit is set so that a visit can only be made during the 15 days after a reservation is made, with a maximum limit of 4000 people per day. Reservations can be made directly through the website the Xunta has created for this purpose: https://ascatedrais.xunta.gal

Flora

The space immediately behind the cliffs is predominantly agricultural, apart from small stands of coastal pine forest. The original vegetation that still remains practically unaltered corresponds to that of the rocky cliffs and the coastal dunes. Sheltered within small hollows in the cliffs is sea parsley, used in the past to cure scurvy, today it I used in cooking as an accompaniment to salads. Feo marítimo (Marram grass) is found consolidating the dunes that are most exposed to the oceanic winds. The heather prefers to occupy the higher parts of the cliffs along with the grasses, clovers and legumes.

Fauna

The largest part of the area’s extremely rich fauna is concentrated in the wetlands of the Foz estuaries and, above all, the Ribadeo estuary. However, the expansive sandy beaches complement the estuarine wetlands with a great number of wading birds such as plover, dunlin, curlew, godwit, oystercatcher and even marine birds on their migrations, such as common scoter, razorbill, gannet, etc.