National Park of the Atlantic islands

Sea refuge in the Rías Baixas (southern coast of Galicia).

Located in the province of Pontevedra, the National Park of the Atlantic islands including the Cíes Islands, and Ons, Cortegada and Sálvora all in the Rías Baixas (southern coast of Galicia).An ecosystem sea-land with an interesting and important colony of sea birds that live on it.

The park has four groups of islands that are distributed between the estuaries of Vigo, Pontevedra and Arousa. Home and shelter to one of the most numerous colonies of seagulls on the Spanish coast and other species such as the shag, cormorant, the common shag, etc.

Type of area

Parque Nacional

Information

Area: 8.480 Hectares
Information for visits: The islands in the National Park are only accessible by sea – there is transport for passengers at certain times during the year, with prior authorisation. Several shipping companies offer regular services at Easter, weekends in May and during the summer, to visit the Cíes and Ons islands. The boarding areas for the Cíes Islands are in Vigo, Baiona and Cangas de Morrazo. The boarding areas for the Island of Ons are in Bueu, Marín, Sanxenxo and Portonovo.

There is a Visitor Centre in the Cíes Islands (Monastery of Santo Estevo), an Information Point in the Cíes Islands (+34 986687502) and an Information Point on the Island of Ons (+34 986687502).

There is a campsite and controlled camping area.

Environmental information: As well as a great variety of fish, molluscs and crustaceans, there are kelp forests and several species of dolphins. From a botanical point of view, more than 200 types of seaweed and 400 species of land plants have been identified.For curiosity sake, it is home to the largest laurel forest in Europe.
Cultural information: The park is located in Rías Baixas (southern coast of Galicia) with tourist towns such as Pontevedra, Baiona, Vigo, O Grove, Sanxenxo, and Vilagarcía de Arousa. In Cíes you can visit a pre-Roman settlement.