Spain · Ribadeo, Galicia · #4 of Spain's ten by fame
Thirty-metre arches you can walk under, until the tide says otherwise.
How we rated it: up one for a sourced find, rock arches 30 metres high, down one because you need a permit in the busy months. Photo: Luis Miguel Bugallo Sánchez (Lmbuga) · CC BY-SA 4.0
Praia das Catedrais, the Beach of the Cathedrals, is about ten kilometres west of Ribadeo, in Galicia. At low tide you can walk among slate and schist arches 30 metres high, shaped like the flying buttresses of a cathedral. Go at low tide, when the sand is fully exposed: the coast is almost flat, so the water covers the beach again very quickly. At Easter and from July 1 to September 30 you need to reserve a free permit. We measured 744 metres; Lonely Planet says 1.5 km.
Status, dated 2026-06-30: Free permit must be reserved at Easter and from July 1 to September 30.
Warmest sea in September. Fewest wet days in August. Pick your fight.
One year of data, 2025, from Open-Meteo at this beach's coordinates. A rain day is 1 mm or more. The red bar is the month to aim for in each row.
6 beaches within 6 km, as the gull flies.
Straight-line distances from the mapped beach shapes (OpenStreetMap). Roads are longer, and in Bali they are much longer.
No crowd data.
At Easter and from July 1 to September 30, yes: a free permit must be reserved in advance.
At low tide, when the sand is fully exposed and you can walk among the arches. The water comes back very quickly.
