Spain Guide
Galicia
Cambados
By contrast with most of its neighbours, the village of CAMBADOS is exquisite. The paved stone Praza de Fefiñáns at its core is an idyllic little spot, lined on all sides with beautiful buildings, including a seventeenth-century church. The seafront itself, 200m west, is unremarkable, though a small island holds the vestiges of a watchtower erected to look out for Viking raiders, while the vast seaweed-strewn flats exposed at low tide play host to legions of redoubtable freelance clam- and cockle-pickers known as mariscadoras. As the vines crammed into the surrounding countryside testify, Cambados is the main production centre for Galicia's excellent Albariño wines.
There's a fine parador close to the seafront, housed in a modern approximation of a traditional pazo, or manor house – the Albariño, Paseo Cervantes (986 542 250, www.parador.es; €101-150) – as well as several more ordinary but perfectly comfortable hotels, such as Os Pasos, Rúa Eduardo Pondal 1 (t986 542 020; €36-50). A bodega on the Praza de Fefiñáns, Bar Laya, makes a great place to stop for a liquid lunch, while the attractive Raxeria Martinez, a few metres away at Rúa Real 16, has good menús.