Catoira Viking Festival

The Torres do Oeste at Catoira are the ruins of a fortress built to block the Ulla river, the water route toward Santiago de Compostela, against Norse and Saracen raiders from the ninth century onward; several attacks were recorded and the towers were manned for centuries. Since 1961 the town has marked this each first Sunday of August with the Romaria Vikinga: a replica longship rows up the river and lands at the towers, with several hundred participants in costume staging a mock assault, followed by an all-day festival of mussels, wine and music that draws tens of thousands. It was declared of international tourist interest in 2002 and is twinned with Frederikssund in Denmark, whose delegation attends.

What you actually see

• The longship landing - a replica vessel rowed up the Ulla to the towers.
• The Torres do Oeste - ruined riverside fortifications from the ninth century.
• The staged assault - hundreds in costume storming the towers.
• The mussel and wine day - an all-day festival around the reenactment.

When to go

The first Sunday of August, the fixed date; the reenactment takes place around midday with the festival running through the day and evening. The town is small and fills entirely.

Honest expectations

Catoira has almost no accommodation and visitors come for the day from Pontevedra or Santiago. Crowds are very large for the size of the town and parking is difficult. The reenactment itself is brief; the rest is a fiesta.

Nearby

Padron and the Camino Portugues lie north; Vilagarcia and the Arousa ria are west.