Buitenleven Spanje Houses in Galicia
Misty green hills in Galicia

The region

The Spain you don't know yet

Four seasons, 1,500 kilometres of coastline, and more cows than tourists. Galicia is the corner of Spain that feels a bit like Ireland — and where space is still affordable.

Galicia sits in the far northwest corner of Spain, above Portugal and against the Atlantic Ocean. It's the rain that explains everything: the colour of the landscape, the quality of the food, the low prices, and the reason mass tourism never arrived here.

If you're after the yellow, dry Spain, this isn't the place. If you're after space, green, and quiet — and don't mind that it rains in November — you'll find something here that's become rare in Western Europe.

Four faces

The regions where we work

Galicia is small on the map and enormously varied. These four areas differ sharply in landscape, price, and character.

The Ribeira Sacra with terraces along the river

Ribeira Sacra

Where the Sil and Miño rivers carved deep canyons, lined with wine terraces that have clung to the slopes since Roman times. Romanesque chapels, monasteries, and views you won't find anywhere else in Spain. Inland climate: warm summers, cold winters, and the lowest prices of the four.

Guide price: € 60,000 – € 180,000 · Lugo and Ourense provinces

A ría on the Galician west coast

Rías Baixas

The southern coast, where the sea cuts inland like a fjord. Galicia's mildest climate, albariño wine, mussel rafts in the bays, and lively villages. Also the most expensive and busiest region — you'll notice that in August.

Guide price: € 150,000 – € 400,000 · Pontevedra province

The Atlantic coast near Finisterre

Costa da Morte

The wild west coast between Malpica and Finisterre. Cliffs, long empty beaches, lighthouses, and villages that live off the sea. Dramatic and rugged; the weather here is a topic of conversation in itself. Relatively affordable for a coastal location.

Guide price: € 90,000 – € 250,000 · A Coruña province

Meadow and forest in the Galician mountains

Mountains & inland

Os Ancares, O Courel, the Serra do Xurés: biosphere reserves with ancient forest, hiking trails, and hamlets of ten residents. Here you buy land by the hectare rather than the square metre. Remote, and that's the whole point.

Guide price: € 40,000 – € 150,000 · mostly Lugo province

In numbers

Galicia at a glance

1,498 km Coastline — more than all of Portugal
14 °C Annual average; summers around 25, winters rarely below freezing on the coast
3 Airports: Santiago, A Coruña and Vigo
±2.7 million Inhabitants, in an area the size of the Netherlands without Friesland

Daily life

What it's actually like to live here

The honest answer: quieter than you'd think, and more social than you'd expect. Galician villages aren't holiday colonies — the people who live there have always lived there. That makes settling in slower, and the result more lasting.

  • Shopping — a supermarket in every larger village; weekly markets with local vegetables, fish, and cheese
  • Healthcare — a solid public healthcare system, with a centro de salud in most municipalities and hospitals in the provincial capitals
  • Internet — fibre is surprisingly widespread, even in small villages. Always check for the specific address
  • Language — both Spanish and Galician are official. Everyone speaks Spanish; anyone who tries Galician is appreciated for it
  • Getting to the Netherlands — direct flights from Santiago and Porto (a two-hour drive from southern Galicia)
Country lane through Galician farmland

What to think about honestly

We'd rather not sell you a dream that doesn't hold up. Here's what catches people off guard afterwards.

  • It rains. Not constantly, but November to March is grey and wet — comparable to the Netherlands, with milder temperatures
  • Houses are often poorly insulated, and damp is a real issue, not a minor detail
  • Inland winters are cold; snow above 700 metres is normal
  • Depopulation is real: some villages have more empty houses than occupied ones
  • Without a car, rural Galicia doesn't really work
  • Without any Spanish at all, you'll stay an outsider, however friendly everyone is

Sound like your kind of place?

Browse what's currently for sale, or book a call where we hold your wishes up against the reality of the region.

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