A Coruña - Beaches & more

Fancy having the beach to yourself for 9 months of the year?

Just outside AC on the road to Ferrol lies the beach at Mino. Also just outside AC but on the road to Malpica lies Razo beach. The thing they have in common is that they are both unspoilt and uncommercialised.

Both have several small ice cream booths selling (you’ve guessed it) ice-cream but there are also one or two that sell bread or cakes or empanada - the local delicacy on a par with steak pie but which usually contain tuna or pork.

What sets these beaches apart is that Mino caters for the sun seeker (which is everyone in a place where you can expect rain any day of the year) whereas Razo caters for walkers and surfers. Both have a couple of bar/restaurants so you can ALWAYS get a drink and something to eat and Mino is close to a small town bearing the same name.




Why, when you can go to almost any other part of Spain and enjoy sky high temperatures (as well as sky high prices) and a taste of the local life would you go to AC? Well, for one thing the people of AC are welcoming and polite rather than in say Barcelona where the people are just as welcoming but let’s be honest here - you just represent the next fast buck.

If AC were a company its motto would be a warm welcome awaits. Barcelona’s would be there’s always another mug just around the corner. Don’t get me wrong I’m a big fan of Barca and it definitely has its attractions but real Spain it ain’t. If you want to see Barca without staying in and suffering from Barca and you like travelling on air conditioned trains free from graffiti and hooligans and with chamber music playing as you watch the countryside go by see our 48 hours trip to Barcelona website (coming soon!)


Getting back to AC, which is of course what everyone wants to do, you need to take your own beachwear - buy a towel at the local supermarket in Mino. There are no parasols or sun beds but there are a few pedaloes which take to the water during August when the bars on the beach also open for business.

The drive from AC takes about 20 minutes and there are one or two interesting places on the way including a shellfish farm and some spectacular views to enjoy. You can also get there by local bus.

Have a look at a few snaps we took at the beaches earlier this year. You‘ll be hard pressed to tell the difference between the March and July ones which just goes to show how unpredictable the weather can be in a predictable sort of a way. You should always expect rain in AC but there’s time to enjoy the sunshine as well.

Stop for lunch or dinner in any of the towns along the way or at one of the roadside parrilladas (open fire grills) found all over the place lunchtime and evening. Spaniards tend to eat what we eat but its always prepared, cooked and served better than we can be bothered to do it.

A couple of years ago whilst travelling around the Spanish seaside resorts close to Galicia the hotel, which was full to bursting, was serving freshly cooked steaks.


The commotion which greeted the doors opening was awesome (Spaniards can be noisy blighters). When I arrived at the front of the food queue expecting there to be no steaks left I found masses of them – the Spaniards just weren’t interested.

What I had failed to notice was that also on the menu was fresh grilled squid and what I had failed to understand was that if it’s a choice between meat and seafood in Galicia the seafood wins every time.

A couple of days later the same sort of commotion was going on. This time the thing that caused it was fresh fried egg and chips. It nearly came to blows as the rush to get a share of what we would regard as fast or even junk food took hold in a land where fabulous food is the order of the day. Work that one out.

Its easy to do Mino and Razo in a day if the weather turns or a glimpse of a beach is all you want to say you’ve been there.
The only people around most of the time are the locals although naturally the obligatory youth on the noisy moped with his girlfriend on the back will be out and about from time to time.

If it’s peace and quiet you’re looking for and a place to relax for a couple of hours without ending up looking like a lobster then the beaches of AC are the place to be.