Pontevedra · Galicia
Vigo
Galicia's biggest city and Spain's chief fishing port, primarily a freight and industrial hub — the main gateway to the Illas Cíes.
What Vigo is like
Portrait drawn from Lonely Planet, the Michelin Green Guide & The Rough Guide.
On the southern shore of its namesake ría.
On the table. Fishermen revived with strong coffee at seafront kiosks; oysters set out on granite tables in the Rúa da Pescadería.
Worth the trip
- The casco vello (old town), O Berbés, climbing the hill from the ferry dock
- Parque do Castro and the 17th-century Castelo do Castro, 149m above sea level
- Islas Cíes, a boat crossing away, a natural park since 1980
A little history
Baiona was the principal port hereabouts until the nineteenth century, when railways arrived and Vigo became the first Galego town to industrialize, opening several sardine canneries.
Who it suits: Illas Cíes day-trippers · Seafood lovers
The numbers
The decision data — each figure against the Spanish average. Regional overlays and estimates are labelled, and where there's no local reading we say so plainly.
Climate
- Winter average temp
- 9.9°C 2.1°C above the Spanish average (7.8°C)
- Summer high (Jul–Aug)
- 25.1°C 5.1°C below the Spanish average (30.2°C)
- Rainy days a year
- 126 days 84% more than the Spanish average (69 days)
- Sunshine
- 6.3 h/day 13% less than the Spanish average (7.2 h/day)
- Summer water stress (WEI+) regional estimate
- 7 49 below the Spanish average (56)
Cost & economy
- Home price
- €2,302/m² 4% more than the Spanish average (€2,208/m²)
- Net income per person
- €15,359 6% more than the Spanish average (€14,495)
- Income growth ’18–’23
- 22.5%
Schools
- Schools in town
- 177
- Nearest international school
- 3 km
- PISA maths (region) regional estimate
- 486 5 above the Spanish average (481)
Healthcare
- Drive to a hospital
- 0 min
- Nearest health centre
- no local data
- Surgical wait (region) regional estimate
- 73 days 32% less than the Spanish average (108 days)
Getting around
- Drive to nearest airport
- 18 min
- Fibre-to-home coverage
- 98% 19% above the Spanish average (79%)
- 100 Mbps+ coverage
- 100% 17% above the Spanish average (83%)
Who lives here
- Population
- 295,735
- Born in Spain
- 85% 3.8% below the Spanish average (88.8%)
- Born elsewhere in EU/UK
- 2.6% 1.3% below the Spanish average (3.8%)
- U.S.-born residents
- 1.33 per 1,000
Numbers: SettleSpain town dataset, derived from INE, AEMET, Mitma, Ministerio del Interior and the Catastro. National average = the unweighted mean across all 8,132 Spanish municipalities with data. A blank means no municipal-level figure is published — not a zero.
How does Vigo fit you?
These are the town's numbers. Whether it's your town depends on what you're optimising for — winter sun or mild summers, a city or a village, short medical waits, an easy flight home. The 3-minute quiz scores Vigo against every one of Spain's 8,132 municipalities on your priorities. It sits about 32 min from Pontevedra, if that's your anchor.
Take the quiz — rank Vigo for you →Nearby towns
Other places we profile within easy reach.