A Toxa Island is small enough to walk around its perimeter in under two hours, and the pine-shaded paths are the best way to experience it. The forest — planted when the island was developed in the early 20th century — gives the island a cooler, darker quality than the open O Grove peninsula across the bridge, and the paths emerge at intervals onto rocky shoreline with views across the Ría de Arousa toward the Galician hills.
The most rewarding route follows the western shore, where the pine forest meets the rocks most dramatically and the views take in the open Ría without the buildings of O Grove in the frame. The northern end of the island is quieter and less visited, though the paths here are less maintained. The whole island is freely accessible — there are no fences or admission charges — and the combination of the shell chapel, the grand hotel, the golf course, and the wild rocky shore makes it one of the more unusual walks in the Rías Baixas.