Festa do Marisco

Ten-day seafood festival in October — the social event of the Galician calendar

Address Recinto de Bouza, O Grove
Opening Hours Annually, first 10 days of October
Admission Free entry; food paid by ticket

For ten days each October, O Grove turns over its main square to a vast covered marquee filled with rows of trestle tables and shellfish stalls. Local fishermen and restaurants serve unlimited percebes, navajas, mejillones, pulpo, scallops, oysters, and razor clams — all from the surrounding ría and at prices well below the local restaurants — washed down with Albariño from the surrounding O Salnés vineyards.

The atmosphere is loud, crowded, and joyful: families share tables with strangers, bands play in the evenings, and the smell of grilling sardines drifts through the streets. Book accommodation months ahead — every guesthouse on the peninsula fills, and rooms in nearby Sanxenxo and Cambados are also scarce. Arrive on a weekday for any chance of a comfortable table.

things to do sight
A story
The Festa do Marisco was started by the local fishermen's guild in 1963 to promote O Grove's shellfish, and it has become the largest food festival in Galicia. By the 1980s it was attracting over 100,000 visitors a year; the current attendance is around 200,000. The festival was declared an event of "International Tourist Interest" by the Spanish government in 2010 — a status held by only a handful of regional festivals in Spain.

Other places in Things to Do