Sanxenxo is well placed for short trips into the rest of the Rías Baixas. Pontevedra, 25 km east, is the obvious one — a beautifully preserved old town with stone arcades and pilgrim history. Santiago de Compostela is a long day or, better, an overnight: the cathedral city is the natural climax of any Galician trip. Cambados, north across the peninsula, is the capital of Albariño wine and the right place for a winery visit and a slow lunch.
A shorter trip is the island of A Toxa in the bay near O Grove, with its strange 12th-century chapel covered entirely in scallop shells, and the Ons Islands — a national park, reachable by ferry from Sanxenxo or Portonovo in summer, with cliffs, beaches, and almost no buildings.
