Soutomaior

The castle gate hangs open at ten o’clock, but the ticket desk is still shuttered. A woman in gardening gloves appears, apologises for being “a tad late,” and hands over an English leaflet that actually makes sense. That’s Soutomaior: nothing happens on schedule, yet somehow it works.

Castle and Camellias – the headline act

Castillo de Soutomaior sits halfway up a forested ridge, 12 km from both Vigo and Pontevedra. The approach road narrows to a single lane; laurel branches scrape the wing mirrors and suddenly the walls loom above the tree line. Entrance is €4 (children under 12 free), less than a London coffee, and you can wander for as long as you like. Inside, the keep is medieval but most of the rooms were tarted up in the 1870s by the Marqués de la Vega de Armijo – think neo-Gothic windows and a grand staircase added to impress dinner guests rather than repel invaders. The furnished chambers are sparse; information panels confess that “original contents were dispersed in 1884.” Brits expecting armour and tapestries may find it thin, yet the English leaflets are so lucid that even teenagers linger to read them.

The real pull is outside. Four hectares of terraces drop down the hillside in tight switchbacks. Winter-flowering camellias begin in January, peak during March, and hang on until late April, giving the gardens a soft, almost Cornish mildness while the rest of Galicia is still damp and grey. Paths are gravel and steep; trainers are advisable, and the castle café (two indoor tables and a hatch) shuts without warning, so bring a picnic. The lower lawn, beside a stone fountain, is roomy enough for a rug and affords wide views over the Ría de Vigo – freighters sliding past on their way to the Atlantic.

Down among the parishes

Leave the car in the official car park (signed 300 m below the gate; the first lay-by you see is always full) and you can walk straight out into the valley. The River Verdugo is less than ten minutes downhill through oak and sweet chestnut. No way-marked national trail here, just a patchwork of parish footpaths that follow field edges and irrigation channels. A thirty-minute loop upstream brings you to a string of stone crosses, or cruceiros, each carved with the calvary scene and sprouting lichen like green velvet. You may meet a farmer on a quad bike moving milk churns; you will not meet a tour group.

The lanes between hamlets are tarmac but barely two cars wide; hedges of fuchsia and hydrangea lean in from either side. Distances look tiny on the map yet feel larger on the ground because every bend climbs or drops fifty metres. Allow more time than the sat-nav suggests, and don’t attempt the back roads after heavy rain – the granite substrate holds water and turns greasy.

Wine, octopus and the Monday trap

Soutomaior’s centre is a scatter of houses around a nineteenth-century church, not a chocolate-box plaza. For food you have two choices: Bar Rial, two minutes’ walk from the castle gate, does a picture-menu menú del día for €12 (point and eat if your Spanish stalls), or the tavern inside the castle walls serves pulpo a feira – octopus dressed with olive oil and paprika. Ask for “sin pimentón” if spice troubles you. A glass of local Albariño costs €3.50 and tastes like a riper Sauvignon Blanc; the barman will rinse your glass with a splash of wine before pouring, Galician etiquette that feels oddly ceremonial.

Mondays catch people out. The castle gardens stay open but the interior museum rooms close for maintenance; if you want the full four-euro experience, pick another day. Spanish school parties arrive around 11.30 a.m. and leave by 1 p.m.; either be inside the keep before them or wait until after four when the light improves anyway.

Getting there, getting round

Public transport exists but is patchy. A Monbus service links Pontevedra and Soutomaior three times daily; the last bus back leaves at 19.10 and does not run on Sundays. With wheels you gain flexibility: the PO-308 from Pontevedra is a fast 20-minute drive, while the A-9 from Vigo takes the same time once you escape city traffic. Hire cars are cheap in Galicia – figure €30 a day from Vigo airport if booked ahead. Without a car you are stuck on the ridge; walking to town for lunch means a 3 km shoulder-less road that no local would attempt.

Parking is free, both at the castle and down in the valley trailheads. Petrol stations are scarce; fill up in Pontevedra or Vigo before you set out.

When to bother, when to skip

Late February to mid-April is prime time: camellias in flower, temperatures 12-17 °C, and the gardens pleasantly quiet except at Easter. Summer brings cruise-ship passengers from Vigo on half-day excursions; mornings feel crowded and the gravel radiates heat. Autumn colours arrive late – November rather than October – but the woodland walks are glorious if you don’t mind mud. Winter is genuinely wet; mist can swallow the castle battlements and the botanical collection turns into a dripped-on study in green. Still, the ticket office sells umbrellas for €5 and the car park is half empty.

If your itinerary already includes Santiago or the Rías Baixas beaches, Soutomaior slots in neatly between city and coast. Travel solely for the castle and you risk anti-climax; combine it with a riverside stroll, a glass of Albariño and a slab of almond cake, and the detour feels proportionate. The site closes at dusk, the gardener locks up, and the only sound is the river turning over stones far below.