Praia de Rodas, Cíes Islands

Rodas is the sandbar that ties Monteagudo to Do Faro, a kilometre of pale sand curving between two green islands with a shallow lagoon on the inland side. The water is clear and cold, the sand is coarse and white, and because the islands shelter the bay the surface is usually flat — it reads tropical in photographs and is emphatically not.

The wide view is from the path that climbs towards the lighthouse: twenty minutes up and the whole crescent, the lagoon and the boats at anchor stack into one frame. Down on the sand, the north end near the pier is where the curve reads best; the far end is quieter because most day visitors do not walk it.

The islands are a national park with a daily visitor cap. You need a free authorisation booked online before you can buy a ferry ticket, boats run from Vigo, Cangas and Baiona in summer and around Easter only, and the last sailing back is fixed and enforced. Plan the session inside that window and leave margin at the end.

There is no accommodation apart from a campsite, no shops beyond a kiosk and one restaurant, and no shade on the beach. Bring water. Wind picks up in the afternoon, and the light on the sand is at its best in the first two hours after the morning boat arrives.