Islas Cíes

The Cíes Islands are an archipelago in the Ría de Vigo, made up of three islands: Norte or Monteagudo, Del Medio or do Faro, and Sur or San Martín. The first two are joined by a breakwater and by the sandy Rodas beach. They belong to the municipality of Vigo. They were declared a natural park in 1980 and in 2002 were incorporated into the Atlantic Islands of Galicia Maritime-Terrestrial National Park.

Their highest point is the Alto das Cíes (197 m). They are granite, with cliffs of more than 100 metres on the west side, and pines and eucalyptus cover almost a quarter of the park. There are about 22,000 pairs of yellow-legged gull, the largest colony in the world.

Drake used them as a base in the late 16th century and the lighthouse was built around 1840. You get there by boat from Vigo, in about three quarters of an hour. White sand and crystal-clear water in a protected archipelago.

Source of the information: Islas Cíes (Wikipedia)