Leisure

It is the closest to the city, approximately 10 km away. The recreational area extends on both sides of the river and includes small river islands, linked by wooden bridges, which make up a pleasant walk. It has plenty of shade, a picnic area, tables with chess and checkers boards, a volleyball area, car and bicycle parking, a small cafeteria (open in summer) and a refuge for fishermen. In summer it has a lifeguard service.
The Fiesta del Escalo is celebrated there, in the month of July. It is a good place for bird watching, especially herons.

The Brañas de Sar are a space of around 33 hectares that are part of the basin of the Sar river. The promenade runs from the pools and the Multiusos Fontes do Sar until Pontepedriña, framed to the east by the mounts Viso, Gaiás and Santas Mariñas and to the west by the urban face of the city, with the railway.
Until the 60’s last century, these brañas were populated. The Sar was Compostela’s beach. Adults and children bathed in its natural pools and had afternoon snacks on its bank. Others washed, worked the land, or ground corn in the windmills. In the ethnographic collective remains proof in five windmills and a system of waterways, irrigation canals, walls, washing sites and dams that carry the water, plus the paths, crossings and stone bridges.
The start of the construction for the Cidade da Cultura in 2000 made it so a study of the surroundings of Mount Gaiás was conducted, which allowed for the discovery of elements that showed the Brañas de Sar had received agricultural use since, at least, the V century.

You can access it from San Caetano Park, very close to the bus station. It extends over the highest outer area of the urban center, which makes it a privileged viewpoint with magnificent views. It has urban gardens, tables, a children's playground,… and even a mini waterfall with a pond included. Through Rúa de Teo, it connects with Santo Domingo de Bonaval Park.

A natural area at the foot of Mount Pedroso that combines forest, meadows, and small lakes. It has 3 km of walking trails, a playground, a café, and sports areas. Several trails start from this park and run through
Mount Pedroso, such as the Via Crucis with stone crosses to the top of the mountain, where there are panoramic views of Santiago.

The Brañas de Sar are a space of around 33 hectares that are part of the basin of the Sar river. The promenade runs from the pools and the Multiusos Fontes do Sar until Pontepedriña, framed to the east by the mounts Viso, Gaiás and Santas Mariñas and to the west by the urban face of the city, with the railway.
Until the 60’s last century, these brañas were populated. The Sar was Compostela’s beach. Adults and children bathed in its natural pools and had afternoon snacks on its bank. Others washed, worked the land, or ground corn in the windmills. In the ethnographic collective remains proof in five windmills and a system of waterways, irrigation canals, walls, washing sites and dams that carry the water, plus the paths, crossings and stone bridges.
The start of the construction for the Cidade da Cultura in 2000 made it so a study of the surroundings of Mount Gaiás was conducted, which allowed for the discovery of elements that showed the Brañas de Sar had received agricultural use since, at least, the V century.

Although the park receives the generic name of Alameda (“poplar grove”), it’s made up of three well differentiated parts: the Alameda boulevard, the carballeira (“oak grove”) of Santa Susana and the Ferradura (“horseshoe”) boulevard. The unit these three formed, is, since the XIX century, the biggest point of reference for walks and leisure for the people of Santiago, characterized for being a very welcoming place, somewhat of a natural lounge.
Its privileged location, on the edge of the historical city, and with an excellent perspective over its west façade – the more monumental –, transformed it into the main urban garden in the city, remarkable as well for the variety and bearing of its arboreal and ornamental species, such as the oaks, the eucalyptus trees or the pergola with a view formed by the horse chestnuts in the Ferradura boulevard.
The pass of time has left its footprints on its layout, as can be observed in the central avenue, with passages for the different social classes of the XIX century; in the almost triumphal arch that grants access to the Lions’ Promenade, or in the disposition of flower beds, fountains and ponds. And also in its nineteenth-century, modernist and current buildings – Santa Susana Chapel, Pilar Church, the dovecote, the bandstand, acoustic bench, etc. – in the abundance and forms of its statues and sculptures, and in its furniture, especially the granite benches with artistic foundry backs from the well-known Galician Sargadelos factory.