Spain / Galicia
Playa de las Catedrales
Playa de las Catedrales is a 1.5 km-long sandy beach facing north on the Cantabrian Sea, 6.6 km east of Barreiros (Galicia, Spain). The sea averages 19.8 °C in August, its warmest month, and 12.7 °C in March; it never reaches 21 °C on average.
Average sea surface temperature by month. Current month outlined.
Reference
Praia das Catedrais (Spanish: playa de las Catedrales, English: Beach of the Cathedrals) is on the northwest coast of Spain. It is the name given by the tourism industry to Praia de Augas Santas (translated from Galician: 'Beach of the Holy Waters').
Wikidata item Q2561808.
Month by month
October at Playa de las Catedrales
Beach-day index 3.2/10 · Spain median 6.7
| Measure | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sea °C | 13.3 °C | 12.8 °C | 12.7 °C | 13.2 °C | 14.5 °C | 16.6 °C | 18.7 °C | 19.8 °C | 18.7 °C | 17.1 °C | 15.3 °C | 14.0 °C |
| High °C | 13° | 12° | 13° | 13° | 15° | 17° | 19° | 20° | 19° | 18° | 15° | 14° |
| Low °C | 11° | 11° | 11° | 12° | 14° | 16° | 18° | 19° | 18° | 17° | 14° | 12° |
| Rain mm | 135 | 102 | 108 | 83 | 62 | 44 | 26 | 33 | 43 | 123 | 144 | 132 |
| Cloud % | 70 | 68 | 67 | 66 | 64 | 61 | 55 | 52 | 51 | 59 | 66 | 66 |
| Wind m/s | 7.5 | 7.6 | 7.1 | 6.2 | 5.7 | 5.3 | 5.3 | 5.4 | 5.9 | 6.2 | 7.3 | 7.4 |
| Daylight h | 9.3 | 10.5 | 11.8 | 13.4 | 14.7 | 15.4 | 15.1 | 14.0 | 12.6 | 11.1 | 9.7 | 9.0 |
| Record high/low | 17°/7° | 17°/6° | 17°/6° | 19°/8° | 20°/10° | 23°/12° | 24°/15° | 25°/17° | 23°/16° | 26°/12° | 20°/9° | 18°/7° |
| Beach index | 1.6 | 1.9 | 1.9 | 2.3 | 2.6 | 3.4 | 5.1 | 5.8 | 5.0 | 3.2 | 1.7 | 1.7 |
Long-term monthly averages: air from NASA POWER (2001–2020), sea from NOAA OISST (1991–2020); records are the extremes of 2001–2020. How the index works.
When to go
The beach-day index peaks in August; August scores 5.8/10 with highs of 20 °C, sea at 19.8 °C and 33 mm of rain.
In August that is 3.1 points below the median of the 2,246 beaches in Spain covered by this atlas.
At its warmest the water here is 3.4 °C cooler than the Spain median for August (23.2 °C).
Across the year the sea averages 15.6 °C, cooler than 71% of the coastal beaches in the atlas.
November is the wettest month (144 mm) and July the driest (26 mm); the yearly total is about 1,040 mm.
Daylight runs from 9.0 hours in December to 15.4 hours in June; in mid-August the sun rises at 07:32 and sets at 21:34 local time.
Orientation, sun and shore
The shore faces north (0°). Open water fills about 47% of the horizon close by, which makes it an open stretch of shore.
The sun sets over the sea in April–September; in mid-June it goes down at 22:10 local time on a bearing of 304°.
Sunrise is over the sea in April–September.
Straight out to the north about 800 km of open sea lies before the next coast, enough for large swells to build.
About 1 km offshore the sea is roughly 15 m deep and 41 m at 3 km. Behind the beach the ground is about 27 m above sea level 500 m inland and 85 m at 1.5 km.
Within 1 km, the land is 72% grassland, 14% cropland and 8% tree cover (satellite land-cover map, 2021): a largely natural setting. Water makes up 47% of that circle.
- Grass 72%
- Crop 14%
- Tree 8%
- Built 5%
Land cover: ESA WorldCover 2021 (10 m). Orientation from OpenStreetMap land polygons sampled in 36 directions; depths and heights from the GEBCO 2020 grid (about 450 m cells), indicative only.
Bathing water quality
The official EU bathing-water site “Playa As Catedrais Pm1”, 80 m from the beach centre, was rated Excellent for the 2025 season. It was Excellent in 11 of its 11 classified seasons since 2015.
- 2015Excellent
- 2016Excellent
- 2017Excellent
- 2018Excellent
- 2019Excellent
- 2020Excellent
- 2021Excellent
- 2022Excellent
- 2023Excellent
- 2024Excellent
- 2025Excellent
Source: European Environment Agency, EU Bathing Water Directive assessments · national site profile. Classes are based on four seasons of bacteriological sampling.
Average wind speed at 10 m reaches 7.6 m/s in February, the windiest month.
OpenStreetMap shows no lifeguard station within 1 km. Seasonal lifeguard posts are often unmapped, so check on site.
Photos
From above
Facilities within 1 km
- 4Restaurants, cafés & bars
- 3Public toilets
- –Showers
- 1Drinking water
- 11Car parks
- –Lifeguard stations
- 1Campsites
- 3Bus stops (1.5 km)
- 2Viewpoints
Food and drink mapped within 1 km: 2 restaurants and 2 bars.
Counted within 1 km of the beach (bus stops 1.5 km) from OpenStreetMap features and Overture Maps places, release of 2026-10. Unmapped does not mean absent.
Around the beach
Islands in view
- Illa de Xan Galo 130 m E
- A Pena do Medio 710 m E
- A Pena Esquerdeira 1.5 km E
- A Pena da Tabla 1.6 km E
- As Penas do Gabito 1.7 km NW
- O Serrón de Xuncos 2.5 km E
Campsites
- Camping A Nosa Casa 840 m W
Getting there
| Airport | Code | Distance | Direction |
|---|---|---|---|
| Asturias Airport Ranón | OVD | 90.4 km | east |
| A Coruña Airport Culleredo | LCG | 103 km | west |
| Santiago-Rosalía de Castro Airport Santiago de Compostela | SCQ | 126 km | south-west |
Straight-line distances from the beach; road distance is usually 20–40% longer.
Local transport: 3 bus stops within 1.5 km and 11 mapped car parks within 1 km.
3 towns and villages of 1,000+ people lie within 10 km (about 19K residents); within 30 km there are 16 (about 60.9K).
When people look it up
The EN Wikipedia article was read 16,140 times in the 12 months to August 2026. Interest peaks in July (2,491 views), 4.0× the quietest month.
Map
Loading map…
Data on this page
- Air temperature, rain, cloud, wind, humidity: NASA POWER climatology 2001–2020, 0.5° grid.
- Sea temperature: NOAA OISST v2.1 monthly normals 1991–2020, nearest ocean cell 8.3 km away.
- Beach outline, surface, rules and public facilities: OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), feature r5484102; restaurants, cafés, bars and lodging: Overture Maps places (CDLA-Permissive-2.0).
- Water body, status and length: Wikidata (CC0).
- Towns and time zone: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Airports: OurAirports (public domain). Sunrise and sunset: NOAA solar equations.
- Photos: Wikimedia Commons, author and licence under each image.
- Satellite view: Copernicus Sentinel-2 (ESA), scene S2B_29TPJ_20240722_0_L2A.
- Orientation: OpenStreetMap land polygons (ODbL). Depth and terrain: GEBCO 2020 grid.
- Bathing-water quality: European Environment Agency (site ES112M051258).
- Settlements: GeoNames places with 1,000+ inhabitants.
- Land cover: ESA WorldCover 2021, 10 m (CC BY 4.0).
- Search popularity: about 3.6K Google searches a month for the name (KeywordTool, October 2026).
Data compiled 2026-10-13. Something wrong? Report a data error.