La Torre is spacious and superbly situated

A few steps from La Torre – Playa de Aguete

With Galician property owners not really aiming at non-Spaniards, and hardly any British owners in the area, it's hard to track down accommodation.

Vintage Travel specialises in quality villas with pools in uncrowded corners of Europe. In Galicia, it has no direct competition. Casas Cantabricas (also in Cambridge) has some interesting properties, but they tend to be rustic houses offering an authentic local experience for those wanting to get off the beaten track. Vintage Travel's brochure includes a good selection of properties in both North Portugal and Galicia, but the company says that with interest in the region rising fast, it could do with more.

The reality of this high demand quickly became apparent. My first choice of villa for a fortnight in May, La Torre at Marin, was available only for one week. In our second week we moved further inland to Pozo Vello at Arcade, a town right at the end of the southernmost of Galicia's rias, the Ria de Vigo.

Across a quiet road and down a short path from La Torre was the local beach, Playa de Aguete. Within half an hour of our 5pm arrival we were swimming, cooling off after the journey from Oporto. There is smooth sand, calm, warm water and fabulous views across the ria. Over the next fortnight we tried at least a dozen more beaches, all beautiful, clean and – except on Sunday – virtually deserted.

The villa was beautifully positioned on a hillside overlooking the ria. With a sparkling pool, plenty of sun loungers and a shaded granite table for al fresco meals, it was hard to stir the energy to explore, but the local village of Aguete/Seixo (the two seemed to run into each other) was fun.

At first sight a straggle of shops and houses along the main road, it had a hidden centre with a couple of supermarkets and an indoor market where the stallholders were delighted to see English visitors and sell local produce. I can particularly recommend the local free range eggs, but they're kept in a bucket under the counter so you have to ask for them - in Spanish!

The local town of Marin (home to a big naval college) has a pleasant waterfront with plenty of bars and caf�s. But we saved our sightseeing for Santiago de Compestela. With its largely mediaeval centre, dominated by one of the world's greatest cathedrals, this surprisingly compact city was only 40 miles away - less than an hour on one of the region's excellent motorways.

The cathedral at Santiago de Compestela – one of the world's greatest

The cathedral is the final goal of the Camino de Santiago, the pilgrim's way that has been walked for around 1,000 years. People used to trudge all the way from northern Europe. These days it's usually started on the French side of the Pyrenees.

From there it's about 600 miles, taking most walkers a month. Just walking to the cathedral from a nearby car park, as we did, seems a bit of a cheat when you see these happy (or maybe just relieved) long distance pedestrians, who come in all shapes, sizes and ages.

However you arrive, the cathedral is well worth a visit. Afterwards, we did at least walk as far as Rua de Franco, an old, pedestrianised street famous for wall-to-wall eateries. We chose Taberna do Bispo and feasted on the huge choice of tapas - a true reflection of Galicia's harvest from sea and land.

The lure of the seaside proved too great to do much sightseeing. Though a trip to those Dartmoor-like hills was worthwhile. It's almost deserted up there. Walking two or three miles along a new track to a wind farm there was no sound apart from church bells from a distant valley, mewing buzzards and a raucous chorus of frogs. More serious walkers would find it a paradise – several long-distance paths cross the area.

Each ria has its own character, growing wilder and more rugged towards the open sea, where myriad islands beckon with patches of pristine white beach. Depending on how far inland along the rias you go, you can choose whatever size and style of beach and bathing conditions suit you, from a gentle cove with no waves and a beachside restaurant, to a completely wild strand battered by Atlantic rollers.