A Coruña is a city in the extreme northwest of Spain. It is the capital of the province of A Coruña, which is part of the autonomous community of Galicia. The city covers a total area of 37.83 km² and has 245,711 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2019), including the suburbs 407,150 inhabitants (as of January 2009).
By plane
A Coruña Airport (IATA: LCG) is a small regional airport
with multiple daily connections to Madrid and other Spanish cities.
There are also regular connections to/from Lisbon and London Heathrow.
The main airline here is Vueling.
Alternatively, a flight to
Santiago de Compostela (SCQ) can be considered, where direct flights
from German-speaking countries also land. From there it is about 65 km
to A Coruña.
By train
The Alvia high-speed train runs twice a
day from Madrid-Chamartín to A Coruña train station, the journey takes
5½ to 5:50 hours. Other connections are with a change in Ourense, from
there eight Alvia trains per day go to A Coruña (journey time 1:10
hours), they also stop in Santiago.
Media distances (corresponds
to Interregio) run almost every hour from Vigo to A Coruña, the journey
takes about 1:20 hours; from Pontevedra it is 1:05 hours, from Santiago
30 minutes.
There are five trains a day between A Coruña and
Ferrol, which take 1:05 to 1:20 hours on the winding route. Four times a
day there is a direct connection from Lugo (1h40), three times a day
from Ponferrada (3h40-4h15).
From Barcelona you can take an Alvia
(journey time 13 hours; via Zaragoza, Pamplona and León) during the day
or a night train (Trenhotel) to A Coruña.
By bus
In the street
The city is located on the A6 about 100 km from Lugo and almost 600 km
from Madrid.
A Coruña is about 75 km from Santiago de Compostela via
the AP-9 toll road.
By boat
A Coruña is located on a bay that
has been used as a natural harbor since ancient times. The port serves
as a stopover for cruise ships that dock at the passenger port.
The bar district and the old town are pedestrian zones and can be
easily explored on foot, otherwise the red buses from Tranvias Coruña
offer a dense network. The homepage is also available in English, and
there is also an app.
Monte de San Pedro funicular
A
100-metre-long funicular, which overcomes a height difference of 63
metres, leads to the Monte de San Pedro. You ride in a panoramic
gondola. Contrary to many publications to the contrary, until mid-June
it only runs on Saturdays and Sundays and on public holidays from 11:30
a.m. to 7:30 p.m. (from 1 June to 9 p.m.), from mid-June up to and
including September then every day except Mondays (as of 05/2018). Each
ride (up or down) costs €3.
Historical tram
Contrary to many
travel guides and other publications, the Tranvía turístico, which was
reopened in 1997 with four replicas of old trams, has been closed for
several years. However, the route along a section of the 13 km long
seafront promenade to the Torre de Hercules is still in almost working
condition. (Status 05/2018)
1 Tower of Hercules (Torre de Hércules), Av. Navarre. Tel.: +34 981
22 37 30 wikipediacommons. The lighthouse was built in 1./2. Century AD
built by the Romans. The Roman Farum Brigantium has a square base and is
34m high. The tower was out of use in the Middle Ages and was not used
again until the 15th century. In the 18th century it was renovated and
increased to a height of 55m. The tower has been a UNESCO World Heritage
Site since 2009. There is also a sculpture park near the tower. Price:
€3.00, reduced (students, over 65 years) €1.50.
2 Castillo de San
Antón (Museo Archeolóxico e Histórico Castelo de Santo Antón), Paseo
Marítimo Alcalde Francisco Vázquez, 2. Tel.: +34 981 18 98 50.
Archaeological Museum.
Aquarium Finisterrae, Paseo Marítimo Alcalde
Francisco Vázquez, 34.
3 Museo de Belas Artes, Rua Zalaeta, 2. Tel.:
+34 881 88 17 00.
Igrexa de Santiago, Rúa do Parrote, 1. Tel.: +34
981 20 56 96. Church from the 12th/13th centuries. Century.
Monte de
San Pedro
4 National Museum of Science and Technology, Plaza del
Museo Nacional. Phone: +34 689 57 87 27
5 Casa das Ciencias e
Planetario
A Coruña's naturally sheltered port was used by the Phoenicians,
Celts and later the Romans. Around 110 AD, they built the Tower of
Hercules in what was then Ardobicum Corunium, a lighthouse in the north
of the city that is still a reminder of this time and has been on the
UNESCO World Heritage List since June 2009.
During the reign of
the Suevi in the 5th century Corunium was temporarily the capital of the
kingdom.
The city was first mentioned under the Spanish name La
Coruña in the 13th century. The city's heyday was in the 14th and 15th
centuries, when it became the port of destination for English pilgrims
on their way to Santiago de Compostela. Today the route of the Camino
Inglés is again marked with the scallop. In 1588, the city of Ferrol
(province of A Coruña) was the station of the Spanish Armada on its way
to England. As a result, A Coruña was attacked by an English fleet led
by Sir Francis Drake in 1589, but was not taken. According to tradition,
the successful defense of the city is linked to the citizen María Pita,
after whom the city's main square is still named. María Pita, a
butcher's wife, stood out through her tenacity in fighting the English
privateers around the pirate Sir Francis Drake in 1589. She is still
seen today as a heroine and a symbol of freedom.
The Battle of A
Coruña took place on January 16, 1809 during the Spanish War of
Independence (1808-1814). There fought a French army under Marshal Soult
and a British expeditionary army under Sir John Moore. The battle ended
in a draw.
Immediately at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War,
the military putsch managed to gain control of A Coruña. Republicans
tried desperately to defeat the coup in bloody battles. During these
battles, countless unarmed Republicans tried in vain to storm the
Guardia Civil barracks. Army officers, Assault Guardsmen (municipal
police) and 200 Civil Guardsmen who resisted the military coup were
killed by the military coup, as well as the region's commander-in-chief,
General Enrique Salcedo, the local commander of A Coruña, General
Rogelio Caridad Pita, and the civilian governor, Pérez, among others
Carballo with his pregnant wife Juanita Capdevilla. A Coruña became the
center of the military coup and a bastion of nationalists in Galicia.
In recent years, the city has been further developed through various infrastructure and urban development projects, especially in the areas of transport, culture, sports and leisure. In particular, increased efforts were made to restore the coastal area (beach and promenade) of the city. These efforts are aimed at bringing into the 21st century the traditional character of the city, which has been shaped by local administration, trade, the port and tourism for decades. In the field of science, the "House of Sciences" institution, founded by the city council in 1983, has gained national importance. This institution includes the planetarium, the popular science "House of Man" (Domus) and the aquarium "Aquarium Finisterrae" (Casa de los Peces) of the city.
The province of A Coruña is currently the richest region in Galicia
and generates around a third of Galicia's GDP. The service sector is the
most important, especially the financial sector, followed by port
activities such as trade and fishing. The industrial sector is of less
importance.
Harbor
With a waterfront of six kilometers and an
annual trade volume of approx. 13 million tons, A Coruña has the largest
port in Galicia. The largest volumes handled are liquid bulk commodities
such as crude oil and bioethanol, followed by solid bulk commodities
such as coal, timber, cement and ores. Other goods and container traffic
only play a minor role. The quantity of fish landed is the second in
Galicia and the fish market is one of the most important in Spain. The
port is also a stopover for cruise ships. In 2007, the city had around
40,000 visitors from 62 ships. At Av. Porto da Coruña is a city port for
pleasure boats right in the center of the city.
Since 2018,
another port has been under construction west of the city center in
Langosteira de Fóra, which is scheduled to go into operation in 2020.
Its primary purpose is to handle oil and other liquids. At the same
time, the neighboring polymer chemical plants are being expanded.
The city is home to two industrial areas with more than 600 companies. These include an oil refinery owned by Repsol YPF and a plant owned by the aluminum producer Alcoa. A Coruña is also home to Fadesa Inmobiliaria, a leading real estate company (formerly listed on the IBEX 35). The Inditex group, which with its brands such as Zara is one of the largest textile groups in the world, is also based in A Coruña, although the group's headquarters are now in the neighboring municipality of Arteixo.
Tourism in the city has grown significantly in recent years, not least due to visits from cruise ships. In 2006, for the first time, A Coruña welcomed as many visitors as it had inhabitants. One of the attractions is the seafront promenade, which will measure 13 km when it is finally completed. Other sights include the 16th-century Castillo de San Anton on the pier, which now houses the archaeological museum, the Tower of Hercules and the Museo de Belas Artes, which houses works by Goya, among others. The oldest church in the city is the Ingesa de Santiago, dedicated to St. James, from the 12th/13th centuries. Century. The two main beaches in the city are Orzán and Riazor, located below the promenade. The most important tourist event is the annual San Juan Night, celebrated on June 23rd, which is celebrated with witches' parade, fireworks and bonfires on the city's beaches.
Despite the hilly terrain of the area, a network connects A Coruña with
other cities in Galicia, as well as with Madrid and Portugal. The
motorway to/from Madrid is largely toll-free to compensate for the
region's extreme peripheral location.
The inner-city public
transport is completely handled with buses, mostly also the regional and
national passenger transport. The train station is of little importance
but offers daily connections to Madrid. The small airport currently only
offers domestic connections.
From 1903 to 1962 there was a tram
that was powered by horses for the first ten years and then
electrically. A new route built in 1997 as a tourist train with
nostalgic vehicles, which was intended to become the nucleus of a modern
low-floor network, failed due to changed political majorities.
Operations ceased in 2011.
In the period 1948 to 1979 the city
had an extensive network of trolleybus lines.