Ourense is a city of about 105,000 in inland Galicia, on the river Mino, and it has something no other Spanish city has in the same way: HOT WATER COMING OUT OF THE GROUND IN THE MIDDLE OF TOWN. The As Burgas springs emerge at around 65C a few steps from the cathedral, and a string of thermal pools runs along the river for several kilometres.
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What Is Here
THE TERMAS ARE THE REASON TO COME AND SEVERAL OF THEM ARE FREE. The A Chavasqueira, Muino da Veiga, Outariz and Burga de Canedo pools sit along the Mino north west of the centre, some free and open air, some paid with changing rooms. They are used year round and they are used by locals, which is the pleasure of them: this is a civic amenity rather than a spa resort.
The Tren das Termas is a small open train that runs from the centre out along the river to the pools, which solves the only real logistical problem of the place.
The old town is compact and granite, as the second image shows: narrow streets, arcaded squares, and a cathedral with the Portico do Paraiso, a polychrome Romanesque doorway closely related to the one at Santiago.
THE PONTE ROMANA IS GALICIA'S BEST BRIDGE, Roman in origin, medieval in most of what you see, and still walked across daily. The modern Ponte do Milenio beside it has a curving walkway that arcs out over the water.
The Ribeira Sacra begins here and is the reason to have a car. The canyons of the Sil and the Mino are terraced with vineyards on slopes that look impossible to work, with Romanesque monasteries along them and catamaran trips on the river below. It is one of the great landscapes of northern Spain and it is barely known outside it.
When to Go
May, June, September and October for the city. The thermal pools, though, are best in the cold.
GO FOR THE TERMAS IN WINTER. Sitting in 40C water in the open air while it rains on you at 8C is the entire point, and the pools are busiest with locals from November to March for exactly that reason.
Summer is hot for Galicia, regularly in the low thirties, because Ourense is inland and in a basin. The pools are less appealing then.
Rain is possible in any month and frequent in winter.
Getting There
By train, which is now the easy answer: high speed services from Madrid take about two and a half hours, and Santiago is 40 minutes.
By car, about an hour from Santiago, two from A Coruna and an hour and a half from Vigo.
By bus, services run across Galicia and to Madrid.
By air, Santiago de Compostela and Vigo are both about an hour away.
Is Ourense Safe for Women?
Ourense is an ordinary, safe Spanish provincial city. The FCDO publishes no advised-against areas anywhere in Spain, and the country is one of the most straightforward in the world to travel in. Its safety and security page concentrates on petty theft, which is the realistic risk, and on the fact that Spanish police require you to report a theft in person to get the denuncia your insurer will ask for.
THE SPRING WATER IS GENUINELY HOT AND THE SOURCE IS NOT A POOL. As Burgas emerges at around 65C, which will scald. The developed pools are tempered to bathing temperature; the spring outlets are not, and they are not fenced in the way a northern European city would fence them.
Thermal bathing has its own rules worth respecting: go in gradually, keep sessions short, drink water, and do not bathe after a heavy meal or alcohol. If you are pregnant or have a heart condition, ask first.
The riverside paths are unlit in stretches between the pools, and the walk back from the furthest termas in the dark is long. The Tren das Termas stops running in the evening.
The granite streets of the old town are slick when wet, which in Galicia is often.
The Ourense Packing List
A wet inland city where you will be alternately soaked and very warm, on purpose.
Our merino base layers are 100% Australian merino at 17.5 micron, and a long sleeve merino wool base layer for women is unusually well matched to a thermal town: you get out of a 40C pool into Galician air, you walk back damp, and wool is the one fibre that keeps insulating in that state instead of chilling you. From November to March add a heavyweight merino base layer, which is the right weight for a winter evening at the pools.
A Marmot PreCip Eco rain jacket with a hood, in every month.
Darn Tough merino socks and shoes with real grip for wet granite. Waterproof hiking shoes if you intend to walk in the Ribeira Sacra, where the vineyard tracks are steep and loose.
A quick dry travel towel, which the free pools do not provide and which you will use every day here.
Not linked and worth packing: SWIMWEAR, obviously, and a SECOND SET so one is always dry; FLIP FLOPS or similar for the pool edges, which are wet stone; a DRY BAG or plastic liner for the wet set in your daypack; and a HEAD TORCH for the riverside path back. Spain is card-friendly, though the free pools cost nothing at all.
Recommended Tours and Experiences
Essential Resources for Women in Ourense
Emergency numbers: 112 for police, ambulance and fire, free from any phone including a locked mobile. 091 reaches the Policia Nacional and 092 the local police. A theft needs an in-person denuncia to produce the document an insurer requires.
The As Burgas springs emerge at around 65C and will scald. The bathing pools are tempered; the spring outlets are not, and they are not fenced the way a northern European city would fence them. THERMAL BATHING RULES ARE WORTH FOLLOWING: enter gradually, keep sessions short, drink water, and avoid bathing after a heavy meal or alcohol. Ask a doctor first if you are pregnant or have a heart condition. THE RIVERSIDE PATHS BETWEEN THE POOLS ARE UNLIT IN STRETCHES and the Tren das Termas stops in the evening, so the walk back from the furthest pools is long and dark. Wet granite in the old town is slippery.
US State Department travel advisory: the Spain advisory. Read the current level there directly rather than relying on a figure printed in any guide.
UK FCDO travel advice: gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/spain, and read the safety and security page rather than only the landing page, because that is where the substance sits.
Main hospital: the Complexo Hospitalario Universitario de Ourense has a full emergency department in the city. Dial 112 for an ambulance. A farmacia posts the duty rota for nights and Sundays. Spain is in the EU, so a UK Global Health Insurance Card or an EU European Health Insurance Card gives you state-provided medically necessary care on the same terms as a resident. That is not the same as free, it does not cover repatriation or a private clinic, and on the islands and the costas many clinics aimed at visitors are private and will bill you, so check before you are treated. Spanish public hospitals are good and a farmacia handles minor problems without an appointment. Tap water is drinkable across the mainland and the Balearics. Heat is the realistic summer health risk rather than anything exotic.
Official health authority: the Spanish Ministry of Health. covers the Galician health service, the Servizo Galego de Saude
US Embassy: the United States Embassy in Madrid.
Official tourism authority: Turespana, the national tourism board. publishes which thermal pools are free and which are paid, their seasonal hours and the Tren das Termas timetable
Takeaways
Come in winter for the pools. Rain on your head and 40C water is the point.
Several termas are free. Bring your own towel.
The springs in town are 65C. Look, do not touch.
Hire a car for the Ribeira Sacra. It is the best thing in the province.
Solo women safety assessment: Ourense is an unremarkable and therefore comfortable city for a woman travelling alone. It is a Galician provincial capital of 105,000 with a university, a normal nightlife concentrated in the old town, and a tourist profile that is overwhelmingly Spanish; a woman alone in the thermal pools or walking back along the river in the early evening is entirely ordinary. 112 REACHES POLICE, AMBULANCE AND FIRE free from any phone including a locked one, with 091 for the Policia Nacional. SPAIN'S ADVISORY CONCERNS ARE PICKPOCKETING IN THE LARGE CITIES AND THE BALCONY AND ALCOHOL PROBLEMS OF THE RESORT STRIPS, and neither describes this place. THE RISKS HERE ARE THERMAL AND THEY ARE REAL IF UNDRAMATIC. THE WATER AT SOURCE IS ABOUT 65C. The developed pools are tempered to something like 40C, but the As Burgas outlets in the middle of town are not, they are a few steps from a public square, and they are not railed off in the way a northern European city would insist on. Do not test them with a hand. THE SECOND IS BATHING ITSELF, which has a discipline people ignore because a free pool feels casual: enter slowly, keep each session short, drink water between them, and do not go in after a big meal or a few glasses of Ribeiro. Pregnancy and heart conditions are a conversation with a doctor rather than a judgement call at the poolside. THE THIRD IS THE WALK HOME, and it is the one worth planning around: the best pools are several kilometres out along the Mino, the little tourist train that serves them stops in the evening, and the riverside path back is unlit in stretches. That is a reason to carry a head torch and to know the last train time rather than a reason to avoid the place, but arriving at the furthest pool at dusk without either is how a lovely evening becomes a long dark walk.
Reading On
Ourense is inland Galicia and the coast is an hour away in several directions. The Santiago de Compostela packing list covers the cathedral city 40 minutes north, with the Vigo packing list and A Coruna packing list for the Atlantic cities and the Fisterra packing list for the cape at the end of the Camino. East, the Leon packing list and Burgos packing list cover the Camino cities of Castile, and the Oviedo packing list and Gijon packing list Asturias. For the country the Spain travel guide for women and the Spain packing list carry the regions, the transport and the practical material in full. For why wool is the right layer when you are repeatedly wet and warm, read the guide to merino wool base layers for women. Every destination we cover is indexed at the travel packing guide for women, and the base layers are at the Roman Trail collection.
If the outer journey is calling you, the inner one usually is too. Explore SoulMap at romantrail.com/blogs/soulmap.
