Santiago de Compostela

Exit Praza do Obradoiro on the south side and circle the cathedral clockwise — a 600-metre walk that takes you through the three other squares hugging the basilica, each with a totally different character. Praza das Praterías has the oldest surviving facade and a horse fountain locals fill water bottles from. Praza da Quintana is split into two levels by a stone staircase where students sit drinking wine at midnight; the sealed Holy Door (Porta Santa) here only opens in Jubilee years. Praza da Acibechería closes the loop with the Benedictine monastery.

Tip: On the Quintana facade, find the bearded statue locals call 'O Barbas' on the lower right of the Holy Door — touching his foot is a tradition older than the cathedral guides admit. Skip the cathedral interior tour today: the queue eats 90 minutes and the outside is the experience.

From Praza da Acibechería walk south-east down Rúa das Casas Reais for 6 minutes — a downhill granite street lined with butchers and old hardware shops that feels like 1955. The market itself is eight stone pavilions where Galician fishermen and farmers have sold since 1873. Order a half-ración of pulpo a feira (octopus on wood plates with paprika and olive oil, around €12) at the bar of Pulpería A Carretilla, and a Galician empanada slice (€3-4) from any of the bakery stalls. Eat standing at the counter with a glass of Albariño (€2.50) — this is exactly how Santiagueses do Friday lunch.

Tip: Pavilion 5 has the seafood stalls — buy a few percebes (goose barnacles) raw and the cooks at Mariscomanía next door will steam them for you for €2. Avoid the sit-down restaurants surrounding the market on Rúa Ameas; they double the price for a worse version of what's inside.

Leave the market heading west into the heart of the casco vello, weaving down Rúa Nova and Rúa do Vilar — the two parallel arcaded streets that pilgrims have walked into the cathedral for nine centuries. The granite paving is grooved by millions of footsteps; on a sunny afternoon it glows silver-grey. Loop through Praza de Cervantes (the medieval public square where executions happened), past the Casa do Cabido (a building only 3 metres deep — built purely as a stage backdrop in 1758), and down Rúa do Franco, the loud tapas street where every doorway has a different smell of garlic and grilled pimientos.

Tip: Look up — the cast-iron galerías (glassed-in balconies) above Rúa do Vilar are a regional speciality you'll only see in Galicia and northern Portugal. The narrow alley Rúa da Conga, halfway down, frames the cathedral bell tower perfectly — most-photographed alley in the city, easily missed.

From Rúa do Franco walk south for 5 minutes through Porta Faxeira and you arrive at the city's lung. Take the upper path called the Paseo da Ferradura (Horseshoe Walk) — a tree-lined promenade carved into the hillside that wraps around the park. Halfway along is the bench that holds the most famous view of Santiago: the entire cathedral rising above the rooftops of the old town. This is the postcard. At 18:00-19:00 in summer the late sun strikes the cathedral facade head-on and the granite turns honey-gold; in winter the same effect happens around 17:30.

Tip: Walk to the very end of the Paseo (past the eucalyptus grove) for the secondary viewpoint with no other tourists — locals call it 'Mirador da Ferradura.' Bring a takeaway Estrella Galicia from any kiosk; drinking on the bench at sunset here is a Santiago rite of passage.

Walk back north into the old town for 10 minutes via Rúa do Vilar — the streets are now lit by warm yellow lamps and the granite is at its most cinematic. O Curro da Parra is a small modern Galician kitchen on Rúa da Conga, run by a chef who trained at Casa Marcelo and dropped the white-tablecloth pretence. Order the croqueta de pulpo (€3 each), the sardine 'lacón' tart (€9), the slow-cooked pork cheek with parmentier (€16), and a bottle of Mar de Frades Albariño (€28). This is the dinner that makes you want to extend the trip to two days.

Tip: Reserve at least 24 hours ahead — they have ten tables and Rúa do Franco's overflow finds them. Skip every restaurant on Rúa do Franco itself: the menus-of-the-day with photos in the window are the city's biggest tourist trap, frozen seafood at triple price, and waiters who chase you down the street to fill the terrace.

From the south door walk 60 seconds around the cathedral's flank to the museum entrance on Praza do Obradoiro. The restored Pórtico da Gloria — Master Mateo's 12th-century polychrome masterpiece — is the single most important piece of medieval sculpture in Spain; book the timed slot online before arriving. Finish on the cathedral rooftop tour if you can add 30 minutes, because walking the granite tiles above the nave is something almost no visitor does.

Tip: Book the 11:30 Pórtico slot at catedraldesantiago.es the night before — on-site tickets for the restored polychrome are often sold out by 10:00. The rooftop tour is a separate €12 add-on; go for the 12:00 slot to catch the bells.

Duck two minutes south down Rúa da Raíña, passing under the arcaded stone colonnade where pilgrims shelter from the Galician rain. A smoky, tin-ceilinged tapas bar where retired Galician men hold court — no menu, no English, no reservations. Order zamburiñas a la plancha (grilled scallops, €9), a ración of pimientos de Padrón (€6), and ask for Ribeiro poured into the white ceramic cups. Expect €15-20 per person.

Tip: Arrive at 13:25 sharp — by 14:00 it is elbow-to-elbow and you will wait 40 minutes. Pay cash; the hand-written slip of paper they give you is the bill, and tipping is not expected. Closed Sundays.

A two-minute walk north from the bar, slipping under the arch of Pazo de Xelmírez onto the vast granite square. From 15:00 to 17:00 the low western light hits the Baroque cathedral façade straight on — this is when every photograph of Santiago is taken. Sit on the stone at the plaza's west side opposite the cathedral and watch pilgrims collapse in tears after 800 km on the Camino; no other plaza in Europe carries this emotional current.

Tip: The far-right corner (northwest, under the Hostal dos Reis Católicos) is the only spot where you can frame the full cathedral façade without the parked taxis cutting through. Stand there — don't stand dead-centre where the guidebook photo implies you should.

Cross Praza da Inmaculada on the cathedral's north flank — a three-minute walk to Spain's second-largest monastery after El Escorial. Ninety percent of visitors to Santiago never enter this building because it is tucked behind the cathedral and carries no line. The double-tiered main altar is Galician Baroque at its most theatrical, and the silence of its cloister is the deliberate opposite of the cathedral next door.

Tip: The audioguide is pointless — walk straight to the left retablo (the Virxe do Socorro) where the gilded Solomonic columns reach 14 metres; this is the piece other Baroque altars in Spain copied from.

Exit the monastery and descend Rúa das Hortas for four minutes — the street drops steeply past stone houses with geranium balconies. Marcelo Tejedor's Michelin-starred kitchen serves Galician ingredients through an Asian lens at a single long communal oak table. No reservations ever — start queuing outside the black door at 19:45. Must-orders: the maíz empanada with anchovy (€10), the pulpo dim sum (€14), and the steamed bao with pork jowl (€12).

Tip: Skip the restaurants along Rúa do Franco with hawkers waving laminated menus outside — they target tourists with pre-cooked pulpo reheated in microwaves at triple the market price. Any place in Santiago that needs to shout for your attention is not where locals eat. If Casa Marcelo's queue is over ten people by 19:45, walk one block to Abastos 2.0 (same quality, open kitchen, also no reservations).