The Cathedral roofs: how the visit actually works

Updated 15 August 2026, with the rates and conditions published by the Cathedral Museum.

Plenty of people find out you can walk on the Cathedral roofs the day after they leave Santiago. It is not a secret tour or a hard ticket to get: it is on the official ticketing site, it costs the same as the Pórtico de la Gloria, and it runs several times a day. The problem is that it is filed under "cubiertas" — roofs, not a word anyone searches for — and the practical details are scattered across different pages.

This page pulls them together. Everything here comes from the Cathedral Museum's own ticketing site, checked on 15 August 2026. Prices and opening times are indicative; confirm them when you book.

What the visit actually is

It is a guided tour of about 60 minutes across the stone roofs of the Cathedral. You climb the tower's internal staircase — 140 steps — walk the stepped roofs, and finish on top of the Carraca Tower, roughly 72 metres up. That is where the panoramic photo of the city comes from.

It is not a viewpoint you wander up to and linger on: you go in a group, at the time printed on your ticket, with a guide. The time matters, and turning up late means losing the ticket.

Price, and why pilgrims pay less

The detail almost everyone misses: the pilgrim credencial gets you the reduced rate. That is €3 off, and you prove it at the door, not at checkout. If you have just walked in and still have the credencial on you, use it — it is one of the few things in Santiago where it turns into actual money.

What else the ticket covers, which is a lot

This is why €15 is reasonable even if you only came for the roofs. The same ticket gives free entry to five more places:

• The Cathedral Museum permanent collection.
• The Gelmírez Palace and its temporary exhibitions.
• The crypt of the Pórtico de la Gloria.
• The MuSar, the museum of the Colexiata de Sar.
• The Diocesan Museum.

And you do not have to cram it into one day: those free visits are valid on the ticket date or any of the seven days after it, each within its own opening hours. Do the roofs on your first day and you have a week to use the rest. The MuSar, fifteen minutes' walk from the old town and almost always empty, is the one most people never claim.

What it does not include is the guided Pórtico de la Gloria visit with audio guide — that is the combined €20 ticket (€16 reduced). The crypt yes, the Pórtico itself no.

The language problem

This is the most repeated question and the worst explained. Tours are generally guided in Spanish. Tours in English do exist, but they are sold through a separate button on the ticketing site: one for "roofs in Spanish", another for "roofs in English". English tours run on a single flat rate, with no reduced price, so the credencial does not discount anything there.

If you cannot find an English slot in the calendar, write to the visitor team (atencionvisitante@catedraldesantiago.es, phone +34 981 55 29 85) and ask about other language options. Most people assume they do not exist because they are not on the default booking screen.

Opening times, closures and accessibility

The museum opens 10:00 to 20:00, every day, with the ticket office and access closing half an hour earlier. Your specific roof tour runs at the time on your ticket.

Closing days are 1 and 6 January, 25 July, 25 December, and 24 and 31 December from 14:00. Individual spaces can also close for religious celebrations and official events: it is a working cathedral, and that is not announced far ahead.

The roofs cannot be visited in a wheelchair. It is 140 steps up an internal tower staircase, with no alternative route. For specific accessibility questions use the email and phone above. The other spaces included in the ticket do not have that limitation.

Is it worth it?

If you only have one day in Santiago and must choose between the Pórtico de la Gloria and the roofs, the Pórtico matters more: it is the Romanesque work that makes this cathedral unique. The roofs are a different thing — the city from above, and the building from an angle you never otherwise see — and they work best in late afternoon.

If you have two or three days, the roof ticket is the best value of the three, because seven days of free access to the other museums turn €15 into a pass. And if it rains — which in Santiago is half the year — remember the tour is outdoors on stone: rain makes it uncomfortable or cancels it. Check the forecast before picking a time.