---
title: "What to do in Santiago when it rains"
description: "It rains around 140 days a year in Santiago and the city keeps going. Indoor plans: the Cathedral and its museum, the market, the arcades and a long lunch."
url: https://santiago.es/en/rainy-days
locale: en
---

# What to do in Santiago when it rains

Days of orballo

Santiago and rain aren't a problem to be solved: they're the same thing. Here's how to spend a wet day without losing either the day or your umbrella.

[By Cesar Rodriguez · local guide](https://santiago.es/en/author)

![Soportales de la Rúa do Vilar en el casco histórico de Santiago de Compostela](https://santiago.es/img/rua-do-vilar.jpg)

[© Lmbuga · CC BY-SA 4.0](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Soportais_da_R%C3%BAa_do_Villar._Santiago_de_Compostela,_Galicia_(Spain).jpg)

It rains in Santiago on around 140 days a year, so if you're coming to visit, the odds of getting wet are not small. The city has known this for centuries and was built for it: the arcades, the stone canopies, the churches that are always open. Nobody here says "bad luck, it's raining"; they say *orballo*, a fine, persistent drizzle with a name of its own, and life carries on in the street regardless. A wet day in Santiago isn't the backup plan. For a lot of people who live here, it's the one that actually shows you what the city is like.

## Start indoors: the Cathedral and the museums

The **[Cathedral](https://santiago.es/en/what-to-see/cathedral)** is the obvious shelter and the best one: the naves are free to enter from 7:00 am to 9:00 pm, and the **Cathedral Museum**, which covers the Pórtico da Gloria and gives access to the rooftops, opens daily from **10:00 am to 8:00 pm** (€9-20 depending on which ticket you buy, 2026 prices, always worth confirming). A couple of unhurried hours in there justify the day on their own. A minute away, the **San Martiño Pinario monastery** has its own museum and a baroque church you can walk end to end under cover — but check the day first, because it opens Tuesday to Saturday only (11:00 am-7:00 pm from November to May, 10:00 am-8:00 pm from June to October; around €4 for the church, €6 with a guide).

If you'd rather have art than devotion, the **Museo do Pobo Galego**, the Galician folk museum, is closed on Mondays and costs €5, free on Sundays; its triple spiral staircase is worth the trip by itself if you go with time to spare. The **CGAC**, the contemporary art centre across the road, is free every day except Monday, and the **Cidade da Cultura**, up on Monte Gaiás, shows its exhibitions free of charge too. That last one comes with a caveat: the complex sits on the edge of town, so getting there without a soaking means a car, a taxi or a very sturdy umbrella. Opening times for all of these are in the [opening hours and tickets](https://santiago.es/en/opening-hours) page.

## The Mercado de Abastos, rain or shine

The Mercado de Abastos doesn't close because of rain. Stalls raise their shutters between 7:00 and 8:00 am depending on the trade, and they all shut at 2:00 pm, Monday to Saturday — that closing time is the fixed one, and the one that matters if you're walking over. The food stalls in the covered hall keep going from 11:30 am to 5:00 pm. It's one of the better grey-day plans in the city: you walk in dry, eat shellfish that came off the boat this morning and leave having spent about five minutes outdoors. There's more on what to order in the [where to eat](https://santiago.es/en/where-to-eat) guide.

## Walking without getting wet: the arcades

**Rúa do Vilar** and a good stretch of **Rúa do Franco** are arcaded, so you can cross the old town from one end to the other with the umbrella folded. It's the route half of Santiago takes when it rains: shop windows, bookshops, the odd pastry shop with the tart still warm on the counter. It works as well for killing twenty minutes before a table is ready as for filling a whole afternoon.

## A long lunch and a longer sobremesa

The plan that never fails is to sit down. A wet day is the perfect excuse to stretch lunch out on Rúa do Franco or Rúa da Raíña, order a plate of octopus, stay for the coffee and stop checking the time. The Spanish have a word for that last part — *sobremesa*, the hour you spend at the table after the food is gone — and nobody will hurry you out. If the afternoon closes in and it's still raining, hot chocolate with churros or a coffee in any café in the centre takes care of the rest of the day without needing a plan.

## At night: music under a roof

For the evening, **Sala Capitol** and **Riquela** put on [live music](https://santiago.es/en/events) for much of the year, from rock to jazz. It's how you finish a wet day without the rain having decided anything for you.

One practical note

Wet granite is slippery, and the old town is granite almost from wall to wall. Shoes with a sole that grips matter more than an expensive umbrella. And between umbrella and rain jacket, the jacket wins here: with the wind coming off the Atlantic, umbrellas don't stay in one piece for long.

## The rain isn't the enemy

Some people put off a trip to Santiago waiting for a clear sky that takes its time arriving. That's a miscalculation: the city was built in dark stone precisely for this light, and the Cathedral soaked under a low grey sky is as much Santiago as any sunny evening in the Alameda. If you come on a wet day, you haven't had bad luck. You've seen the city the way it looks most of the year. If you're still choosing dates, the [month-by-month weather guide](https://santiago.es/en/weather) shows where the wet days actually fall.

## Frequently asked questions about rain in Santiago

**How many days a year does it rain in Santiago de Compostela?**

Around 140 days a year, which makes it one of the rainiest cities in Spain. Most of that rain falls between November and March; July is usually the driest month.

**What is there to do in Santiago if it rains all day?**

The Cathedral and its museum, the Museo do Pobo Galego, the CGAC and San Martiño Pinario can all be visited entirely under cover. To walk without getting wet, the arcades on Rúa do Vilar run through much of the old town, and the Mercado de Abastos and its food stalls carry on whatever the sky is doing.

**Umbrella or rain jacket for Santiago?**

Rain jacket, no question. The Atlantic wind turns umbrellas inside out easily, and with your hands free you walk the old town's cobbles better.

**Is Santiago worth visiting even if it rains?**

Yes. Rain is part of the city's character, and much of what you come to see — the Cathedral, the museums, the arcades — is designed to be visited under cover. Most of the plans we recommend work as well in the wet as in the sun.

Keep reading

**[What to see in Santiago de Compostela](https://santiago.es/en/what-to-see)** — Visit — The Cathedral, the old town squares and the museums that make up the essential route. — Read the guide

**[Santiago's weather and when to visit](https://santiago.es/en/weather)** — Climate — Temperatures, rainfall month by month and the best time to come depending on what you want. — Read the guide

**[Where to eat in Santiago](https://santiago.es/en/where-to-eat)** — Eat — The Mercado de Abastos, the tapas streets and two Michelin-starred restaurants. — Read the guide