La Coruna cruise port, Spain
The Spanish Armada sailed from this harbour in 1588, and it is still guarded by the Tower of Hercules, a Roman lighthouse from about the year 100 which has never stopped working: the oldest one on earth still doing its job. The glassed-in balconies along the front are the city's signature, and are there for the weather.
Worth knowing. The city's coat of arms shows a skull and crossed bones beneath the tower. The story is that Hercules killed a giant here and buried the head where the lighthouse now stands.
What to do in La Coruna for free
The ship comes in beside the old town, so you step off and you are in it. The lighthouse is about forty minutes out along the sea wall and looking at it costs nothing. The path there passes a sculpture park and the crescent of Riazor beach.
What costs money
The ship's own excursions usually cost more than booking the same trip yourself. Two things come with the price. The ship waits for its own excursions and does not wait for you. And if the port is missed, P&O refunds its own without you asking. A trip you booked yourself is a claim on your travel insurance, so check what your policy covers. The ship sells its own trips to all of these, and the desk is open on board if you would rather do it that way.
Santiago de Compostela. An hour inland by coach, at the end of the road pilgrims have walked for a thousand years. The cathedral and the square in front of it are what you go for, and people are still arriving on foot while you are standing there.
Inside the Tower of Hercules. The lighthouse charges to climb it while the ground around it is free. It is a spiral stair the whole way and there is no lift.
Which ship calls at La Coruna, and when
Every call here between 15 August and 28 November 2026, with the hours ashore P&O published. These times are a guide, not a promise: the captain gives the real ones the day before.
| Ship | Sails | Day | Ashore |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arvia | 16 August 2026, 14 nights | Day 3 | 09:00 to 16:30 |
| Iona | 29 August 2026, 7 nights | Day 4 | 09:00 to 17:30 |
| Arvia | 13 September 2026, 14 nights | Day 3 | 09:00 to 17:00 |
| Arvia | 27 September 2026, 13 nights | Day 3 | 09:00 to 17:00 |
| Iona | 3 October 2026, 14 nights | Day 13 | 08:00 to 17:00 |
| Arvia | 10 October 2026, 13 nights | Day 3 | 09:00 to 17:00 |
| Iona | 17 October 2026, 7 nights | Day 5 | 09:00 to 17:00 |
| Iona | 24 October 2026, 7 nights | Day 4 | 09:00 to 18:00 |
| Iona | 7 November 2026, 14 nights | Day 13 | 08:00 to 17:00 |
| Iona | 21 November 2026, 14 nights | Day 13 | 08:00 to 17:00 |
| Iona | 19 December 2026, 16 nights | Day 15 | 09:00 to 17:00 |
| Iona | 4 January 2027, 35 nights | Day 34 | 08:00 to 17:00 |
| Arvia | 6 March 2027, 22 nights | Day 21 | 08:00 to 17:00 |
| Arvia | 12 March 2027, 16 nights | Day 15 | 08:00 to 17:00 |
| Iona | 13 March 2027, 14 nights | Day 13 | 08:00 to 17:00 |
| Arvia | 13 March 2027, 15 nights | Day 14 | 08:00 to 17:00 |
| Arvia | 11 April 2027, 14 nights | Day 11 | 09:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 18 April 2027, 7 nights | Day 4 | 09:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 23 May 2027, 7 nights | Day 4 | 09:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 30 May 2027, 7 nights | Day 4 | 09:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 20 June 2027, 14 nights | Day 3 | 09:00 to 17:00 |
| Arvia | 1 August 2027, 7 nights | Day 4 | 09:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 8 August 2027, 7 nights | Day 4 | 09:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 15 October 2027, 7 nights | Day 4 | 09:00 to 18:00 |
| Iona | 23 October 2027, 7 nights | Day 5 | 09:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 28 February 2028, 27 nights | Day 26 | 08:00 to 17:00 |
| Arvia | 4 March 2028, 22 nights | Day 21 | 08:00 to 17:00 |
| Iona | 6 March 2028, 26 nights | Day 25 | 08:00 to 17:00 |
| Arvia | 10 March 2028, 16 nights | Day 15 | 08:00 to 17:00 |
| Iona | 11 March 2028, 21 nights | Day 20 | 08:00 to 17:00 |
| Arvia | 11 March 2028, 15 nights | Day 14 | 08:00 to 17:00 |
| Iona | 17 March 2028, 15 nights | Day 14 | 08:00 to 17:00 |
| Iona | 18 March 2028, 14 nights | Day 13 | 08:00 to 17:00 |
| Arvia | 26 March 2028, 7 nights | Day 4 | 09:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 26 March 2028, 14 nights | Day 4 | 09:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 2 April 2028, 14 nights | Day 11 | 09:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 9 April 2028, 7 nights | Day 4 | 09:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 9 April 2028, 14 nights | Day 4 | 09:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 16 April 2028, 14 nights | Day 11 | 09:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 23 April 2028, 7 nights | Day 4 | 09:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 23 April 2028, 14 nights | Day 4 | 09:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 30 April 2028, 14 nights | Day 11 | 09:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 7 May 2028, 7 nights | Day 4 | 09:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 7 May 2028, 14 nights | Day 4 | 09:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 14 May 2028, 14 nights | Day 11 | 09:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 21 May 2028, 7 nights | Day 4 | 09:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 21 May 2028, 14 nights | Day 4 | 09:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 11 June 2028, 14 nights | Day 11 | 09:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 18 June 2028, 7 nights | Day 4 | 09:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 18 June 2028, 14 nights | Day 4 | 09:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 9 July 2028, 14 nights | Day 11 | 09:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 16 July 2028, 7 nights | Day 4 | 09:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 16 July 2028, 14 nights | Day 4 | 09:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 6 August 2028, 14 nights | Day 11 | 09:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 13 August 2028, 7 nights | Day 4 | 09:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 13 August 2028, 14 nights | Day 4 | 09:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 3 September 2028, 14 nights | Day 11 | 09:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 10 September 2028, 7 nights | Day 4 | 09:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 10 September 2028, 14 nights | Day 4 | 09:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 1 October 2028, 7 nights | Day 4 | 09:00 to 18:00 |
| Iona | 14 October 2028, 7 nights | Day 4 | 09:00 to 18:00 |
How long you get ashore in La Coruna
The published times give you between about 7.5 and 9 hours alongside, depending on the sailing. Take off the time it takes a few thousand people to get off, and the time you need to be back on board before the ship leaves, and that is your day. P&O give the real hours the day before, and the all-aboard time is earlier than the departure time.
The other stops on these cruises
Every one of these is on at least one of the sailings that calls at La Coruna.
- AlesundThe whole town burned down in one night in January 1904 and was rebuilt at speed in Art Nouveau, with materials Kaiser Wilhelm II sent by ship.
- AlicanteSanta Barbara castle stands on the bare rock of Benacantil straight above the town, held in turn by Carthaginians, Romans and Moors because whoever had the rock had the harbour.
- AntiguaNelson's Dockyard at English Harbour is a working Georgian naval yard that never fell down: Horatio Nelson was based here from 1784, hated it, and called it a vile hole.
- Arrecife de LanzaroteBetween 1730 and 1736 the ground opened and buried a quarter of the island under lava; the Timanfaya field is still hot enough a metre down to cook on.
- BarcelonaThe Gothic Quarter is built on the Roman town of Barcino, and the Sagrada Familia has been under construction since 1882: Gaudi knew he would not see it finished and said his client was in no hurry.
- BasseterreSt Kitts was England's first colony in the Caribbean, in 1624, and the French took the other end of the island the same decade.
- BridgetownEnglish from 1627 and never changed hands, which is why the island kept its parliament, its cricket and its place names.
- Cadiz (tours to Seville)Probably the oldest continuously lived-in city in western Europe: the Phoenicians founded Gadir here around 1100 BC.
- CastriesBritain and France exchanged this island fourteen times, which is why the towns are French and the law is English.
- CherbourgTitanic's last call on mainland Europe, on the evening of 10 April 1912, and she never came alongside: tenders carried the passengers out to her.
- DominicaThe Nature Island, and the mountains are the reason: rainforest over most of it, and Morne Trois Pitons inland, a World Heritage site with the second largest hot lake in the world steaming in the middle of it.
- Fort de FranceIn May 1902 Mount Pelee destroyed Saint-Pierre, then the island's main city, killing about thirty thousand people in minutes; a prisoner in a thick-walled cell was among the very few to live.
- FuerteventuraThe oldest of the Canaries and the flattest, a hundred kilometres off Africa and made mostly of wind, sand and goats.
- Getxo (tours to Bilbao)Basque country, at the mouth of the river up to Bilbao.
- Gran CanariaColumbus put in at Las Palmas in 1492 to mend a rudder on his way west, and the house he is said to have stayed in is now a museum about him.
- GrenadaSt George's sits inside a drowned volcanic crater, which is what makes the harbour that shape.
- HaugesundNorway calls this its birthplace: Harald Fairhair, who pulled the country into one kingdom in the 870s, had his seat at Avaldsnes, just down the coast.
- HellesyltA waterfall runs straight through the middle of the village and into the fjord.
- IbizaFounded by Carthage in 654 BC, and a World Heritage site for the Renaissance walls of Dalt Vila and the Phoenician village at Sa Caleta rather than for anything that happened after 1987.
- KristiansandLaid out as a grid in 1641 by Christian IV of Denmark-Norway, who wanted a fortress town guarding the entrance to the Skagerrak and had one built on the sand at the river mouth.
- La Seyne-sur-Mer (for Toulon)A shipbuilding town across the water from Toulon, France's main Mediterranean naval base.
- Le HavreFour fifths of the town was destroyed in September 1944 and Auguste Perret rebuilt the centre in reinforced concrete on a grid, which is now a World Heritage site, listed for the planning rather than for anything old.
- LisbonOn All Saints' Day 1755 an earthquake, then a tsunami up the Tagus, then three days of fire destroyed most of the city and shook Europe's confidence in a benign universe.
- MadeiraPortuguese sailors found it uninhabited in 1419 and set the forest alight to clear it; the fire is said to have burned for years, and the island is named for the wood.
- MalagaPicasso was born here in 1881, in a flat on the Plaza de la Merced, and there is a museum of his work a few streets away.
- MarseillesThe oldest city in France, founded by Greek sailors from Phocaea around 600 BC as Massalia, and it has faced the sea rather than Paris ever since.
- OldenA village of a few hundred people at the head of Nordfjord, 100 km in from the open sea.
- OranjestadDutch since 1636 and dry as a bone.
- SkjoldenThe innermost point of the Sognefjord, about 200 kilometres from open water.
- St MaartenThe island has been split between the Dutch and the French since the Treaty of Concordia in 1648, which makes it the smallest piece of land in the world shared by two nations, and there is no border to speak of.
- StavangerA herring and sardine-canning town that struck North Sea oil in 1969 and became Norway's richest city.
- TenerifeMount Teide stands 3,715 metres over the island, the highest point in Spain and, measured from its base on the sea floor, the third largest volcano on earth.
- VigoEurope's biggest fishing port by weight landed, and it smells honestly of it near the market.
Money and language in Spain
Euro (EUR, €). Cards are normal, though a small market stall or a taxi may want coins. The Canary Islands are Spain and use the euro too. Onboard is always charged in sterling, so this only matters ashore.
English is common in the ports and thinner a street back.
| English | Spanish | Say it |
|---|---|---|
| Hello | Hola | OH-la |
| Goodbye | Adiós | ah-DYOSS |
| How much? | ¿Cuánto cuesta? | KWAN-toh KWESS-ta |
| Thank you | Gracias | GRA-syass, and GRA-thyass on the mainland if you want to blend in |
| Please | Por favor | por fa-VOR |
Free, and it works with no internet. Give it the dates you sail and it works out your own stops and saves the street map for each one. It shows you round the ship too.
All the ports written up so far, the things to do before you sail, or the ship pages for Iona and Arvia.