A wild piece of coastline, an underrated stadium and a fenomenal head quarter, in the heart of the city: Celta de Vigo is an underestimated football trip.
The exterior has been renovated lately in a façade of waving silverware, but also from the inside Estadio Balaídos is very characteristic and underrated stadium. There's always a good atmosphere, the stands are lovely asymmetric and behind the goal you see the tower blocks rise over the stands. The waving architecture of the roofs are very recognizable: it's somewhere strange that Balaídos never is on the lists of popular stadiums.
Around Estadio Balaidos there's lots of tapas bars and coffee corners, just like anywhere in Spain. A real football café is Noso Luar (Rúa Manuel de Castro 24), where many Celta fans come as well. In the centre of Vigo you'll find a lot of nice diners, but wherever you go: try the famous 'Pulpo a la Gallega', one of the most famous dishes of Galicia. Tender octopus with olive oil and smoked paprika powder: a perfect warm-up for the match.
Really recommended is a trip from A Coruna to Vigo, or vice versa. The Riazor stadium of arch rivals Deportivo la Coruña is beautifully situated right next to the sea, so you can follow the coast line. Along the way you'll pass the Cabo Finisterre and the beautiful nature of Pontevedra. You want to see some football as well? Bergantiños has a nice little stadium - Estadio As Eiroas - and you can also go to SD Compostela as well, a little more off-coast.
It can't be better. On the corner of Rúa do Príncipe in Vigo, at number 44, you can visit the heart of Celta de Vigo everyday of the week. In this beautiful, monumental building in the centre of Vigo, they opened in 2018 the head quarter slash community house like you rarely see: Sede do Real Club Celta de Vigo. A head quarter that's completely open for everyone. The 'Fundación Celta de Vigo' is located here, but also a giant fan store, the Celta museum, an excellent coffee shop and lots of working places and meeting rooms. Players, fans, club workers and sponsors: they all can meet here. A must-visit in Vigo.
At the Calle Policarpo Sanz 1 you'll find one of the most beautiful buildings of Vigo: El Moderno. For decades, it was a luxury hotel, and also the place where Celta de Vigo was founded in 1923.
You don't think the Estadio Balaídos is obscure enough? In Vigo you have the Campo Municipal de Barreiro, a little stadium that's nowadays used by Celta B, the reserve team of the club. The simple, but charming stadium is at the east side of Vigo, and has a nice main stand with a waving roof. Also nice: the training ground and youth academy A Madroa of Celta, at the north side of Vigo.
You can buy your match tickets at the official website of Celta de Vigo, where it's not hard to get a ticket for top matches either. Keep that in mind when you pick a weekend, the top teams of La Liga usually have a hard time in Balaídos.
Balaídos is a little south from the centre of Vigo, right next to a gigantic Citroën factory, for years the head sponsor of Celta. Still, it's not the best idea to go to Balaídos by car, because there's limited parking space. The best thing you can do is take the bus (line 7, 11 or 16) or a taxi.
Images: Shutterstock, BSR Agency
