What you can see on the A Coruña webcams
Two live video cameras sit on a rooftop in the middle of the city. One holds a wide view across Orzán Bay, with the Tower of Hercules standing on the skyline; the other pans slowly between the beaches, the marina, the little castle of San Antón and the port. A still image from Galicia's weather service looks along the breakwater that shelters the harbour and is refreshed every few minutes. Between them they show whether the Atlantic is breaking white on the sand or lying flat.
A Coruña beach webcam: Orzán Bay and the Tower of Hercules
This fixed camera looks north from high above the city centre, straight across Orzán Bay. In the foreground are rooftops and a tall white tower block; beyond them the sand of Orzán curves round to the right, the promenade follows the shore, and the houses of the city's northern tip fill the far side, with the Tower of Hercules on the skyline.
It is the best of the A Coruña cameras for judging the sea. Lines of white water rolling into the bay mean swell from the Atlantic; a flat, dark surface means a calm beach day. You can also tell how much sand the tide has left and, on a summer afternoon, roughly how busy the beach is.
A Coruña seafront and harbour: the roving camera
Mounted on the same high rooftop as the fixed camera, this one moves. Through the day it pans and zooms between several scenes: a closer look at the sand of Orzán and the waves breaking along it, the rooftops running down to the beaches, and the harbour side of the city, with the marina, the small square fort of San Antón on its rock and the white maritime control tower at the root of the long breakwater.
Because it keeps changing, it is the camera to leave running for a few minutes. It shows both faces of A Coruña, the open Atlantic beaches and the sheltered port, and gives a good feel for the wind: flags, white caps in the bay and boats tugging at their moorings.
A Coruña harbour webcam: along the breakwater
Galicia's regional weather service took this picture from the outer end of the Barrié de la Maza breakwater, the long sea wall that protects A Coruña's port. The camera looks back along it towards the city: a cycle path and walkway run down the middle between banks of rocks, with the harbour water on the left and the open bay on the right. At the end stands the white maritime control tower, and the city skyline stretches behind.
It is a still image, renewed every few minutes and stamped with the time. Compare the two sides of the wall: if the right-hand side shows surf against the rocks while the left is flat, the sea is up outside the harbour. Walkers and cyclists on the breakwater give a sense of the weather too.
Corunna, Sir John Moore and a British grave
To many in Britain the city is still "Corunna". In January 1809 a British army under Sir John Moore, retreating through the Galician winter with the French close behind, turned to fight on the hills above the port so that the waiting ships could take the troops home. The embarkation succeeded, but Moore was killed in the battle. He lies in the walled Garden of San Carlos above the harbour, and Charles Wolfe's poem "The Burial of Sir John Moore after Corunna" carried the story into British classrooms for generations.
When to watch A Coruña
Mainland Spain is one hour ahead of the UK and Ireland all year, so 10am on the cameras is 9am in London or Dublin. A Coruña lies so far west that its mornings start late: in December the sun doesn't rise until about 9am local time, while midsummer evenings stay light until after 10pm. Winter storms make the most dramatic pictures, with swell crashing against the Orzán seafront; in summer the beaches fill on warm afternoons.
Around A Coruña
The Tower of Hercules, a Roman lighthouse still in use and a World Heritage Site since 2009, stands at the northern tip of the peninsula, a pleasant walk along the promenade from the beaches. The glazed balconies of the Marina are a short stroll away, and Santiago de Compostela is about 45 miles (73 km) south by road.
Visiting A Coruña
A Coruña has its own small airport, and Santiago's is under an hour away by road. The Atlantic stays cool here even in August, usually in the high teens °C. On rough days waves can break over the Orzán promenade, so keep back from the railings and swim only where the lifeguards' flags say it is safe.
