The Kingdom of Spain occupies nearly 85% of the Iberian Peninsula in southeastern Europe with coastlines facing south and southeast on the Mediterranean Sea and southwest and northwest on the Atlantic Ocean. Spain also includes the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean, the Canary Islands in the Atlantic, and the cities of Ceuta and Melilla on the north coast of Morocco. Spain is divided into 17 regions called autonomous communities (comunidades autónomas). Galicia is an autonomous region in the northwestern corner of Spain. The Galician coastline is rugged and scenic but very dangerous to navigation; it is often called the "Coast of Death" (Costa da Morte in Galego). Many of the harbors are partly-sheltered bays called rías, actually the drowned lower valleys of rivers. Galicia is divided into four provinces (provincias), which are subdivided into districts called comarcas. This page includes lighthouses of the north coast of the region in northern A Coruña Province and in Lugo Province. Galicians speak Spanish or Galego, a distinctive language related to Portuguese. Galicia itself is called Galiza in Galego. The word for a lighthouse is faro in Spanish and farol in Galego, but its use is generally restricted to the larger coastal light stations. Smaller lighthouses are called balizas (beacons). In Galego illa is an island, cabo is a cape, punta is a promontory or point of land, rocha is a rock, arrecife is a reef, baía is a bay, ría is an estuary or inlet, estreito is a strait, río is a river, and porto is a port or harbor. The navigational lights in Spain are the responsibility of the national port authority, Puertos del Estado, but many of them are operated and maintained by regional port authorities. The Comisión de Faros, founded in 1842 to build and maintain Spanish lighthouses, is now an advisory panel. Most of the lighthouses listed on this page are maintained by the Autoridad Portuaria de Ferrol - San Cibrao. Lighthouses of the Ría de la Coruña are maintained by the Autoridad Portuaria de A Coruña. ARLHS numbers are from the ARLHS World List of Lights. ES numbers are from the Spanish national list of lights, Libro de Faros. Admiralty numbers are from volume D of the Admiralty List of Lights & Fog Signals. U.S. NGA List numbers are from Publication 113.
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Lighthouses of Northern A Coruña Province
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Lighthouses of Lugo Province
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![]() Punta Roncadoira Light, Xove, July 2022 Google Maps photo by Diego Habernau |
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![]() 1983 Illa Pancha Light, Ribadeo, August 2024 Google Maps photo by Matteo Clerici |
Information available on lost lighthouses:
Notable faux lighthouses:
Adjoining pages: East: Asturias and Cantabria | South: Western Galicia
Return to the Lighthouse Directory index | Ratings key
Posted December 2, 2005. Checked and revised September 7, 2024. Lighthouses: 27. Site copyright 2024 Russ Rowlett and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.