Vigo tide times

Predictions: Open-Meteo Marine (MeteoFrance SMOC, 0.08° grid) — heights relative to MSL (not chart datum / LAT). Model-derived.

Model-derived from a global ocean grid. Useful indication; expect about ±45 minutes on average vs. a local harmonic gauge, individual stations vary widely. See /methodology for per-region detail. Not for navigation.

Conditions as of 01:00 local time. Refreshes daily.

Predictions: Open-Meteo Marine (MeteoFrance SMOC, 0.08° grid) — heights relative to MSL (not chart datum / LAT). Model-derived. · Not for navigation.

The angler tradition for major/minor fishing windows: major ≈3-hour windows around moon transit and opposition; minor ≈2-hour windows around moonrise and moonset. Times are Europe/Madrid local. Folk tradition, not a scientific forecast.

Next spring tide on Tue 05 May (range 2.1m). Next neap on Sun 10 May.

Spring tides cluster around new and full moons (biggest swings). Neap tides land on quarter moons (smallest swings). See the spring tide and neap tide glossary entries for the why.

Vigo occupies the southern shore of the Ría de Vigo, the southernmost of Galicia's four large Atlantic estuaries. The ría cuts 30 kilometres inland from the Atlantic coast, and the tidal regime at Vigo is semidiurnal with a mean spring range of approximately 3.8 metres above chart datum — a proper Atlantic range that empties the ría's intertidal mussel and clam beds twice daily and drives the production cycle of the bateas, the timber-framed floating mussel rafts that define the visual character of the ría. The Ría de Vigo holds over 3,000 bateas — rope-hung wooden platforms from which blue mussel (Mytilus galloprovincialis) lines are suspended in the water column, drawing nutrients from the upwelled cold Atlantic water that enters the ría on the flood tide. Production is approximately 40% of global rope-cultivated mussel output. The bateas are the reason the ría looks the way it does: rows of floating platforms stretching from the shore to the centre of the ría, worked by small vessels at all tidal states. Low water is when the mussel farmers check their lines; high water is when the vessels can reach the inner-ría bateas nearest the shore without grounding. The Cíes Islands — three islands (Monteagudo, do Faro, and San Martiño) at the mouth of the ría — are a national park and part of the Atlantic Islands of Galicia National Park. Day-trip ferry access from Vigo's port runs April through October; a strict annual visitor quota limits total entries. The beaches on Praia das Rodas (voted by the Guardian as Europe's best beach in 2007) are accessible to the shoreline at mid-to-high tide and expose sand bars at low water. Camping on the islands requires a reservation through the national park office. The Cíes lighthouse on Illa do Faro has been operating since 1852. Baiona, 25 kilometres south of Vigo, was the first European port to receive news of Columbus's voyage: the Pinta caravel arrived in Baiona harbour in March 1493 before Columbus himself reached mainland Spain. A full-scale replica of the Pinta is moored in Baiona harbour as a museum ship. The medieval Monterreal fortress on the peninsula enclosing the harbour is now a state parador hotel. For anglers, bass (lubina) run along the rocky shoreline of the ría mouth and around the Cíes Islands on the ebb, following baitfish compressed by the outgoing current. The rock marks along Cabo Estai and around the Toralla Island bridge are productive from April through October. Boat fishing from the Vigo marina targets sea bream (dorada, besugo) on the ría floor channels at depth. Predictions on this page come from Open-Meteo Marine, a gridded global ocean model. Accuracy is typically within plus or minus 45 minutes on timing and 0.2 to 0.3 metres on height — model-derived, not from a local gauge. For authoritative Spanish tide data, consult Puertos del Estado (puertos.es/es/estadisticas-y-datos-del-mar).