Carmen festivities
Experience the seaside devotion for the Virgin Carmen
The Carmen festivities are Vigo’s maritime celebration par excellence, since the Virgin Carmen is the patron saint of sailors. On her day, the 16th of July, the entire coast of Vigo is filled with land and sea processions. This is a unique and spectacular event: the boats are decorated with flags and floral arrangements to accompany the ship carrying the statue of the Virgin in procession.
The two most important Carmen celebrations in Vigo are held in Coruxo and O Berbés, in Vigo’s Old Town. The celebration in Coruxo is perhaps the most spectacular due to the natural surroundings where the marine procession takes place. It leaves from O Vao Beach and sails towards Coruxo. The one in O Berbés is Vigo’s oldest festival, and its impressive naval procession is made up of thousands of devoted people on boats.
These are the two main celebrations, but the entire Vigo estuary celebrates the day of the Virgen del Carmen. The old fishing village of Bouzas, for example, holds a beautiful naval procession, and the Carmen parish in Tomás Alonso also celebrates its main festivities on these dates.
