Declared a national park in 1980 and absorbed into the Atlantic Islands of Galicia National Park two decades later, the Cíes archipelago lies eleven kilometers off the Galician coast, anchoring the mouth of Ría de Vigo with three granite islands shaped by millennia of Atlantic storms. Monteagudo, Do Faro, and San Martiño form a natural breakwater that shelters one of Europe's deepest natural harbors while exposing their western flanks to uninterrupted ocean swells. The Guardian placed Rodas Beach among the world's finest in 2007, citing the crescent of white silica sand that joins Monteagudo and Do Faro across a shallow lagoon. Daily visitor caps enforced since 2018 limit access to 1,800 people during high season, requiring advance authorization through the Xunta de Galicia portal even when ferries sail year-round. The archipelago earned protected status not for beaches alone but for its role as a seabird sanctuary. Yellow-legged gulls nest in colonies exceeding 22,000 pairs, their calls echoing across cliffs that rise 197 meters at Alto das Cíes on Monteagudo. Shags, razorbills, and European storm petrels occupy crevices along the western shore, while the surrounding waters support octopus, spider crab, and the cultivated mussels that anchor Galicia's aquaculture economy. Maritime pine and eucalyptus blanket the sheltered eastern slopes, introduced in the twentieth century and now managed to prevent erosion without overwhelming native gorse and heather. Ferry operators departing from Vigo's Estación Marítima trace routes established in the 1960s, when private concessionaires began seasonal service to what had been a military zone. The crossing takes forty minutes in standard conditions, threading between mussel rafts that float in geometric grids across Ría de Vigo before reaching the jetty at Rodas. Morning departures align with tidal windows and park entry protocols, allowing visitors to complete the Alto do Príncipe trail—a four-kilometer loop ascending to panoramic views over the Cíes and mainland Galicia—before return crossings in late afternoon. Sailing charters offer slower alternatives, anchoring in sheltered coves inaccessible to larger vessels and timed to avoid commercial ferry traffic.