Hot Springs of Arnoia. Fluvial Promenade y Recreational Area of As Poldras. Viewpoint. Priory San Salvador Church

About this heritage

Arnoia is a municipality of small extension, approximately 20 square kilometers, in the Ribeiro Region, and located on both banks of the Arnoia River, from which it takes its name. Its only parish is San Salvador.

The Hot Springs Resort of Arnoia is in the municipality of the same name in the Ourense Province and 33 kilometers from Ourense City. It is a four-star establishment recently renovated, which offers modern facilities equipped with the latest technology to all its visitors.

The properties of its thermal waters are sulfur-sodic, bicarbonate, magnesium waters with a flow of 5 liters per second and temperatures of 22 degrees Celsius. At this point, the Arnoia River flows into the Miño, an area of outstanding natural beauty where one can also enjoy the recreational area of As Poldras, a place to stroll and relax by the river with tables and walkways with several posts.

In this environment starts a river walk that reaches the resort, and it is near a wooden viewpoint known as Monte dos Chaos, from which visitors can enjoy a privileged vantage point of the confluence of the rivers of Arnoia and Miño. Five hundred meters from here, one can visit the San Salvador of Arnoia Church, a temple of Romanesque origin, rebuilt in 1612. It is a construction of a single nave covered with a barrel vault divided into six stretches and a side chapel. Its façade is of baroque style and preserves a Romanesque window.

To learn more

The Arnoia municipality borders the Miño River to the west, in its backwater area of Frieira. This fact offers an unusual landscape of unusual beauty, enhanced by the Arnoia's mouth of lush vegetation.

The capital is in Outeiro Cruz, and there is no population registry under the name of Arnoia.

Its orographic configuration differentiates two distinct areas: the one corresponding to the River's mouth, highly fertile like its traditional vineyards and horticultural products. The second zone corresponds to the branches of the Coto Novelle, a reserve that separates the municipalities of Arnoia and Castrelo de Miño.

Arnoia is well known, as well, for the quality of its hot springs and the naturally created beauty surrounding them.

Rehabilitated in 2014, taking advantage of an old water mill structure, the fluvial promenade and recreational area of Poldras is just before the Arnoia River's mouth on the Miño River, a suitable place for the practice of fishing. This area, used as a river beach during the summer, has two bridges and the start point of the fluvial promenade that ends in the hot springs resort.

In 2020, on a hillside of Monte dos Chaos, they installed a 140-meter high viewpoint formed by platforms and wooden walkways to allow visitors to enjoy the landscapes of the confluence of the rivers Arnoia and Miño.

From this viewpoint, we can descry the San Salvador of Arnoia Church, which after the 10th century depended on the Monastery of Celanova, founded by San Rosendo.

This church still has a window of Romanesque origin in the main façade with the image of San Salvador and a medieval Crucifix in its interior, all evidence of previous constructions to the present church, rebuilt in 1612, a date engraved on the exterior of the temple.

It is a construction of a single nave covered with a barrel vault divided into six stretches with five transverse arches and a side chapel dedicated to the Virgin, with a stone vault and a coat of arms of a relative of a Spanish Inquisition member.

In its baroque façade, besides the Romanesque window, we shall notice its doorway formed by a semicircular arch decorated with moldings and a belfry with a bell tower and a circular pediment. Preserved in its interior are three altarpieces, one of them by José Benito Arez González.

To know it better

Arnoia is a municipality in the Ribeiro Region in the Ourense Province. It is an area of vast history because of its hot springs having several thermal baths or hot spring resorts.

The Arnoia Hot Springs Resort, whose construction dates back to 1995, is next to the Miño and Arnoia rivers. The mountains and forests surrounding the resort make it a perfect place to enjoy nature and relax in its restaurant and hotel services. This thermal station offers different treatments to enjoy therapeutic hot springs facilities, such as baths of essences, saunas, or aromatherapy. All these treatments are propitious for the care of the skin and joints, providing our bodies with vitality and energy.

In Arnoia, we can also find an old seventeen-century priory (parish establishment). This temple, dedicated to San Salvador, has been built over a Romanesque style older one that has left traces in following renovations, such as a window located above the door of the main façade, where nowadays, we can appreciate the image of this Saint.

Additionally, this municipality has since 2020 a viewpoint known as Monte dos Chaos, where we can enjoy staggering views and right before the Arnoia River’s mouth on the Miño River, there is a promenade and the recreational area of As Poldras with several wooden and stone bridges and a space with tables to eat and rest.