Depends what you are after in the North West. Santiago is a small city of around 100,000 people. There is a famous cathedral there, the tomb of St James, it's still a big pilgrim place, supposedly the third major pilgrim site in the Christian world. The city itself is nice, it centres around Praza do Obradoiro, there are many touristy type shops around there, there are good restaurants and tapas bars aswell. The disco bars are in the new part of the city, close by the Alameda park.

Other cities close by are La coruna which is famous for it's lighthouse - the oldest working one in the world. For museums, etc there is Domus, museum of mankind, which is all about the human body, there's the Aquarium which is good, theres a small science museum in Santa Marguarita park, of the Bellas Artes and Macuf for modern art. Thers also a Picasso museum, from when he lived in Coruna. For bars etc, the area around the marina is where the tapas bars are, the area around Orzan beach is where the late night disco bars are. The Old City has a good nightlife aswell. Coruna has two main beaches, Orzan and Riazor, which are basically two sides of the main bay. They are right in the city centre.

I cannot say much about Vigo, Ferrol isn't worth a visit, Lugo has some fine medieval city walls but not too much else. If you go in the Summer you could think about the Rias Baixas - the area around Sanxenxo for example, its famous for Albarino wine and Sanxexo is a major holiday spot for the Spanish.

Good things about the NW are the food, the prices, the beaches, the culture (celtic), the festivals and fiestas (usually food or drink related and not religous).

Bad things are that english isn't so widely spoken, everything is alot smaller than Barcelona or Sevilla, it rains more here than in other parts of Spain.

Cheers for taking the time to reply. It's kind of ironic that your list of bad points actually makes it more attractive to me (well, rain hardly makes it attractive, but it certainly won't put me off)

Thanks again