Activities

We offer a wide range of varied activities: natural climbing and climbing wall, traditional games, basket weaving workshop, navigation games in the forest, archery, traditional cider making, slackline, t-shirt dyeing and printing, horseback riding, and much more!

We must note the hiking and biking routes around the hostel and through the Fragas do Eume. Visit the resources section to see the maps of these routes, where you will also find a large collection of links to tourist organisations, museums, and places of interest.

From physical and sporting activities for all ages, for large groups or families, to various courses led by experts. Don’t hesitate to contact us to discover all that we have to offer to fill your stay with unforgettable experiences.

Environmental education and sustainability activities

At Alvarella, as an Entity for Environmental Education and Nature Classroom (Xunta de Galicia) and Facility for Environmental Education (CENEAM), we develop activities that integrate various areas of knowledge, always adapted to different educational levels, the composition of the groups, and the duration of the stay. Each activity is structured around talks, visits, and workshops, all led by a team of specialised instructors.

All the environmental education and sustainability activity programming can be carried out in English. This offer is especially aimed at bilingual groups. We have instructors fluent in English to implement these activities.

Finally, the entire educational plan can be complemented with our range of leisure and free-time activities: t-shirt printing and dyeing, making pendants and earrings, watercolour paper, candles, bath salts, perfumes, treasure hunts, and much more!

The extensive volume of our educational plan is designed to adapt to all types of groups and learning areas, which are broken down below into thematic blocks, along with the learning objectives that translate into the acquisition of knowledge and positive attitudes towards all aspects related to the environment, integrating theory and practice into an experience that promotes curiosity and independent, critical thinking.

Feel free to contact us with any questions and to define the ideal experience for your group in detail. We provide an information sheet to help make your inquiry more efficient.

Contact
Information

8 thematic blocks

Energy

WORKBOOKS:

ACTIVITIES:

  • Making solar contraptions
  • Using a solar cooker and oven
  • Solar games

ROUTES AND OUTINGS:

  • Alvarella solar installation
  • Meirama and As Pontes thermal power stations
  • Sotavento experimental wind farm
  • As Pontes Energy House
Consumption and food

WORKBOOKS:

ACTIVITIES:

  • Talk: “Good Environmental Practices at Home”
  • Label analysis
  • Product transformation workshops

ROUTES AND OUTINGS:

  • Dairy farm
  • Dairy processing plant
  • Hospitality School
  • Goente Honey House
Water

WORKBOOKS:

ACTIVITIES:

  • Life in a droplet of water
  • Water analysis
  • River project
  • Baxoi river route
  • Dynamics for sustainable use

ROUTES AND OUTINGS:

  • The Alvarella pond
  • Atlantic coastline
  • Eume and Anduriña rivers
  • Miño and Cabanas beaches
  • Aquaciencia
  • Fish House
Waste

WORKBOOKS:

ACTIVITIES:

  • Recycled paper and applications
  • Eco-friendly air fresheners and cleaner
  • Soap making
  • Building a kite

ROUTES AND OUTINGS:

  • Sogama Central
  • Nostián Central
  • As Somozas Central
  • Manipulados de Galicia S.L
Bioconstruction

WORKBOOKS:

ACTIVITIES:

  • Talk and tour around the facilities
  • Understanding materials

RUTAS Y SALIDAS:

  • New constructions
  • Architectural heritage in Pontedeume
  • Architectural heritage in Betanzos
  • Architectural heritage in Ferrol
  • Architectural heritage in A Coruña
Cultural heritage

WORKBOOKS:

ACTIVITIES:

  • Castle Route – Church of Doroña
  • Pontedeume Route
  • Caaveiro Monastery Route

ROUTES AND OUTINGS:

  • Caaveiro Monastery
  • Nogueirosa Castle
  • Andrade Tower
  • Church of Doroña
  • Pasatempo Park and Museum of the Mariñas (Betanzos)
  • Bazán
  • Ferrol Arsenal
Forest

CUADERNOS:

ACTIVITIES:

  • Fragas do Eume Natural Park Route
  • Navigation games
  • Bird box construction
  • Wood recognition
  • Basket weaving

ROUTES AND OUTINGS:

  • Fragas do Eume Natural Park
  • Andrade Castle – Church of Doroña
  • Anduriña and Baxoi Rivers
  • Horseback rides
Coastline

WORKBOOKS:

ACTIVITIES:

  • Coastline study at Magdalena beach

ROUTES AND OUTINGS:

  • Miño and Cabanas beaches
  • Aquaciencia
  • Fish House
  • Water sports (by appointment): canoeing, sailing, boat trips…

Objectives

  • Promote a critical and sensitive awareness of the environment.

  • Promote and develop environmental attitudes, values, and behaviours, consistent with an ecological mindset and ethics based on solidarity, equity, and social justice.

  • Acquire knowledge and promote environmental attitudes, values, and behaviours in accordance with an ecological mindset, ethics, and a sustainable lifestyle.

  • Value environmental issues as a complex, global phenomenon that is relevant to our lives.

  • Develop behavioural habits that help minimise our environmental impact.

  • Adopt attitudes of respect for the environment and actively participate in tasks for the protection, conservation, and restoration of the surroundings.

  • Integrate the principles, values, and practices of sustainable development into all facets of environmental education and learning.

  • Encourage behavioural changes necessary to preserve the future integrity of the environment, economic viability, and social justice.

  • Define the theoretical aspects related to the concept of the environment.

  • Promote the right to plural, critical, and innovative thinking in environmental education. Our role is to provide information, learning tools, and educational resources so that the user can form their own opinion.

  • Coordinate the different types of environmental education: formal, non-formal, and informal.

     

Courses and workshops on eco-friendly leisure and healthy living

These courses are specially designed for adults who wish to acquire or expand their knowledge on environmental education activities. They are based on training activities and practical workshops for eco-friendly leisure and healthy living. The courses are taught by specialised educators, for small groups, and usually take place on weekends.

We periodically offer new courses as well as recurring ones at certain times of the year:

  • Mushroom picking and cooking
  • Ornithology and birdwatching
  • Nature photography
  • eaweeds, identification, gastronomy, and therapeutic uses
  • Urban gardens and organic farming
  • Medicinal plants. Preparation and vegetable preserves
  • Native fruits, recognition, and propagation
  • Cider making, liqueurs, and jam preparation
  • Basket weaving and other crafts from the forest

For the elderly

We offer these activities both on-site and at senior centres, town hall associations, and other organisations in this field, relying on specialised instructors to meet the needs of the groups.

We combine leisure and fun with the revival of old traditions of folk knowledge, highlighting the appreciation of historical and natural heritage, along with healthy living practices and positive environmental attitudes: music, singing, crafts, oral literature and traditional trades, perfume making and natural medicine, laughter and music therapy, the medieval festival at Andrade Castle, the “muiñadas” at Ferreñas mill, the “Intermareal”…