Roman surveyors marked this headland as the western limit of the known world, and the name stuck: Finis Terrae, the end of the earth. The cape is not, in strict geography, the westernmost point of continental Europe — Cabo da Roca in Portugal holds that title by a narrow margin, and even in Galicia, Cabo Touriñán edges further west. Accuracy has never dented the myth. For two millennia the granite spur above Fisterra has been treated as a terminus, first by pilgrims to pagan sun altars, later by Christians walking three further days beyond Santiago de Compostela to see saltwater close the road. The coastline that a santiago to finisterre bus tour crosses carries a bleaker name. Costa da Morte, the Coast of Death, records centuries of wreckage on submerged reefs and sudden fog. The 1870 loss of HMS Captain off Sisargas and the 1890 sinking of HMS Serpent near Camariñas, which killed 172 sailors, produced the walled Cemiterio dos Ingleses. Lighthouses followed. The Faro de Fisterra was lit in 1853, its lantern set roughly 143 metres above the sea, paired with a foghorn locally called a vaca de Fisterra — the cow of Fisterra — for the low note it drags across the water. What draws travellers today is layered. The Galician landmarks strung along this shore include Muxía's Santuario da Virxe da Barca, rebuilt after a 2013 lightning fire, and the rocking stones beside it that pilgrims have touched for healing. Inland, the Río Xallas drops directly into the Atlantic at Ézaro, the only waterfall in continental Europe to do so. Between them lie hórreos, granite crosses, and fishing harbours where percebes are still cut from wave-battered rock by hand. The cape itself is deliberately unadorned. Beyond the lighthouse stands the kilómetro cero marker, a bronze scallop shell, and the low stone plinth where walkers once burned boots. Entry to the site is free, and the promontory is open 00:00–23:59 daily, so a Santiago Costa da Morte coach tour can time its arrival to the light rather than a gate. Options range from full-day Costa da Morte routes taking in Muxía and Ézaro to shorter express formats; santiago to finisterre bus tour tickets are grouped in the live grid alongside this page, each listing its own duration and inclusions. Prices, itineraries and departure points come from those operators, not from tradition.