León - Santiago de Compostela

Check in at your hotel in central León. Take the opportunity to visit the impressive cathedral – a prime example of Spanish Gothic architecture – the Church of San Isidoro, and last but not least: Casa de los Botines, a work by the Catalan architect Gaudí.

The first section takes you to Hospital de Órbigo and its famous Romanesque bridge. Here you can also begin to glimpse the silhouette of the Picos de Europa mountains on the horizon.

(If you want to shorten this section, there is the option to hire transport.)

35 km, 9 h

Today’s walk takes you to Astorga, a fantastic small town. We highly recommend taking a stroll and admiring the town’s architecture, including the beautiful cathedral and the bishop’s palace designed by Gaudi.

17 km, 4 h

Today we travel through the region of La Maragatería and cross the Montes de León before arriving at Rabanal del Camino, a charming small village dominated by stone houses.

20 km, 5 h

First, we pass the famous Cruz de Ferro, the Iron Cross, a simple yet renowned pilgrim symbol located at 1,505 m above sea level. As a pilgrim, you are expected to follow the tradition and throw a stone onto the pile as you pass. Afterwards, we descend and head straight west through Manjarín, El Acebo, and then Molinaseca before reaching the day’s final destination: Ponferrada.

32 km, 7.5 h

Today’s walk takes us straight through the El Bierzo valley, past fruit trees, vineyards, and tobacco fields, arriving at Villafranca del Bierzo. This beautiful little town is known as a stopover for sick pilgrims who could not continue on to Santiago.

25 km, 6 h

Today we walk uphill and cross the border into Galicia to O Cebreiro, a charming and distinctive village with its stone houses with thatched roofs, known as “Pallozas.”

27 km, 8 h

The hike begins beautifully on the ridge of a hill. We follow the path down through green Galicia, along pines and eucalyptus. Finally, we reach Triacastela, where a taxi takes you to Samos for overnight stay.

23 km, 6 h

After breakfast, a taxi takes you back to Triacastela, where we have two possible routes to today’s stage destination, Sarria. The southern route takes us via Samos, a historic walk where you can visit, among other things, Spain’s oldest Benedictine monastery. The northern route goes through the picturesque villages of Montan and Pintín.

18 km, 5 h

This stretch takes you through the heart of Galicia, where green is the dominant color. We pass typical hórreos, granaries built following the same principle as our timber houses, and the landscape is breathtakingly beautiful. Portomarín is today’s final destination, a village that was affected by a flood in 1962 but where you can still see remnants of the old Romanesque bridge.

23 km, 6 h

Today is a gently hilly walk through forests and fields and along eucalyptus plantations, ending in Palas de Rei.

25 km, 6.5 h

A rolling day of walking through the lush Galicia, into A Coruña, the province to which Santiago de Compostela belongs. Arzúa is the last town before Santiago, and the route passes through forests, farmland, and waterways.

29 km, 8 h

The penultimate stage before reaching Santiago de Compostela. Along the way, we pass Lavacolla, where pilgrims used to have the ritual of washing their feet in the river to be clean upon arriving in Santiago.

29 km, 7.5 h

Last day! We make our way up to Monte de Gozo, where we have a view over the entire Santiago de Compostela, a UNESCO World Heritage site. We approach the destination and along the way pass, among others, the monastery and the archbishop’s palace, before finally arriving in Santiago and the legendary cathedral.

12 km, 2.75 h

Breakfast and check-out; the trip with us then concludes.