Camino Francés
30.9 km, 172 m up and 171 m down, through 6 places, 5 of which have somewhere to sleep. Where you stop is up to you.
Every place on the path in order, with the distance from Villar de Mazarife. Most are too small to sleep in — a fountain, a chapel, a bar that may or may not be open — but they are what the day is actually made of.
Villar de Mazarife is the main village on the scenic route and has the best services between La Virgen del Camino and Hospital de Órbigo on this variant. A couple of well-regarded albergues, bars, and a small shop make i…
From here it's a short walk to Puente de Órbigo and the famous bridge at Hospital de Órbigo.
Puente de Órbigo sits on the east bank of the Río Órbigo, directly across the famous bridge from Hospital de Órbigo. The two towns function as one settlement split by the river. A couple of bars and services are availabl…
From Hospital de Órbigo, the camino heads south through flat farmland toward Astorga, about 17 km ahead. The terrain is open and exposed.
Villares de Órbigo is a small village on the road between Hospital de Órbigo and Astorga. A bar serves pilgrims. The Iglesia de Santiago has a modest Santiago Peregrino statue. The terrain is still flat páramo.
The approach to Astorga becomes more interesting as the terrain begins to rise gently and the walls of the city come into view.
San Justo de la Vega sits just across the Río Tuerto from Astorga. The town has bars, restaurants, and a supermarket — useful for stocking up before or after Astorga, where services are more spread out. The Iglesia de Sa…
The camino exits Astorga through the western gate and enters the Maragatería — the hilly, depopulated country that was the Maragato homeland. The terrain changes immediately: the flat meseta is behind you, and the road ahead climbs gradually through stone villages toward the mountains.
Distance, climb and descent are measured along the GPS track for this camino — 302 recorded points across this span, the same track the app carries. The town-to-town figures in my data put it at 27 km.
Esta entidad ha sido beneficiaria de una ayuda del Programa de incentivos a la movilidad eficiente y sostenible (MOVES III), gestionado por la Xunta de Galicia a través del Instituto Enerxético de Galicia (INEGA) en el marco del Real Decreto 266/2021, y cofinanciada por la Unión Europea — NextGenerationEU, dentro del Plan de Recuperación, Transformación y Resiliencia.