Vía de la Plata
29.2 km, 159 m up and 63 m down, through 4 places, 3 of which have somewhere to sleep. Where you stop is up to you.
Every place on the path in order, with the distance from La Bañeza. 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.
La Baneza is the second-largest town on this stretch and a natural resupply point before the final push to Astorga. With roughly 10,000 inhabitants, it has full services -- supermarkets, pharmacy, ATMs, restaurants, and …
Palacios de la Valduerna sits in the valley of the Rio Duerna. The castle ruins -- the Castillo de los Bazanes -- are visible on approach. Originally built in the 14th century, the castle was partially dismantled on the …
A small village on the final approach to Astorga. The stone houses here begin to show the distinctive Maragato architecture -- thick walls, large doorways built to accommodate pack animals, and a general solidity that re…
The camino here leaves the last of the plains behind and begins, slowly at first, to climb. The ascent is slow and gradual until Rabanal, where it begins a more steep ascent to the alto and an equally quick descent into Molinaseca. On the way up it passes through several small but equipped towns (no ATM’s but plenty to eat).
Valdeviejas is a small village immediately outside Astorga's western gate. A bar and a small shop serve as a last stop before the quieter villages ahead. The Maragato architecture — stone houses with wide doorways built …
Murias de Rechivaldo is the first proper Maragato village on the route, with the characteristic stone houses and wide entrance gates that allowed mule trains to pass through. A couple of albergues and a bar provide servi…
Distance, climb and descent are measured along the GPS track for this camino — 518 recorded points across this span, the same track the app carries. The town-to-town figures in my data put it at 29.3 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.