Vía de la Plata
12 km, 574 m up and 26 m down, through 7 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 La Portela de Valcarce. 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.
A small hamlet in the narrowing Valcarce valley. A bar and an albergue provide basic services. The mountains are close now, and the road follows the river through an increasingly tight valley.
Ambasmestas — 'where both waters meet' — sits at the confluence of two streams in the Valcarce valley. The name is self-explanatory once you arrive. A bar and a basic albergue serve the village. The valley is narrow here…
Vega de Valcarce is the last village of any size before the climb to O Cebreiro. It has more services than the hamlets behind it — several bars, albergues, a small supermarket, and a pharmacy. The ruins of the Castillo …
Stock up on food and water here or in Las Herrerías. The climb to O Cebreiro has no services.
A tiny hamlet between Vega de Valcarce and Las Herrerías. A small albergue has operated here intermittently. The valley continues to narrow.
The climb begins immediately after Las Herrerías. The path is steep, gaining altitude through chestnut forest before emerging into open mountain pasture. The gradient eases in the final stretch to La Faba.
No services between here and O Cebreiro. The climb is steep and exposed in places. In bad weather, take the road variant rather than the mountain path.
A tiny settlement on the climb above Las Herrerías — barely more than a couple of houses. The name refers to a pilgrim hospital that once served English pilgrims specifically, suggesting the international nature of the m…
At this junction, walkers turn left and descend on a footpath while cyclists continue straight along the road. Both routes reach La Faba. The footpath is steeper but shorter.
La Faba is a small mountain village at about 1,100 m, roughly halfway up the climb from Las Herrerías to O Cebreiro. A basic albergue and a bar provide welcome refreshment. The village has a handful of stone houses and a…
The last settlement in Castilla y León — a couple of houses and a small albergue. From here the boundary with Galicia is close, marked by a stone at the provincial line. The landscape is open mountain, with heather and g…
Distance, climb and descent are measured along the GPS track for this camino — 344 recorded points across this span, the same track the app carries. The town-to-town figures in my data put it at 11.9 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.