Vía de la Plata
31.5 km, 383 m up and 81 m down, through 3 places, 1 of which has somewhere to sleep. Where you stop is up to you.
Every place on the path in order, with the distance from Santiponce / Itálica. 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.
The camino leaves Santiponce along the same road that it came in on. Shortly after passing the archaeological site of Itálica it once again does a little dance around the highway on-ramps. Here, keep on this road to pass under the highway. Immediately after the last ramp (the northbound one), the camino splits but the split is not really marked.
The official route, at times flooded, leaves the road to follow a path on your left. This is the preferred route when it is passable and it is a straight path towards Guillena.
The alternate route adds about 5km to the camino but may be the only option after heavy rains. The start of it is not marked and you need only to continue along the road where the official route leaves it. Keep to the left side of the road and mind the traffic. The camino gets to the edge of a large town called La Algaba but doesn’t actually enter it. Instead, it skirts around the town to the left and you soon have the option to walk along a dirt path adjacent to the road.... or along the road if needed. Keep an eye open for the signs, and arrows, which will eventually lead you away from the road (left) along a dirt road. This path is well marked and used by service trucks for the local industry. It passes through citrus groves and the occasional cotton field before rejoining a different road to enter the village of Torre de la Reina.
Heavy rains can cause high waters in the area around the river here. If it is impassible, there is an easy detour. If you have already gotten to the river, turn back in the direction that you came from and turn right on the first road. Follow it as it passes under the A-66 and continues to the N-630. Turn right at the N-630 and follow it to the A-460 (signed Guillena). Here you turn right to go back under the A-66 and all the way into Guillena.
The arrows in town lead you through the main square and right up to the A-8080. Cross it (towards Casa Esteban) and follow a side road to your right. Soon the camino returns to a rural setting and makes several twists and turns before arriving at the outskirts of Guillena.
At the start of town laminated signs take you off of the main road. The Camino follows the Calle Real past the Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de Granada and eventually to the municipal albergue. If you miss those signs, or if you prefer to stay at the private albergue located on the main road, skip that turn. There are more arrows further up the road which will bring you to the municipal albergue.
Both the camino and the road will eventually cross the Río Huelva at which point the camino follows beside the road all the way to the first roundabout. Here, turn left towards the gas station to cross through a small industrial park. The camino returns to the groves for a quiet walk through the countryside.
Shortly before Castilblanco de los Arroyos the camino rejoins the main road. At the entrance to Castilblanco there are two options. To the right the camino follows the main road through town, passing a gas station, the municipal albergue, and several restaurants before leaving town along the road. To the left the camino goes through town along cobbled lanes, passing several bars and the church before rejoining the road out of town.
The private albergue Luz del Camino is on the main road about 50m past the turn mentioned below.
The way out of Castilblanco de los Arroyos is along a path immediately adjacent to the road for the next 15km. It leaves the road at the entrance to a gated farm.
The stage between Castilblanco de los Arroyos and Almaden de la Plata is a very challenging and long day. There are zero places along the way to refill your water so be sure to carry extra with you along this stretch of nearly 30km.
Distance, climb and descent are measured along the GPS track for this camino — 153 recorded points across this span, the same track the app carries. The town-to-town figures in my data put it at 31.2 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.