Pilgrims on the road and friends along the way send me changes every day, and they go out the same day. The Camino Francés app carries all of it offline, and it's still being built — new features arrive routinely.
Get the appLas Médulas is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the most extraordinary landscapes in Spain. It was the largest gold mine of the Roman Empire — and what you see now are the guts of what used to be hills. By channeling water through progressively narrower tunnels, the Romans generated enough pressure to blow open entire mountains and extract the gold within. The result, two millennia later, is a spectacular, eerie landscape of deep-red cliffs, pinnacles, and valleys threaded with wooded pathways.
The village has two tourist information centers, accommodation, a cash machine, bars, a grocery store near the lavadero, and restaurants geared toward weekend visitors. The small museum is worth a visit. The visitors' centers are open every day; the galleries close on Tuesdays.
The absolute best viewpoint is the Mirador de Orellán. The shortest way to get there is via the Hotel Agoga complex — take the road on the LEFT side of the complex to reach the pedestrian path through chestnut forest. Beyond the mirador, you can walk through one of the Roman galleries. Don't miss it.
For food, Bar Reigo, Taberna Romana, O Camiño Real, and Restaurante Marif are all options. O Camiño Real gets consistently high reviews. Some places close out of tourist season, and on Tuesdays many are shut.
The Roman gold mining operation at Las Médulas peaked in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD. The technique, known as ruina montium, used aqueducts running hundreds of kilometers to deliver water to the mine site. The environmental destruction was immense — Pliny the Elder described it with a mixture of awe and horror. An estimated 1,600 tons of gold were extracted over the mine's lifetime. The abandoned landscape has since been reclaimed by nature, creating the strange and beautiful terrain you see today.
Leave Las Médulas on a tractor path on the western edge of town through wooded hills. There's a possible short detour to the left (about 500 m) to a mirador with good views back over Las Médulas — not as spectacular as Orellán but still worthwhile.
Despite a sign claiming Puente de Domingo Flórez is 5.7 km away, it's actually closer to 8 km. The camino descends along a mountain lane with fine views. The grade, surface, and views are excellent all the way down.
27. September 2025 - 20:33
Just for your information. Medulas UNESCO heritage rocks are NOT on Camino. You have to do the long detour to see it… we were quite disappointed…
6. June 2025 - 22:47
There is a nice little shop where you can get some snacks. We bought some cookies made with chestnut flour for the road.
17. September 2024 - 21:28
After the long walk up to this town we run out of water. Most of the villages offer pelgrims free water.
Here they closed all the free water supplies! Instead you could buy a bottle out of a machine for € 2,-.
SRS
17. September 2024 - 21:16
This place is like a tourist trap.
You have to choose between two hotels, both to expensive for what they offer you.
We had the cheaper one down the hill. Cold shower, no lock on the door and breakfast was ridiculous.
We had to head up the cold coffee in the dirty microwave. Friendly when we came, unfriendly when we had to leave.
The bar doesn’t take cash.
The only positive thing is the small supermarket/souvenir shop. Really friendly people and you can pay with card.
I would say don’t stay here!
RSR
27. April 2024 - 18:47
Open for coffee when we passed through at 9:30 am. On a weekday. Small snack shop as you leave town was just opening about 10 am. Look back as you climb out of town for amazing views
14. May 2023 - 21:17
This place does not seem like a village where people live but that just lives off of local tourism visiting the national park. There are a lot of restaurants and accommodation and souvenir shops but no supermarkets. This place is not set up for pilgrims - it is set up for local tourism. If you come here on a weekend you might be overwhelmed by the crowds and souvenirs after the solitude of the hike to get here.
7. October 2022 - 12:49
I was in Las Médulas 10-11 September this year and there are no shops or supermarkets where a pilgrim can stock up for the walk to O Barco de Valdeorras. However, there is a very good supermarket in the first town you come to, Puente De Domingo Flórez, around 9.5km away.
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.
