Camino del Norte Stage 4 & 5 - Gijón to Santiago
- Sampling the Galician speciality, octopus and washing it down with some Albariño
- The contrast of quiet fishing villages and modern cities
- Meeting your fellow pilgrims and sharing stories
- Sampling the peace of the Galician mountains
- Completing a unique and rewarding journey and gaining your Compostela in Santiago
Gallery
Itinerary
Day 1: Arrival and Overnight in GijónA large city with two lovely beaches, attractive preserved Roman baths and a couple of great museums, there is plenty to explore on arrival in Gijon.
This 3-star modern and comfortable hotel has 35 rooms with air conditioning, satellite TV, telephone, electronic safe, free WIFI and hairdryers. There is a café and private parking (fee payable).
Despite being a walk through more industrial parts of the Camino del Norte, there are still some highlights including the Monte Areo recreational area. The port of Aviles was important in the establishment of the USA as the founder of the first European settlement there lived in Aviles.
The property´s minimalist style façade is reflected in the simply yet tastefully decorated rooms. This 71-room hotel offers comfortable rooms with the services that you would expect from a 4-star property.
Leaving Aviles on some minor roads, head to El Castillo with its dominant fortress and El Pito's renaisance gardens. Cudillero is just a short walk from there.
It offers rustic studios with a private terrace, free Wi-Fi and a flat-screen TV, as well as a sofa. The property offers a daily buffet breakfast made from homemade products.
A pleasant walk today past several lovely beaches before arriving at Ballota.
The hotel occupies a fully restored old house in Asturias, which has been respected the spirit of the village houses.
From Ballota, walk through the Asturian countryside to the port town of Luarca, founded in the 13th century
La Colmena Hotel occupies an early 20th century building, and was refurbished in 2002. It offers stylish, comfortable and functional rooms. All rooms are exterior and have private bathrooms, TV and internet.
A climb out of Luarca brings you to quiet countryside and then on to Navia, a bustling market town.
Located inside the gardens of the Palacio Arias, you´ll find the ´Hotel-Apartments Arias´, consisting of 42 rooms and 21 fully equipped apartments. The hotel has free WIFI connection, meeting rooms, a restaurant (open only for dinner and breakfast), guest laundry, tennis court and parking.
A taxi will pick you up this morning to take you to La Caridad. More inland walking takes you to Ribadeo, where you are back to the sea again. As you arrive in Ribadeo, you are entering Galicia.
This accommodation offers 27 comfortable rooms with balconies and lovely views to the ´Ria´. Other services include a café, laundry service and parking.
Enjoy a rest day in Ribadeo.
This accommodation offers 27 comfortable rooms with balconies and lovely views to the ´Ria´. Other services include a café, laundry service and parking.
Leaving the coast behind, head into the mountains via groves of eucalyptus trees. Due to a lack of accommodation for this evening you will be transferred back to Ribadeo.
This accommodation offers 27 comfortable rooms with balconies and lovely views to the ´Ria´. Other services include a café, laundry service and parking.
A transfer wil take you back to Villamartin-Grande before you head even further into the mountains. Mondoñedo was one of the capitals of Galicia and is now an important historical site with a beautiful 13th century cathedral.
Built in the early 1990s, this property occupies the upper portion of the building of the Royal Seminary Mondoñedo. The accommodation offers rooms with private bathrooms, heating and telephone. It also has a dining room, several conference rooms and ample space for relaxing walks.
Heading out of Mondoñedo brings you uphill via pretty villages to Gontan and then Abadin. A taxi will pick you up here and take you back to Mondoñedo for accommodation.
Built in the early 1990s, this property occupies the upper portion of the building of the Royal Seminary Mondoñedo. The accommodation offers rooms with private bathrooms, heating and telephone. It also has a dining room, several conference rooms and ample space for relaxing walks.
A shorter day passing through forested paths and small villages to the medieval town of Vilalba.
Situated among forests of birch trees and greenery typically of inland of Galicia, this accommodation with 42 spacious and cozy rooms with terrace and everyone fully equipped: bathroom (bath with clamping bar, hair dryer, etc.), TV, air conditioning (warm/cold), free WIFI, safe, minibar, laundry, room-service and wake-up service. Other facilities: restaurant, cafeteria and also spa (gym, massage and massage cabins, gravity and pressure jet, sauna and active pool)
Continue through the Galician countryside to Vilalba-Seixón where you be collected and transferred to Regüela.Â
Transfer back to Vilalba-Seixón and look forward to a spectacular day's walking via the highest point of the route to the monastery at Sobrado dos Monxes. Founded in the year 952, this impressive monastery features a beautiful facade, 17th-century cloisters and several chapels.Â
The hotel has 12 double rooms all of them with a bath and television as well as a private garden to unwind after a day on the trail.
You join the more popular Camino Frances route today as you head to Arzua.
The Pazo Santa Maria is a real oasis on the trail. A historical manor house dating back to the 18th century, the hotel offers a massage service for those weary legs, a fantastic restaurant serving fine Galician cuisine and tranquil gardens in which to relax.
Upon leaving Arzua perhaps pick up some of the region’s delicious cheese for lunch. Throughout the day you’ll be walking through different villages: Brea, Calzada, Rua and A Calle; the meaning of which is synonymous with ‘Camino’.
This property offers comfortable cottages with 3 double bedrooms and 1 single, all with private bathroom and TV, living room with gallery. There are also 3 tourist apartments for 2-4 persons, each consisting of 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, kitchen, living room with fireplace and terrace. Dining is available. It has swimming pool and garden to relax into the summer.
A poignant last day’s walking on this iconic Camino path leads first to San Paio and Lavacolla. It was traditional for pilgrims to wash in the river at Lavacolla before reaching Santiago. Tall eucalyptus trees sway in the wind as you make your way to the ‘Mount of Joy’ of Monte del Gozo (368m). From here, catch sight of your goal—the impressive spires of Santiago de Compostela’s cathedral.
Only 25m from the traditional market, this house retains its natural charm of stone, wood and light, combined with modern materials. There is an elevator, WIFI throughout the hotel, LCD TV, room service, hair dryer, reading room and lounge.
Book an additional night in Santiago to enjoy this wonderful city and spectacular cathedral and also enjoy the Pilgrims mass. Or head back to the airport for your flight home.
This trip has a carbon score of 15kg per person per night, meaning it’s one of our best trips! For comparison, a carbon count of 15kg is equivalent to 88.5 candy bars. Here at Macs, we pride ourselves on being a responsible travel company and continue to adopt, develop and innovate ways to positively impact the environment. Find out more information about how we've carbon counted our trips.
Other Information
Is it for me?The Camino del Norte offers a more authentic pilgrim experience than the Camino Frances. Though the walking is considerably tougher the rewards are arguably much greater.
Pilgrimages | For those looking to follow a path of self-discovery. Our Pilgrimage and Camino routes take you on a journey through diverse landscapes and local flavours, while meeting like-minded adventurers along the way.
Inn to Inn Walking | Walk from place-to-place changing accommodations each night. Generally staying in B&Bs, inns, and guesthouses.
Solo Travellers, Families with Teens
The minimum age for this tour is: 12 Years
This walk is graded moderate to strenuous and includes daily walks of between 17-33km per day.
You can expect to walk for between five and eight hours each day and much of it is rather arduous walking with some steep inclines/declines.
The Camino Del Norte follows a mixture of farm/dirt tracks, minor roads and footpaths.
The accommodation in San Sebastian, Bilbao and all larger towns, will be in 3-star hotels, the rest will be a mixture of rural hotels and hostels all with private rooms and en-suite. They all offer a warm welcome to walkers, traditional hospitality and delicious local food. We do recommend that you book this trip early as the area is always popular and the hotels and inns do fill up early, especially in high season.
Solo Walkers & Single Rooms
The Camino is available to solo walkers at a single supplement.
Meals
A local continental breakfast is included each morning, which can sometimes just be coffee, bread and orange juice. Lunch and dinner are not included as standard so you are free to choose from the available options. Every place you stop will have evening meals available, you can get a pilgrims menu for about 10 euros which includes 3 courses, wine and water!
Additional Nights
There is so much to see and do along the route that many of our clients choose to add extra nights along the walk either as a rest day or simply to do some extra sightseeing. If you are walking the route solo try not to add too many extra nights along the way as you will lose touch with those you have met.
Fewer Nights
It is possible to walk the Camino del Norte in less time but we would not recommend this.
The route is marked with yellow painted arrows but please take care at intersections. There are sections on the route where you will divert to follow the red and white stripes of the GR routes. There will always be other walkers around in case you are looking for help. You will be supplied with turn by turn route notes and detailed maps so you will have no problem following the route each day.
In addition to the printed route notes, you will receive in your travel pack, you will also have access to our Macs Adventure App, allowing you to follow the route on richly detailed mapping on your smartphone.
- Accommodation in small rural hotels and hostels with en-suite W/C.
- 17 Breakfasts
- Baggage Transfers
- A detailed information pack for the group leader including route notes, maps, and local information.
- Camino del Norte guide book.
- Emergency telephone support from our local and UK offices in the event of a problem.
- Return travel to Spain.
- Lunches, dinners, snacks or drinks.
- Travel Insurance.
- Personal Equipment.
- Taxi transfers or public transport should you need to skip a stage.
- Additional nights accommodation along the way.
This trip is available to start on any day from the beginning of March to the end of October.
Time of Year
The weather in Northern Spain is very varied. In general you can expect pleasant temperatures for walking of between 19 degrees and up to about 26 degrees in the summer months. As you will be walking near the coast for much of this walk, you can expect some rainy days, particularly in spring and autumn.
You can fly into Oviedo (Asturias) direct from London Stansted with Easyjet and then from there, you can take an ALSA bus which only takes around 3 hours to Gijon.
If you are traveling from outwith Europe, Madrid and Paris are good hubs to fly into. Gijon can be reached by train RENFE in 5.5 hours or you can choose to catch an internal flight to Oviedo with Iberia.
You can fly directly from Santiago back to the UK with Ryanair who fly direct to Stansted and Easyjet who fly direct to Gatwick.
If you are traveling internationally, Madrid and Paris are good hubs to fly out of. You can fly from Santiago to Paris with Vueling or from Madrid with Ryanair.
Baggage transfers are included (max 20kg per person). Your main bag will be transferred each day between your overnight accommodation so that you only need to walk with a day pack. There is a supplement applicable for solo walkers on baggage transfers due to the fact that the transfer costs are usually shared.
The distances and ascent/descents are approximations of the recommended routes.
Compostela/Pilgrims Passport
The pilgrim’s passport is issued by the church of St James, you can obtain one at the start of your walk in the pilgrim’s office or the local church in town. You need to get the passport stamped in churches, restaurants and hotels along the way. At the end of the walk, in Santiago, you can obtain your Compostela Certificate (only if you have walked the last 100km). For the other sections of the trail, the passport is used as a souvenir with all the colourful stamps you will receive.
Please be prepared by packing all necessary items, for example, proper rain gear (jacket and pants), sun hat and sunscreen. Your information pack has a detailed equipment list which includes standard walking/cycling gear such as good walking boots or shoes, warm and waterproof clothes for the cooler months and lightweight clothing for summer, and a day pack.
The average daily distance of our Camino tours are between 20 and 25 kilometres and you can expect to walk for between five and eight hours each day and much of it is rather arduous walking. You should do as much walking as possible prior to your walk as this will simply add to your enjoyment. That said if you are not at peak fitness you will find you will soon walk yourself fit.
A mixture of farm/dirt tracks, minor roads and footpaths. The route is marked with yellow painted arrows but please take care at intersections. There are sections on the route where you will divert to follow the red and white stripes of the GR routes. There will always be other walkers around in-case you are looking for help.
We suggest you book as far in advance as possible as the Camino is extremely popular. Numbers can rise by up to 100, 000 people. We will always try and accommodate late bookings but realistically you need to book at least 6 weeks prior to departure.
Yes, some people prefer to walk carrying their own bags as a true pilgrim would have. You can select the option for removing the baggage transfers in Step 2 of the Booking Engine.
I would recommend April/May when the spring flowers are at their best and September/October when the colours are just lovely. June, July and August can be very hot if you are not used to walking in the heat while the temperatures can fall sharply in the winter with some accommodation closing down for the end of season.
Public transport and taxis are available, if you are need of support our local partner in Spain will be more than happy to help.
Unfortunately we are unable to change your accommodation bookings and itinerary once you start walking as alternative accommodation is generally not available at such short notice.
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