705 km – 26 stages
Via de la Plata
The Via de la Plata is sometimes incorrectly known in English as the Silver Route or Way – “Plata” is a corruption of the arabic word BaLaTa, meaning paved road. The Via de La Plata (once a Roman causeway starting in Emérita Augusta (Mérida) and ending in Asturica Augusta (Astorga) starts in Seville from where it goes north to Zamora via Zafra, Cáceres and Salamanca. It is much less frequented than the French Way or even the Northern Way. After Zamora there are three options. The first route, or Camino Sanabrés heads west and reaches Santiago via Ourense. It totally deserves its own chapter, so read on about this itinerary in the next paragraph! Wiki is not complete on this one, but Eroski resource always is!
Another route (original Via de la Plata) continues north to Astorga, from where pilgrims can continue west along the Camino Francés to Santiago.
A third, seldom traveled route, crosses into Portugal and passes through Bragança, rejoining the Camino Sanabrés near Ourense. The Camino Mozárabe route from Granada or Malaga, passes through Córdoba and later joins up with the Via de La Plata at Mérida.
In the tab ‘Stages’ you will find the stages as shared on the Eroski site. We found them to be very accurate on the lengths. They also have very complete and nicely written narratives on each part, however, the narratives are in Spanish. If you want to read (also very nice) descriptions of each part in English you can use the interactive map above from elcaminosantiago.com. Just click on the symbol in the upper right corner: 
. It will open up the interactive map in Google Maps and you’ll be able to zoom in and click on any way mark. This will open up a small window where you can read the narratives created by elcaminosantiago.com. Great resource!
If daily stages of more than 15/20 km are simply not your cup of tea, just look at the itinerary in each stage and choose your daily endpoints. You can use the name of those locations to search for a place to stay (see tab ‘Where to stay’). In addition, please remember: most people do not walk any of the caminos in one ‘holiday’. They simply take one or a couple of stages each time they have some time off. Take it easy – not everyone needs to walk 800 km to discover their true self…
In the tab ‘Where to start’ you will find information on the most common (and less common) places to start, including some information on how to get there.
Stage 1 Sevilla – Guillena
22,7 km – 4 albergues
Km 0: Sevilla (All services)
Km 9,5: Santiponce (All services)
Km 22,7: Guillena (All services)
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Stage 2 Guillena- Castilblanco de los Arroyos
17,5 km – 1 albergue
Km 0: Guillena (All services)
Km 15,7: San Benito Abad
Km 17,5: Castilblanco de los Arroyos (All services)
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Stage 3 Castilblanco de los Arroyos – Almadén de la Plata
29,3 km – 2 albergues
Km 0: Castilblanco de los Arroyos (All services)
Km 16,5: Parque Natural los Berrocales
Km 29,3: Almadén de la Plata (All services)
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Stage 4 Almadén de la Plata – Monesterio
34,5 km – 4 albergues
Km 0: Almadén de la Plata (All services)
Km 14,7: El Real de la Jara (All services)
Km 29,5: Camping Tentudía
Km 34,5: Monesterio (All services)
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Stage 5 Monesterio – Fuente de Cantos
21,6 km – 1 albergue
Km 0: Monesterio (All services)
Km 10,7: El Cerrillo
Km 17,4: Villa Camino de Santiago
Km 21,6: Fuente de Cantos (All services)
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Stage 6 Fuente de Cantos – Zafra
24,6 km – 4 albergues
Km 0: Fuente de Cantos (All services)
Km 6: Calzadilla de los Barros (Albergue outside the village, Hostal, Bars, Shops ATM, Pharmacy, Info centre)
Km 20,3: La Puebla de Sancho Pérez (Albergue, Hostal, Bars, Shops ATM, Pharmacy, Info centre)
Km 24,6: Zafra (All services)
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Stage 7 Zafra – Almendralejo
36,7 km – 5 albergues
Km 0: Zafra (All services)
Km 3,9: Los Santos de Maimona (All services)
Km 19: Villafranca de los Barros (All services)
Km 36,7: Almendralejo (All services)
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Stage 8 Almendralejo – Mérida
29,6 km – 3 albergues
Km 0: Almendralejo (All services)
Km 14: Torremejía (All services)
Km 29,6: Mérida (All services)
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Stage 9 Mérida – Alcuéscar
36 km – 2 albergues
Km 0: Mérida (All services)
Km 13,1: El Carrascalejo (All services)
Km 15,9: Aljucén (Albergue, Bars, Shops, Pharmacy, Spa)
Km 36: Alcuéscar (All services)
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Stage 10 Alcuéscar – Valdesalor
25,7 km – 2 albergues
Km 0: Alcuéscar (All services)
Km 7,8: Casas de Don Antonio (Bar, Shop, Pharmacy)
Km 14,5: Aldea del Cano (Albergue, Bar, Shop, Pharmacy)
Km 25,7: Valdesalor (Albergue, Bar, Shop, Info center)
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Stage 11 Valdesalor – Casar de Cáceres
22,8 km – 3 albergues
Km 0: Valdesalor (Albergue, Bar, Shop, Info center)
Km 11,6: Cáceres (All services)
Km 22,8: Casar de Cáceres (All services)
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Stage 12 Casar de Cáceres – Cañaveral
33,2 km – 2 albergues
Km 0: Casar de Cáceres (All services)
Km 21,7: Albergue del Embalse de Alcántara (CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE)
Km 33,2: Cañaveral (Albergue, Hostals, Bars, Shop, ATM, Pharmacy, Info center)
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Stage 13 Cañaveral – Galisteo
28 km – 2 albergues
Km 0: Cañaveral (Albergue, Hostals, Bars, Shop, ATM, Pharmacy, Info center)
Km 7,8: Grimaldo (Albergue, Rural house, Bar)
Follow the indication arrows to Riolobos, this is an alternative route created by the Association of Friends of the Camino de Santiago of Sevilla to solve the problem of not being able to cross a private area (the owner won in court… can you believe it…). The sign will say ‘Camino de Santiago, Riolobos – 4 km’.
Riolobos (All services, Rural house with special price for pilgrims)
Km 28: Galisteo (All services)
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Stage 14 Galisteo – Cáparra
29,5 km – 2 albergues
Km 0: Galisteo (All services)
Km 5,3: Aldehuela del Jerte (Bar en el Hogar del Pensionista)
Km 10,2: Carcaboso (All services)
Km 23,3: Carretera de Oliva de Plasencia (Rural house Vía Cáparra at more than 6km)
Km 29,5: Cáparra (Info center)
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Stage 15 Cáparra – Baños de Montemayor
28,5 km – 3 albergues
Km 0: Cáparra (Info center)
Km 19,2: Aldeanueva del Camino (All services)
Km 28,5: Baños de Montemayor (All services)
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Stage 16 Baños de Montemayor – Fuenterroble de Salvatierra
32,9 km – 6 albergues
Km 0: Baños de Montemayor (All services)
Km 12,7: Calzada de Béjar (Albergue, Bar)
Km 21,7: Valverde de Valdelacasa (Albergues, Bar)
Km 25: Valdelacasa (Bars, Shops, Pilgrim’s Inn – Pousada del Peregrino)
Km 32,9: Fuenterroble de Salvatierra (Albergue, Rural house, Bars, Shops)
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Stage 17 Fuenterroble de Salvatierra – San Pedro de Rozados
28 km – 2 albergues
Km 0: Fuenterroble de Salvatierra (Albergue, Rural house, Bars, Shops)
Km 28: San Pedro de Rozados (Albergues, Rural Tourism Center, Bars, Shop, Bakery, Pharmacy)
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Stage 18 San Pedro de Rozados – Salamanca
23,4 km – 4 albergues
Km 0: San Pedro de Rozados (Albergues, Rural Tourism Center, Bars, Shop, Bakery, Pharmacy)
Km 4,1: Morille (Albergue, Rural house, Bar, Shop)
Km 10,8: Aldeanueva
Km 14: Miranda de Azán
Km 23,4: Salamanca (All services)
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Stage 19 Salamanca – El Cubo de la Tierra del Vino
35 km – 3 albergues
Km 0: Salamanca (All services)
Km 6,1: Aldeaseca de Armuña (Bar, Shop)
Km 11,1: Castellanos de Villiquera (Bar, Shop, Pharmacy)
Km 15,1: Calzada de Valdunciel (All services)
Km 35: El Cubo de la Tierra del Vino (Albergues, Bar, Shop, Pharmacy)
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Stage 20 El Cubo de la Tierra del Vino – Zamora
31,6 km – 3 albergues
Km 0: El Cubo de la Tierra del Vino (Albergues, Bar, Shop, Pharmacy)
Km 13,5: Villanueva del Campeán (Albergues, Rural Inn, Bar)
Km 31,6: Zamora (All services)
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Stage 21 Zamora – Montamarta
18,5 km – 2 albergues
Km 0: Zamora (All services)
Km 7: Roales del Pan (Inn, Bar, Shop, Pharmacy)
Km 18,5: Montamarta (Albergue, Bar, Shop, Pharmacy)
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Stage 22 Montamarta – Granja de Moreruela
22,7 km – 2 albergues
Km 0: Montamarta (Albergue, Bar, Shop, Pharmacy)
Km 12,5: Fontanillas de Castro (Inn, Bar, Shop in the Gas station)
Km 16,2: Riego del Camino (Albergue, Bar, Shop)
Km 22,7: Granja de Moreruela (Albergue, Bar, Shop)
From here, you may choose to take the Camino Sanabrés, or continue on to Astorga to take the Camino Francés. We would advise the Camino Sanabrés to continue to experience the true Camino Spirit. Another option would be to find your way to Ponferreda and do the Camino de Invierno – also a very nice alternative to the last part of the French Way.
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Stage 23 Granja de Moreruela – Benavente
25,5 km – 2 albergues
Km 0: Granja de Moreruela (Albergue, Bar, Shop)
Km 8,5: Santovenia del Esla (Bar, Shops)
Km 14: Villaveza del Agua (Bar, Shop)
Km 16,5: Barcial del Barco (Albergue, Bar)
Km 22: Villanueva de Azoague (Bar)
Km 25,5: Benavente (All services)
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Stage 24 Benavente – Alija del Infantado
22,1 km – 2 albergues
Km 0: Benavente (All services)
Km 7,5: Villabrázaro (Albergue, Bar, Shop, Pharmacy)
Km 16: Maire de Castroponce (Bar)
Km 22,1: Alija del Infantado (Albergue, Bars, Shops, Pharmacy, ATM)
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Stage 25 Alija del Infantado – La Bañeza
20,5 km – 1 albergue
Km 0: Alija del Infantado (Albergue, Bars, Shops, Pharmacy, ATM)
Km 8,3: Quintana del Marco (Bars, Shop, Pharmacy)
Km 20,5: La Bañeza (All services)
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Stage 26 La Bañeza – Astorga
24,2 km – 2 albergues
Km 0: La Bañeza (All services)
Km 6: Palacios de Valduerna (Bar, Shop)
Km 20,5: Celada de la Vega (Bar, Shop)
Km 24,2: Astorga (All services)
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Booking.com
OUR PRIMARY SOURCE: BOOKING.COM
We always use booking.com. There are good things and less good things to say about this site, but the downsides are related to their very broad customer population (you get a lot of hostels in the results that are no way within walking distance. You can apply some filtering based on amount of km from the city center however.
There is one big advantage for us: the map on their site. Once you entered the name of the village (or nearest bigger city) and hit search you’ll get an overview of (lots of!) places to stay. If you scroll a bit down, you’ll see a little map. Click on it, and it will open up a bigger and interactive map with all the locations. Just look near where you are (don’t forget to zoom in to see more locations!), review the info, chose a place to stay and the best part: book it online and you’ll be sure to have a place to stay that night.
We didn’t book ahead (only when we were nearing Santiago as it was getting very busy in all albergues so we knew the hostels would get full soon too). However, it was nice to pull up the app of booking.com during breakfast and estimating where we would end up that day and to have some alternative plan B in case our first choice were to be fully booked.
They also have a filter you can apply to search for e.g. only inns, or… rural houses.We like to get comfortable once in a while…
Here’s an impression of their map for a search on ‘Arzúa’.
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Google Maps
Occasionally, booking.com will not have many hostels near you because there are of course lots of small hostels that are not yet on booking.com. This seems to be the case with the example location we chose: Arzúa.
In this situation, we visit googlemaps.com, type a search for ‘hostels in [name of location]’ – Google will suggest immediately a ‘hostels near xxx’. Hit search and you’ll get the results.
Here’s an impression of their map for a search on ‘Arzúa’:
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Turgalicia
Once you are in Galicia, the best way to find places to stay is turgalicia.es (English version).
They are the official tourist information site by the local government (Junta de Galicia, in Gallego ‘Xunta de Galicia’). Obviously, it’s their duty to provide this information and being listed on that site is important and free for hostel owners.
This is how their site looks. In the right menu bar you should click ‘Municipalities’ and check the ones you need to search: for the Camino Francés that might be Lugo or La Coruña, where that route runs through. Once checked off the boxes, hit ‘accept’ in the municipality window and search in the same right menu.
Once you get the results page, hit the button ‘Map’ in the left upper corner menu.
Here’s an impression on their map search for places to stay in Arzúa – it not only gives an additional 10+ places to stay (you will need to zoom in) but it also indicates very well what type of lodging it is (rural houses are the nice green ones) and in the menu above the map you will find many more interesting things (things to see, things to do, etc). Needless to say you can click on each hit and get more information about the hostel.
This is as far as we want to go with lists of albergues. If you really want a list to print-out, we can recommend you to visit the site of Eroski consumer, they also have pdf’s available, although like I said, the complete narratives are in Spanish. Here’s the direct link to the albergues.
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To get to Sevilla, the starting point of the Via de la Plata, you can consult these pages from Eroski.
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