The longest day of the route, 18.3 miles, but mostly gentle, on farm tracks and quiet roads across the Lugo plateau. Castroverde, 4.8 miles in, is the last place with shops and bars; after it there are only vending machines and a seasonal food van for 13.5 miles. You enter Lugo through its Roman walls, and the city has plenty of beds, from the Xunta albergue inside the walls to four-star hotels, which makes it a good place for a rest day.
Longest day: 18.3 milesLast shops at Castroverde, mile 4.8Gothic church at Vilabade, on the old routeEnter Lugo through the Roman wallsRest day: walk the top of the walls
Distance
18.3 miles29.5 km; or 18.6 miles via Old route, through Vilabade
Climbing
1,670 ft up2,540 ft down
Walking time
7 to 8 hours
Difficulty
Hard
Beds in Lugo
25 placesPlenty
Map of the stage
Places to stay in Lugo
Look out for
The walk12Places to stay: green for dorms, blue for roomsASightsVillages on the wayDashed ring: position approximate
The line is the waymarked route as OpenStreetMap has it. Places to stay are where Gronze or their own websites put them. Tap a marker for details; the numbers and letters match the cards and the lists below.
Where to sleep in Lugo
25 places · Plenty
Gronze lists 25 places in October 2026, from the 44-bed Xunta albergue inside the walls to four-star hotels. The Xunta albergue and Hostel Kilómetro 99 are open all year; Albergue Nazaret closes from November to March. For a rest day, Pazo de Orbán and the Méndez Núñez are inside the walls.
Public albergue · dormPilgrims onlyOpen all year
Albergue de peregrinos de Lugo
Xunta albergue inside the walls, with two dorms and a kitchen without utensils. Pilgrims only; no bookings.
Beds
44 dorm beds in 2 dorms
Price
Dorm €10
Season
All year
Where
Inside the walls: enter by the Puerta de San Pedro and take the second street on the right, Rúa das Noreas
Meals
Kitchen without utensils; no meals
Booking
No reservations: first come, first served. Check-in 13:00, doors close 22:00
Religious albergue opened in 2024 by the Siervas de San José, with volunteer hosts and an optional evening prayer. Two large dorms and two small ones of 2 and 4 beds; washer, dryer and towels.
Beds
40 dorm beds in 4 dorms
Price
Dorm €16 to €22, depending on the dorm
Season
1 April to 31 October
Where
On the route at Rúa Santiago 2, 330 yards from the Plaza Mayor
Small hostel in the old town with dorms for four and six, triples and private singles and doubles. Breakfast €5 if booked; prices rise from April to October.
Beds
16 places in 5 rooms
Price
Dorm €18 to €25; single €30 to €40; double €45 to €55
Season
All year
Where
In the old town, at Rúa do Miño 24
Meals
Breakfast €5 with a booking
Booking
Phone, email or Booking.com. Check-in 13:00 to 18:00
A four-star hotel in an 18th-century Baroque palace inside the walls, by the Porta Miñá, with 12 rooms from economy doubles to a junior suite, a café and a terrace. A good choice for a rest-day night.
Beds
12 rooms
Price
Kayak's recent average about €126 a night (October 2026); rates vary by date
Where
In the old town, at Travesía do Miño 6, 440 yards from the Plaza Mayor, next to the walls
A recently renovated four-star hotel with 70 rooms inside the walls, just off the Plaza Mayor. The most central comfortable option; public parking nearby.
Beds
70 rooms
Price
Kayak's recent average about €87 midweek and €109 at weekends (October 2026)
Where
In the old town, at Rúa da Raíña 1, 55 yards from the Plaza Mayor
Booking
Phone, WhatsApp, email, own website or Booking.com
A large, renovated four-star hotel with 167 rooms, a restaurant serving Galician food, a café and a gym, a short walk outside the walls. Check-in 15:00; covered parking €14 a day.
Beds
167 rooms
Price
Kayak's recent average about €100 a night (October 2026)
Where
Avenida Ramón Ferreiro 21, 600 yards from the Plaza Mayor, a short walk outside the walls
HardThe climbing is modest, about 1,670 ft, but at 18.3 miles it is the longest stage, with services only in the first 4.8 miles.
Guides' own ratings: Eroski: media; Gronze: 3
Underfoot. Farm tracks and quiet country roads, much of it asphalt, with 0.8 miles on the shoulder of the LU-530 and city streets for the last mile or so.
The day leaves O Cádavo past the town hall and climbs on asphalt and stony track through Pradeda to the Alto da Vacariza, the only real climb of the day. Just after it, the official route goes through Vilalle, while the older route, signed 'Camino complementario', goes through Vilabade and its Gothic church and is about 550 yards longer. Both reach Castroverde, 4.8 miles in, the last place with shops and bars before Lugo. From here the route crosses the Lugo plateau on quiet roads and farm tracks through Souto de Torres, Vilar de Cas and Gondar, mostly level. After Gondar it climbs past a quarry, runs 0.8 miles on the shoulder of the LU-530, crossing it twice, then turns off on the road to Manzoi. The last 3.8 miles from As Casas da Viña cross the A-6 motorway and the new ring road, pass the hamlet of Castelo and drop to the A Chanca valley, then climb by the Fontiñas steps to enter the walls by the Puerta de San Pedro.
Route
Distance
Climbing
Main route, through Vilalle
18.3 miles
1,670 ft
The official route since March 2017.
Old route, through Vilabade
18.6 miles
Signed 'Camino complementario'; about 550 yards longer, past the Gothic church of Santa María de Vilabade and Pazo Vilabade.
Good to know
Buy food and water in Castroverde, 4.8 miles in: it is the only place on the stage with real services, and Lugo is 13.5 miles further.
After Castroverde there are only vending machines at Vilar de Cas and Gondar, and a food van at Gondar on high-season mornings.
Just past the Alto da Vacariza, choose between the official route through Vilalle and the older 'Camino complementario' through Vilabade, 550 yards longer, which passes the church of Santa María.
In Castroverde, follow the waymarked path that leaves the main road to the left; it comes out by the town hall and a bar.
After Gondar a long-standing provisional detour puts you on the wide shoulder of the LU-530 for 0.8 miles, with two road crossings; take care.
The Lugo Xunta albergue has 44 beds and takes no bookings; if you will arrive late, book a private bed.
Lugo is about 62 miles from Santiago, so starting here still qualifies for the Compostela.
Along the way
Mile 3.9
Vilabade (old route)
Bar in high season only; Pazo Vilabade hotel
Mile 4.8
Castroverde
Shops, bars, Xunta albergue, pensiones; four vending machines beside the route
Mile 8.6
Vilar de Cas
Albergue A Pociña de Muñiz; vending machine
Mile 10.3
Gondar
Drinks and snack machine; food van with tables in high season, mornings until midday
Mile 11.8
Romeán
Albergue Rectoral de Romeán, 0.8 miles off the route
The keep of a 14th-century castle still stands over Castroverde. King Enrique II gave the fortress to Álvaro Pérez Osorio; a century later Sancho Sánchez de Ulloa took it, and in the 16th century Lope Osorio de Moscoso, of the house of Altamira, bought the castle, the town and its lands.
Santa María de Vilabade
Fernando de Castro, of the family of the Counts of Lemos, had this Gothic church built in 1457 where a Franciscan monastery had stood. Known as the cathedral of Castroverde, it has a Renaissance porch of five arches and a Baroque altarpiece with Santiago Matamoros, and it was declared a national monument in 1979.
The Roman walls of Lugo
The walls were built in the late 3rd century AD around the Roman town of Lucus Augusti. They run for about 1.3 miles, stand 26 to 39 ft high and keep 85 towers; of the ten gates, five are Roman and five were opened in modern times. UNESCO listed them in 2000 as the finest surviving example of late Roman military fortifications.
The cathedral and its exposed sacrament
Work on the cathedral of Santa María began in 1129, and it mixes Romanesque, Gothic, Baroque and Neoclassical building. Under a papal privilege the Blessed Sacrament is kept permanently exposed, which is why Lugo is called the city of the Sacrament and why a chalice and host appear on the arms of Lugo and of Galicia. The Baroque chapel of the Virgen de los Ojos Grandes, Lugo's patron, was begun in 1726.
Look out for
Mile 3.9
Santa María de Vilabade. The Gothic church known as the cathedral of Castroverde, on the old route; take the 'Camino complementario' signs after the Alto da Vacariza to see it.
Mile 4.8
Castroverde castle keep. The 14th-century tower stands above the town, near the church of Santiago and the Fonte dos Nenos.
Mile 17.8
Bridge over the Chanca. In the A Chanca valley, just below the walls, the route crosses the river on a bridge of Roman origin.
Mile 18.3
Walk the top of the walls. A walkway runs the full 1.3 miles round the top of the walls, reached by five stairways and a ramp. It makes an easy rest-day walk with views over the old town.
Mile 18.3
Roman baths by the Miño. Below the old town, beside the old Roman bridge over the Miño, the Hotel Balneario de Lugo keeps the remains of the Roman baths, with the changing room and its 18 wall niches still visible. The hot spring, still used by the spa, comes out at about 111 °F (44 °C).
Mile 18.3
Cathedral and tapas. Look into the cathedral for the exposed sacrament and the Ojos Grandes chapel, then eat tapas in the bars around the Praza do Campo, which Gronze recommends.
What couldn't be confirmed, and where sources disagree
Distance: Gronze gives 18.3 miles, the figure used here; Eroski gives 19.0 miles and Senditur 19.1.
Climbing: Gronze gives 1,670 ft up and 2,540 ft down; Senditur gives 2,020 ft up and 2,880 ft down. No source found gives the height of the Alto da Vacariza, so no high or low point is given for the day.
Estimates: the length via Vilabade, 18.6 miles, is Gronze's 18.3 miles plus its own figure of about 550 yards extra. The bridge over the Chanca, at about mile 17.8, is placed from Gronze's description.
Xunta albergue: Gronze gives a phone, +34 618 425 578.
Hotel prices: Gronze gives none for Pazo de Orbán, Méndez Núñez or Eurostars, and their own websites show none. The prices given are Kayak's averages for recent searches, which vary a lot by date and are not fully consistent.
Hotel España: its website would not load in October 2026, so the €30 and €40 prices are from Gronze alone.
Lugo's walls: UNESCO gives 2,315 yards and 85 towers; Wikipedia 2,318 yards, built 263 to 276 AD; Eroski 2,478 yards and 71 of 85 towers.
Not confirmed: that Lugo's are the only Roman walls still complete. Wikipedia says they are mostly intact, and UNESCO rates them the best of their kind still standing.
Cathedral: no date was found for when it was granted the right to keep the sacrament permanently on display.
Confirmed October 2026. Each place to stay shows when its own details were confirmed. Phone numbers, prices and opening seasons change from year to year, so confirm them before you rely on them.