The longest day of the quiet ending: forest tracks from Goimil, then about 5 miles beside the busy N-634 with few places to eat, before the branch meets the Camino Francés by Santiago airport. The last 8.5 miles are the Francés's familiar finish through Lavacolla and over Monte do Gozo into the old town. If 19 miles is too much, stop at Ponte Puñide, 6 miles in, or at Lavacolla, 13 miles in, which has nine places to stay.
Longest day: about 19 milesLittle food between mile 1.4 and Ponte PuñideJoin the Francés by the airportFirst view of the cathedral from Monte do GozoSplit the day at Lavacolla
Distance
19.3 miles31 km
Walking time
7 to 8 hours
Difficulty
Hard
Beds in Santiago de Compostela
40 placesPlenty
Map of the stage
Places to split the day
Look out for
The walk3Other places to stayASightsVillages on the wayDashed ring: position approximate
The line is the waymarked route as OpenStreetMap has it, except from the Alto de Goimil to San Paio, where OpenStreetMap doesn't have the route: there the line is the shortest footpath, which may not follow the waymarks. 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 Santiago de Compostela
40 places · Plenty
The same 40 places as night 14 on the main route. To split this day, Ponte Puñide has a casa rural on the branch, and Lavacolla, already on the Francés, has nine places, from albergues to a three-star hotel.
Before and after the stop, with the distance from it.
Casa rural · private room
O Muíño de Pena
About 13 miles before Santiago de Compostela
A Ponte Puñide 24, O Pino, on the branch about 6.1 miles into the day and about 13 miles before the cathedral
A casa rural with a stone-walled dining room and a bar at Ponte Puñide, on the branch, serving home cooking. It splits the day at about 6 miles, leaving about 13 to the cathedral.
Beds
3 rooms with private bathrooms, each for up to 3 people (listing totals vary)
Price
From €27 a person (casasrurales.net, October 2026)
Meals
Breakfast, lunch and dinner; bar
Booking
casasrurales.net contact form; 30-day cancellation policy; no phone found
From Lugo, this ending leaves the Primitivo for the Camiño Verde to Sobrado dos Monxes, follows the Camino del Norte to Boimorto, then takes the Xunta's signed branch through A Mota, which meets the Camino Francés only near Santiago airport, 8.5 miles from the cathedral. It's about 65 miles over four days, against 62 miles over five on the main route. Recent walkers met almost no one on it, but beds are few, there are long stretches with no food or water, and the first two days have no official waymarks.
The Camiño Verde, Lugo to Sobrado, is an unofficial route marked with green arrows by a volunteer from Friol. Reports from 2024 to 2026 range from well marked to no signs at all, so carry a GPS track; Wikiloc has the route maker's own. The riverside boardwalks just out of Lugo were in poor condition in May 2026, and that stretch floods after heavy rain.
There's no bar, shop or reliable water for the whole first day, and none for about 12 miles on the second. Walkers also report mud, brambles (wear long trousers), a horse enclosure to walk around and loose dogs.
Beds are the weak point. Friol has no albergue, and its cheap pensión was reported closed for good in October 2026, leaving two hotels, both best booked before you leave Oviedo. From November to March there may be no bed in Friol at all. Book Twin Pines too.
The A Mota branch has been signed by the Xunta since 2017. It's flat but mostly on asphalt with little shade. Keep to the signs for Lavacolla: two other local branches from Boimorto lead to Santa Irene and O Pedrouzo on the Francés.
The Camiño Verde isn't a recognised route, and the Pilgrim Office asks for the last 100 km on one route; the Norte part is only about 33 miles. Walkers who took it have reported getting the Compostela, but the most recent reports are from 2022. Collect two dated stamps a day, at Friol and Sobrado's monastery among others, and email the Pilgrim Office before you go if the certificate matters to you.
Bag services may not cover the Camiño Verde, so check with Correos or Pilbeo before you rely on one.
HardAbout 19.3 miles, the longest day of the ending, with a long stretch beside a busy road and few places to eat before the airport.
Guides' own ratings: Gronze: 2 (O Pedrouzo to Santiago, the shared last part)
Underfoot. Forest tracks at first, then about 5 miles of gravel path beside the N-634 and quiet roads, and from the airport the Francés's paths and city pavements.
From Goimil, forest tracks lead down past O Couto Pequeno, where Casa Rico de Medín serves food, to the Santo André chapel. Then comes the least pleasant part of the whole ending: about 5 miles on a gravel service path beside the busy N-634, with no shade, past Ponte Puñide, where Estanco Bar Suárez by the old bridge is the lunch stop walkers name, and on toward Santiso. The branch crosses the A-54 motorway on a bridge and meets the Camino Francés by the airport, about 10.7 miles into the day and 8.5 miles from the cathedral. From there you walk with everyone else, round the airport to San Paio, down to Lavacolla and its stream, through Vilamaior and San Marcos, and up the steady climb to Monte do Gozo, the hill where pilgrims first see the cathedral's towers. The last 2.8 miles are city streets past San Lázaro and down into the old town to the Praza do Obradoiro.
Good to know
Eat at Casa Rico de Medín or carry food: the next food walkers report is Estanco Bar Suárez near Ponte Puñide, about 6 miles on, and a 2026 walker found only one bar on the branch besides a service-station bar across the road.
The path beside the N-634 is gravel, apart from the traffic but noisy and shadeless; walkers call the last miles before the airport the least pleasant of the route.
At the airport the branch crosses the A-54 on a bridge and joins the Francés; from there follow the yellow arrows and the crowds.
Mapy.com gives 21.4 miles from Twin Pines to the cathedral, more than the 19.3 miles used here, so allow extra time.
To split the day, Lavacolla leaves 6.2 miles for the morning, enough to reach the Pilgrim Office early.
Register online with the Pilgrim Office before you arrive and show two dated stamps a day. Walkers who took the Verde in 2023 and 2024 received the Compostela, and one walker was told by the Pilgrim Office by email in July 2024 that the route would not be a problem, but it is not a recognised route, so ask before you go if the certificate matters to you.
Along the way
Mile 1.4
O Couto Pequeno
Casa Rico de Medín: food and rooms; distance approximate
Mile 6.1
Ponte Puñide
O Muíño de Pena, rooms and meals; Estanco Bar Suárez on the N-634 by the old bridge; distance approximate
Medieval pilgrims stopped at the stream here to wash before entering the holy city, and the name is often linked to that washing; some scholars read it instead as an old place name for a low meadow by a hill. Today Lavacolla is best known for the airport, which has served Santiago since the 1930s.
Monte do Gozo
From this low hill, 1,214 ft high and about 2.8 miles from the cathedral, pilgrims had their first sight of the cathedral's spires and by tradition cried out for joy, which gave it its name, the Hill of Joy. Pope John Paul II said Mass here for World Youth Day in August 1989, remembered by the large monument on the top, and for the 1993 Holy Year the Xunta built a huge complex with a 500-bed albergue.
Into the old town
The Francés, Primitivo, Norte and Inglés all enter the old town at the site of the medieval Porta do Camiño and reach the cathedral at its north front in the Praza da Inmaculada, the Acibechería. A passage under the archbishop's palace leads down to the Praza do Obradoiro and the Baroque west front, finished in 1740 by Fernando de Casas Novoa in front of Master Mateo's Pórtico da Gloria of 1188.
Look out for
Mile 1.4
Food at O Couto Pequeno. Casa Rico de Medín served snacks to passing walkers in 2026; it is the last sure stop for about 6 miles.
Mile 6.1
Ponte Puñide. Estanco Bar Suárez, on the N-634 by the old bridge, is the lunch stop walkers name on this stretch.
Mile 10.7
Back among the crowds. After three days of meeting almost no one, you join the Francés by the airport fence; expect a steady stream of walkers from here to the cathedral.
Mile 13.0
Lavacolla's stream. The stream here is where medieval pilgrims washed before Santiago. The church, from 1840, has a stone cross with a seated Christ a few yards away.
Mile 16.5
Monte do Gozo. Look for the cathedral's spires from the hilltop by the papal monument and the small San Marcos chapel.
Mile 19.3
Arriving. Backpacks are not allowed in the cathedral. From 16 October 2026, while work goes on in the main chapel, the main pilgrims' Masses are held in the nearby church of San Agustín.
What couldn't be confirmed, and where sources disagree
Distance: the day's 19.3 miles, and the distances to O Couto Pequeno, Ponte Puñide, Santiso, Lavacolla and Monte do Gozo, are estimates that haven't been re-measured. Mapy.com, as quoted by Peterexpatkiwi in March 2026, gives 21.4 miles from Twin Pines to the cathedral and about 14.9 miles to Lavacolla, so the branch may be 1.2 to 1.9 miles longer than shown. The meeting point with the Francés, 8.5 miles from the cathedral, fits a 2026 report that the branch joins about 2.5 miles before Lavacolla. No climbing figure was found for the branch.
Food and drink: services on the branch rest on a few reports. Telelama (walked 2023, reposted April 2026) names Bar Suárez; Simperegrina (April 2026) mentions one bar and a service-station bar; Blister Bill (March 2026) mentions a casa rural with food between Twin Pines and Santo André, presumably Casa Rico de Medín.
Santiso: it couldn't be confirmed that there is a hotel and a pensión there.
O Muíño de Pena: no phone, email or Booking.com page was found, and its listing doesn't add up, with 3 rooms but up to 16 guests.
Lavacolla: besides the two albergues and Hotel Ruta Jacobea, Gronze lists Pensión Xacobeo, Pensión Dorotea, Hostal A Concha, Hotel Garcas and Pazo Xan Xordo, eight in all, with more behind a link. Spanish Wikipedia gives both the washing story behind the name and another reading of it, a low meadow by a hill.
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.