A short but hilly day: a steady climb of about 1,400 ft from Salas to La Espina, then rolling farm and forest tracks along the hillsides to Tineo. La Espina, 5.1 miles in, is the only place to eat or buy food. Tineo has eight places to stay, from a 24-bed municipal albergue to a four-star palace hotel, so beds are rarely the problem; the one that fills is Bodenaya's 10-bed donation albergue on the way.
Steady 1,400 ft climb out of SalasOnly food at La Espina, mile 5.1Medieval pilgrim town of TineoPalace hotel or 50-bed albergue in Tineo
Distance
12.3 miles19.8 km
Climbing
2,220 ft up790 ft down
High point
2,590 ftLow point 790 ft
Walking time
5 to 6 hours
Difficulty
Moderate
Beds in Tineo
8 placesPlenty
Map of the stage
Places to stay in Tineo
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 Tineo
8 places · Plenty
Four albergues with about 116 dorm beds, three pensiones and a four-star palace hotel. Only Albergue La Plaza says it's open all year, and the municipal albergue takes no bookings.
Public albergue · dormPilgrims only
Albergue de peregrinos Mater Christi
The municipal albergue, run by the Friends of the Camino of Tineo since 1993. Cheapest bed in town but 820 yards off the route, and no bookings.
Beds
24 dorm beds in one room
Price
Dorm €9
Season
15 February to 31 December
Where
820 yards off the route: turn left down the signed lane from the Paseo de San Roque as you enter town. Calle Cabezas de San Juan.
Meals
Microwave; no kitchen listed. Washer and dryer, disposable sheets, lockers
Booking
No reservations: first come, first served. Check-in from 13:00; keys from the bars listed on the door
Small private albergue opened in 2021 on the town-hall square, with a kitchen and a terrace over the valley. The only place in Tineo that says it's open all year.
Beds
16 dorm beds in two rooms, of 10 and 6
Price
Dorm €18; breakfast €3
Season
All year
Where
On the town-hall square (Plaza del Ayuntamiento 3), in the centre, where the next day's route starts
Meals
Shared kitchen with microwave and fridge; breakfast €3
The biggest albergue in town, in the basement of the palace hotel and run by it, with breakfast included and the hotel restaurant upstairs. A sauna and Turkish bath are open 17:00 to 19:00 for €7.
Beds
50 dorm beds in four rooms of 2 to 24, in bunks
Price
Dorm with sheets and breakfast €22; blanket €4
Season
15 March to 15 October
Where
In the basement of the Hotel Palacio de Merás, Calle Pío Cuervo 3, in the centre
Meals
Breakfast included; hotel bar-restaurant menu €20 (weekday lunch €15); packed lunch €10; no guest kitchen listed
Four-star hotel in a palace of 1525 with two towers, in the centre, with a restaurant. The comfortable choice for a private-room night; ask for pilgrim prices.
Beds
29 rooms
Price
Pilgrim prices on request; no standard rate published. Its website's Camino package (Executive room, dinner, breakfast and parking) was €187 for two or €157 single in October 2026
ModerateAbout 2,200 ft of climbing in 12.3 miles, most of it in one long climb out of Salas, puts it at the top of Moderate, though it is under 20 km.
Guides' own ratings: Eroski: media; Gronze: 3 of 5
Underfoot. Mostly forest and farm tracks, some rutted and muddy, with about 15 minutes on the shoulder of the N-634 and short stretches beside roads near La Espina and El Pedregal.
The day leaves Salas under the arch between the Valdés-Salas palace and the medieval tower and climbs steadily beside the Nonaya river through oak and chestnut woods. Halfway up the climb steepens, and Gronze still describes a signed detour around motorway works that is longer and steeper than the old line. After about 15 minutes on the shoulder of the N-634, a track climbs left to Porciles and levels out across the plateau to Bodenaya and La Espina, 5.1 miles in and about 1,400 ft above Salas. Just past the last bar in La Espina a rough track forks right off the road. From there the route rolls through La Pereda, Bedures and El Pedregal on farm and forest tracks with some short steep ramps, reaching almost 2,600 ft. The last 4.6 miles from El Pedregal climb gently along the hillside through dense woods with no villages on the route. The way into Tineo skirts the football ground, passes the chapel of San Roque and follows the tree-lined Paseo de los Frailes into the upper town.
Good to know
La Espina, 5.1 miles in, is the only place to eat or buy food, so carry water and lunch for the last 7.2 miles.
Gronze (October 2026) still describes a signed detour around the A-63 motorway works on the climb out of Salas; follow the signs rather than an old GPS track.
After about 15 minutes on the N-634 shoulder, the turn left up to Porciles is awkward to spot, so watch for the arrows.
Leaving La Espina, the path turns right off the road just past the last bar; it is in poor condition and easy to miss.
From La Espina on the tracks are muddy after rain, and Eroski notes streams across the path after El Pedregal, so gaiters help.
The plateau around Bodenaya can be very windy.
Bodenaya's donation albergue takes bookings no more than 30 days ahead and closes on Fridays and Saturdays.
Tineo's municipal albergue takes no bookings; if it is locked, the keys are at the bars listed on the door.
Some guides suggest going on to Campiello or Borres; Samblismo's albergue, still listed by Eroski, was reported closed for good in May 2026.
Along the way
Start
Salas
All services
Mile 3.3
Porciles
Donation albergue with dinner (Fontenonaya), 330 yards off the route
Mile 4.4
Bodenaya
Donation albergue with dinner, 10 beds, closed Fridays and Saturdays
Mile 5.1
La Espina
Bars, shops, pharmacy, cash machine, two albergues
Tineo, at about 2,140 ft on a hillside above its valley, was already the seat of a county by the end of the 9th century. Alfonso IX of León granted it a town charter in 1214, and in 1222 he ordered that pilgrims bound for Santiago pass through his town of Tineo and the monastery of Obona, threatening anyone who led them another way. Obona is about 5 miles on, a short detour from the next stage, and the monastery was given the right to lodge the pilgrims.
The Mater Christi hospital
Tineo's pilgrim hospital stood between Calle Mayor and the Venera de Ojitos. No founding document survives; one old account says it had existed from time immemorial and that a king, taken to be Alfonso IX, stayed there around 1216. It was in ruins after the war with the French in the early 19th century, its chapel closed in 1834, and the building later served as a prison and a theatre. The facade was pulled down in the 2000s, but chapel walls, two buttresses and a row of corbels can still be seen from the Venera de Ojitos, and the municipal albergue, opened in 1993 on another site, carries its name.
Hospitals at La Espina and La Pereda
La Espina, a meeting point of old routes, had two pilgrim hospitals and a leper house. One was the hospital of San Pedro Apóstol, endowed by Fernando de Valdés Salas, bishop of Oviedo and later Inquisitor General; documents from 1224 record royal tax exemptions for these houses, which lasted until about the 18th century. La Pereda, just beyond, also had a pilgrim hospital.
Friars and palaces
The parish church of San Pedro began as the church of a 13th-century Franciscan convent and became the parish church in 1880; it holds the Museo de Arte Sacro, with medieval and baroque pieces. The Paseo de los Frailes, the half-mile walk by which the Camino enters town from the San Roque field, is named for the friars, who planted its trees. The Palacio de Merás, built in 1525 with two towers, is now the four-star hotel.
Look out for
Mile 1.2
Nonaya waterfall. A signed path on the right drops about 270 yards to a small waterfall on the Nonaya. You come back the same way; Gronze thinks the detour is worth it.
Mile 3.3
Source of the Nonaya. Near Porciles the river rises beside an old stone wash-house, a good place to rest your feet after the climb.
Mile 5.1
La Parada del Peregrino. A pilgrim rest stop in La Espina, opened in 2016, with drinks, snacks and a credential stamp (Eroski).
Mile 5.9
Chapel at La Pereda. The small chapel of the Cristo de los Afligidos stands in the hamlet.
Mile 7.2
Bedures mill. An old watermill in a hollow at Bedures, which Eroski singles out as the most photogenic spot on the stage.
Mile 11.6
San Roque chapel. On the edge of Tineo, the chapel of San Roque, thought to date from the late 12th century, has a pilgrim statue of 2004 with a sundial. The Paseo de los Frailes leads on into town.
Mile 12.3
Eat in Tineo. Gronze recommends a potaje (bean stew), and Tineo is known for its chosco, a cured sausage of pork loin and tongue.
Heights: the highest and lowest points, 2,590 ft and 790 ft, come from the Visorando GPS track and Gronze. Gronze says the route reaches just under 2,620 ft after La Espina; Senditur says 2,460 ft.
Not confirmed: whether the A-63 works detour on the climb out of Salas is still in place in 2026. Gronze still describes it.
Samblismo: Eroski suggests extending the day to it, but a May 2026 Camino forum thread reported it permanently closed after its owner's death.
Mater Christi: Gronze shows €9 but also calls it a donation, so it isn't clear which applies.
Hotel Palacio de Merás: its website gives WhatsApp +34 696 962 645. One Booking.com review quoted on that website mentions bed bugs; most reviews are positive.
Pensión La Posada: its website's WhatsApp link, for both La Posada and La Posada II, goes to +34 985 800 410, which looks like a landline.
Pensión Casa Corono: no price, season, email or website could be found.
Online booking: no Booking.com listing was found for El Quinto Pino, Casa Corono or La Posada II.
History: five sources, among them Spanish Wikipedia and Vivir Asturias, confirm Alfonso IX's 1222 order that pilgrims pass through Tineo and the monastery of Obona; Senditur says around 1222. Eroski, Vivir Asturias and the Wikipedia article on the Mater Christi hospital date the town charter to 1214. Eroski's English page for its stage 3 gets the order wrong, as a warning not to turn off to Obona; its stage 4 page has it right. Spanish Wikipedia adds that the charter gave Obona the sole right to lodge pilgrims.
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.