Spain - Walk on the Camino Frances : Leon to Santiago de Compostela.

Description	Dates and prices

Self-guided walk - Camino Frances from Leon to Santiago de Compostela.

This 15 day walk on the Camino includes hotels, meals, luggage transfer, one guide book, maps, English speaking email or phone assistance.

Customize your trip on the Camino : more nights, rest days, shorten the stages, upgrade the hotels, with or without luggage transfer, with or without the dinners included.

El Camino Real, after Leon, stretches through arid and hilly horizons. Here and there quaint stone villages, their paved streets and their church towers where storks nestle. Then while crossing the Maragatos country, the walk becomes bucolic in a hilly and shady meadows landscape. After the Maragateria (the highest point of the Camino), the way is surrounded by gardens, vineyards and chestnut trees, and leads to a ridge footpath up to El Cebreiro.After sunburned lands, Galicia is the last stage before Santiago de Compostela! Green cultivated lands, corn and rye fields, vineyards, forests, torrent-like rivers, Galicia as a Celtic region comes from another time. This is the end of the road leading into Santiago. Enjoy the unforgettable fraternal atmosphere that reigns there!

Day 1

Leon
Trip starts in the afternoon in Leon in your hotel. Take the time to visit the Cathedral San Isidoro and San Marcos, the medieval streets around The Plaza Mayor, which is the heart of the lively city.

Day 2

Leon - Villar de Mazarife (24.5 km)- 5h30 walk.
Follow the Calzada de los Peregrinos a track which avoids walking along the N120 road. HB and night in your hotel.

Day 3

Villar de Mazarife - Hospital de Orbigo 15 km - 3h45 walk.
This stage takes you to a quaint village named Hospital de Orbigo with its long and famous medieval bridge. Keep straight on along cultivated fields and green oaks woods, the Leon Mounts stand out on the horizon. You arrive in Astorga, the crossroad of two main routes, the French way and the Via Plata starting in Sevilla. The Cathedral, churches, convents and hospitals are the witness of its glorious past. HB and night in your hotel.

Day 4

Hospital de Orbigo - Astorga (16 km) or Murias de Rechivaldo 22.5 km
HB and night in your hotel.

Day 5

Murias de Rechivaldo - Foncebadon 22.5 km
The 1200m ascent (starts at 900 m) of the Leon Mounts is an easy narrow road or track lined by villages, moor and forests before reaching Rabanal del Camino, an ancient city renovated by the English Saint James Confraternity. HB and night in your hotel.

Day 6

Foncebadon - Molinaseca 22 km - 5h00 walk.
Today you head up to the pass of Irago and the famous Cruz Ferro, the highest point of the whole journey but you will also walk downhill for 10 km through Acebo to reach Molinaseca. HB and night in your hotel

Day 7

Molinaseca - Cacabelos 22 km - 5h00 walk.
Today you will have to cross Ponferrada city and walk on busy roads but there are several alternative roads. Night and Half board in your hotel.

Day 8

Cacabelos - Vega de Valcarce 24.5 km - 5h30 walk. From Villafranca del Bierzo there are several walking options possible. Night and Half board in your hotel.

Day 9

Vega de Valcarce – Cebreiro 12 km 3h30 walk.
A short stage in km but strenuous with a long ascent up to O Cebreiro (1310 m) Night and Half board at the hotel.

Day 10

O Cebreiro - Triacastela - 21 km - 4h30 Here you are in the rolling Galician landscape, mostly downhill today. Here is the real Galicia landscape !After a short drive from Samos to Sarria, the way crosses over a medieval bridge and through a Chestnut tree forest, from one hamlet to another linked by trails bordered by high stonewalls. In Portomarin the San Juan fortified church is worth the visit. Night and Half Board in Portomarin.

Day 11

Triacastela - Sarria 19 km 5h00 walk.
Here is the real Galicia landscape ! downhills, farms and brooks, chapels and wayside crosses. Half board at your hotel.

Day 12

Sarria - Portomarin 22 km 5h30 walk.
On the way admire and observe the beautiful traditional houses. Arrival in the historical city of Arzua. Night and Half Board in Arzua.

Day 13

Portomarin- Palas del Rei- 24.5 km -5h30 walk.
The way continues through peaceful villages to Hospital de la Cruz where begins eucalyptus forests. Arrival in Palas del Rei. Night and Half Board in Palas del Rei. Night and Half board.

Day 14

Palas del Rei - Ribadiso (25 km ) or Arzua 30 km

Day 15

Ribadiso - Labacolla (28 km) or Pedrouzo (22 km)

Day 16

Pedrouzo- Santiago (20 km) or Labacolla- Santiago- 12 km (7.45 miles)– 3h walk.
The last walk to the Monte Gozo, before walking under la Porta do Camino (the Door of the Way) that opens on Santiago de Compostela. Night and breakfast in Santiago. The Dinner is not included

Day 17

Santiago de Compostela
Take the time to visit the cathedral and the friendly city.

You can also decide to get to Cabo Fisterra (the end of the Earth!) ask for a quote to get there with the bus in only 1 night or with an extra 3 walking days.