Cycle the Camino Frances: Ponferrada to Santiago

You will be pre-booked into a traditional hotel in the heart of the town. While here, you may wish to visit the Castillo de los Templarios, a castle donated to the Knights Templar Order by King Ferdinand II of León in 1178 to protect pilgrims who passed through on the Camino Frances to Santiago de Compostela.

Today you will cross the region of Bierzo, a sunken plain nestled within a ring of mountains. It is a fertile land, with an agreeable climate that allows the cultivation of many types of fruit and vegetables. In Villafranca, don’t miss the garden of the ‘Iglesia de Santiago’.

If you would like to cycle at a more relaxed pace, we can arrange to split this section into two days, with a stop over in La Portela de Valcarce overnight.

Prepare for a challenging day with an ascent of 1000m. You will pass through the narrow valley of the river Valcace before tackling the ascent of O Cebreiro. Situated between the ranges of Los Ancares and La Sierra do Courel, this stage involves a steep climb in the course of only a few kilometres.

As we continue across the undulating terrain of the Galician mountains, the route offers more stunning sights and historical buildings. Finally, we reach Sarria, where pilgrims travelling from all over and by any means get to know each other! While in Sarria, it is definitely worth having a look at the town’s main religious sites, Convento de la Magdalena and Iglesia Santa Marina de Sarria.

This penultimate day starts with an ascent up through oak woods, passing the Romanesque Church of Barbedelo before cycling over the Belesar Dam in Portomarin. Continuing on the Camino to Melide is not too difficult – despite the typical Galician rolling hills meaning a lot of ups and downs along the way!

This is probably the most exciting day of cycling along the whole Camino as today we finally reach Santiago de Compostela! Before that, we will have to traverse the now-usual rolling hills of Galicia. The most exhilarating part of today will probably be on reaching El Monte de Gozo (Mount of Joy), where you can see the city’s magnificent cathedral in the distance for the first time, before arriving into Santiago de Compostela shortly afterwards!

After breakfast, we bid you farewell.
If you wish to stay in the area, we recommend that you:
– Take your time and visit the magnificent historic centre of Santiago.
– Continue with us along the wild Camino Fisterra (Finisterre Way), and stay overnight at the hotel in the lighthouse!
– Or take a bus to Fisterra to visit the unspoilt sandy coves and beaches of the west coast. With very few tourists, you are guaranteed a very special experience. Buses depart from Santiago Bus Station at 9am and 10am. Buses return to Santiago at 4:45pm and 7pm. The journey takes 3 hours.