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A man cycling the Camino la Plata Route

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Via de la Plata or Camino Mozarabe

The Via de la Plata stretches across Spain from Seville to Santiago, moving up the western peninsula and through centuries of history. It’s one of the routes that allows you to obtain the Compostela (certificate of pilgrimage) when you walk at least from Ourense to Santiago.

As well as being known as the Via de la Plata, or Silver Way, the route is sometimes called the Camino Mozárabe or Mozarabic Way of St James. The name of Via de la Plata doesn’t refer to actual silver, but is thought to be derived from the Latin word ‘Lapidata’ meaning stone road, or possibly the Arabic word ‘Balatta’ meaning road.

Via de la Plata Routes Map

1000km

of walking trails

40+

days of walking

10

different stages

Recommended Packages

Starting from Sevilla, in the heart of Andalucia, to Monesteria at the gateway of Extremadura, the “Scallop Shells” lead us north towards Santiago.

From Monesterio, the Camino stretches through the South of Extremadura, a region of dry and sparsely populated farmland. Walking through dry land with little shade can be seen as challenging but we have split most stages into shorter days and the geography of the flat ground presents no particular difficulty, so it only requires an average level of fitness. 

On this section, the Camino heads North, through Extremadura Province, a land of dry and gently hilly landscapes that sometimes seems to be more inhabited by cerdos ibericos (dark brown pigs typical of the region) than by people. Indeed, there can be long enough gaps between villages, giving you time to enjoy open landscapes of crop fields and vines, cork oak forests and wild flowers all year round.

The well-marked Camino runs through the heart of Extremadura all the way to Carcaboso, yet this is where we observe the most-changing landscape, day after day. At the beginning, there is very little shade along the Way but as the landscape becomes a bit more undulating, woodland also starts to appear.

We start this section in the very North of the province of Extramedura and soon we enter Castilla y Leon with more mountainous landscapes. Here, the Camino combines all types of landscapes, from exposed open landscapes to woodland or meadows and grazing cattle, not to forget the Duena Peak (1140m), one of the highest points of this route. We finally arrive in Salamanca, famous for its Renaissance architecture and one of the country’s most lively cities. 

As we leave Salamanca and its lively buzz, we follow the well-indicated Scallop shells and we soon find ourselves walking across flat cultivated lands and along endless red earth tracks. The last walking day to Zamora is challenging for its length but as the first walking days are of short enough distances, anybody with an average level of fitness can do it.

As you head North West through Castilla y Leon, the landscape begins to change and switches from red earth farmlands to greener hills and woodland, inhabited by a wide range of wildlife. The major Rio Tera is also part of the landscape as the Camino comes across its banks on several occasions. We also walk through many typical rural villages, some of them mainly occupied by deserted stone houses and old churches. 

As we veer west, this 8th section on the Via de la Plata route to Santiago de Compostela offers some of the most rewarding views of the whole Camino. This portion of the Way also enters Galicia and runs through beautiful low mountains, making it challenging but offering great views all days long. 

Green and undulating landscapes, there is no doubt: you are in Galicia! The Camino, or Way of Saint James, crosses the South West edge of the Cordillera Cantabrica, through isolated villages and roaming cattle. It definitely offers some of the most stunning views of the whole Via de la Plata route!

Starting in Ourense and reaching Santiago de Compostela, this section of the Camino runs through both farmland and the green low mountains of Galicia. As you approach the final destination of the entire Camino, or Way of Saint James, you can feel the buzz and appeal it has created over the centuries, as the rich heritage evidenced in the chapels, crosses and statues linked to the Camino can be seen every day during the walk. 


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