Camino de Sagunto

At a Glance

• Start / Finish: Sagunto (Kilometer Marker 0 at the Ankerkreisel in the Puerto de Sagunto) → Santo Domingo de Silos
• Length: 515.4 km
• Elevation gain: ↗ 3,936 m / ↘ 2,995 m — a long climb (Cuestas del Ragudo), followed by a sustained climb of over 900 m
• Duration: 23–26 days (23 stages, four of which are over 30 km)
• Waymarking: Yellow arrows, marked in 2011/2012; described by pilgrims in 2025/2026 as good to very good — a GPS track is still required, though; you won’t run into anyone here
• Access route: Travel via Valencia, 28 km south; from there, take a local train to Sagunto — the marked walking route is mostly paved
• Connection: From Mamolar, 15 km before the finish, the Ruta de la Lana runs—from Silos, two stages to Burgos, where it joins the Camino Francés; from Tozalmoro/Soria, it shares a route with the Camino Soriano
• Character: A lonely, long journey from the Mediterranean to the Aragonese Plateau—Mudejar World Heritage sites, the Jiloca Valley, and the Pinares; only three true pilgrim hostels along the 515 km route; the focus is on finding a place to sleep, not on the distance traveled

Overview

The Camino de Sagunto starts at an anchor: Since February 27, 2025, kilometer marker 0 has been located at the Anker roundabout in the Puerto de Sagunto, just a few steps from the Mediterranean Sea. From there, the route extends 515.4 kilometers to the northwest—through the Palancia Valley and past the bishopric town of Segorbe and Jérica, up the slope of the Cuestas del Ragudo to the plateau, toward Teruel with its four UNESCO-listed Mudéjar towers, then fourteen stages of the Jiloca-Tal along through Daroca to Calatayud, continuing through the remote Manubles Valley into the Castilian high steppe toward Soria and finally down through the pine forests of the Pinares to Santo Domingo de Silos, where, nestled among limestone cliffs, stands a monastery built for just that purpose: for someone to arrive there after weeks of travel.

Historically, you run along the long-distance corridor that researchers call “Camino de Jaime I”: In 1238, Valencia fell; in 1239, Segorbe received its bishop; and in the same year, a bloodstained relic was carried on a mule through Teruel to Daroca—three of the nine highest-rated pilgrimage sites in medieval Aragon lie along this route. The route was not forgotten because of the Reformation, but because of a highway; it was revived starting in 2011/2012 a single man, and ever since then March 1, 2025 it is officially recognized. This route does not end in Santo Domingo de Silos; it continues on to the Ruta de la Lana, and two days later, on the Camino Francés.

In 1239, a relic was transported northward from here; in 1972, the last ore train ran; in 2025, the milestone was erected

The most powerful story of this path runs along its own route. March 7, 1239: Following a raid outside Chío Castle near Luchente, six consecrated hosts were recovered—“tintas en sangre y pegadas a los corporales,” blood-soaked and stuck to the corporal cloths. Daroca, Teruel, and Calatayud disputed ownership of the relic; attempts to settle the matter by lot failed, so the corporals were loaded a mule mare and leaves the decision up to heaven. The animal runs fifty leguas, past Teruel, all the way to Daroca, where, in front of the Hospital de San Marcos, it “dobló las rodillas y cayó muerta”—fell to its knees and collapsed, dead. What you walk in five days from Teruel to Daroca, a mule managed in one go in 1239—and collapsed dead upon reaching its destination. The cloths remain to this day in the Basílica de Santa María; March 7 is a holiday in Daroca, and the town’s pilgrim hostel is called “El Hospitalillo”: 800 years of providing lodging in the same location, under nearly the same name.

And now for the honest part: There are not a medieval document, which designates this route as the Way of St. James, and it spans 515 kilometers Not a single St. James' Church — The major churches are named Santa María, San Pedro, and El Salvador. This is not a flaw, but rather a clarification: This is a Marian and Mudéjar corridor with a presence of the Order of the Hospitaliers—the Spanish headquarters of the Order of the Holy Sepulcher is in Calatayud, and San Juan de Duero in Soria was built by the Hospitaliers of St. John of Acre. The historian Agustín Ubieto Arteta has reconstructed the corridor as the “Camino de Jaime I” and rated the suitability of the Aragonese waystations for pilgrims over the course of 800 years on a point system: Teruel 87, Calatayud 77, Daroca 71 — Fourth, sixth, and eighth places in all of Aragón, all three along your route. The pilgrims whose names are recorded are listed at the end: 1170 Juana de Aza makes a pilgrimage to Silos and names her son, who is born shortly thereafter, after the monastery’s patron saint—Domingo de Guzmán, the founder of the Dominican Order; and in 1214 Franz von Assisi is said to have walked the route near Soria. Between Sagunto and Calatayud, however: no records, no travelogue, no epitaph. Whoever walked here left nothing behind—and honestly admitting that is more powerful than any alleged document.

This departure from the traditional path is uncharacteristically modern. On July 27, 1907, the Ojos Negros → Puerto de Sagunto railway opens, a 205-kilometer narrow-gauge line running almost parallel to your route; 1972 the last ore train departs, 1984 the steel mill at the starting point is closed, and the A-23 highway will sweep away the village inns. This road did not die with the Reformation—it died because of a highway. Its resurrection has a name and a date: 2011/2012 Over the course of 18 months, writer Luis Miguel Bona Trigo documented and marked the entire route, on February 27, 2025 Kilometer Marker 0 is unveiled at the Ankerkreisel on March 1, 2025 The Federación Española has designated the route as ES25a. And the old ore railway? Since 2002, it has been Spain’s longest Vía Verde—and, in some sections, your pilgrimage route: What carried iron ore here for 65 years now carries you. A pilgrimage route that begins at an anchor and ends in a cloister.

Other Names

This path is almost never the same. The sponsoring organization says Camino de Santiago desde Sagunto or, in short, Camino de Sagunto, the Spanish Road Federation has been listing it since March 1, 2025, as ES25a, the Spanish Wikipedia as Camino de Santiago del Puerto de Sagunto, which the Aragonese press usually refers to as Camino de Santiago Sagunto–Burgos — following the route that the association has signposted up to the junction with the Camino Francés. Occasionally, you’ll also see “Camino de Levante desde Sagunto”; this is misleading, because this route does not share a single meter with the Camino del Levante starting in Valencia. Researchers refer to the corridor as Camino de Jaime I. After Tozalmoro, the names of the trails you're sharing the route with are added — Camino Soriano or Camino Castellano-Aragonés —, and in the Jiloca Valley, the same post often bears a completely different coat of arms: the Camino del Cid. It's only confusing when you're reading. When you're out and about, the yellow arrows are clear.

Who It's Ideal For—and Who It's Not For

This route is for you if you don’t just tolerate being alone—but actually seek it out: Pilgrims who walked it in 2025 and 2026 all report that they encountered practically no one along the way. In return, you’ll experience the most concentrated stretch of Mudéjar architecture in Spain, featuring two UNESCO World Heritage sites (Teruel in 1986, Calatayud and Cervera de la Cañada 2001), three of the most significant pilgrimage towns in ancient Aragon, fourteen stages through a river valley whose villages lie strung together like pearls on a string—and a destination that has been a place of pilgrimage since 1170. It’s also ideal for anyone familiar with the Camino del Cid or the Vía Verde de Ojos Negros who wants to walk through the same landscapes but with a different destination. You should know enough Spanish to call a city hall.

To be honest, though, it's not for you if you want to set out without a reservation and see what happens in the evening: Along its 515 kilometers, there are three authentic pilgrim hostels — Daroca, Cervera de la Cañada, Cella —; the rest are hostels, rural guesthouses, and town hall keys. Four stages are over 30 kilometers long, the last one around 38; from Barracas onward, you’ll be walking continuously at an elevation of over 900 meters, and Teruel has about 95 days of frost per year. If you’re looking for hostel life and company, you’re better off on the Camino Francés: In April 2026, there were 64 pilgrims in Calatayud at the same time—that was an organized club group and made the news.

Route & Landscape

You start at the ocean and then stop for three weeks. From the anchor gyroscope in the Puerto de Sagunto the path leads to the Palancia-Tal: Orange groves, then olive-covered hillsides, then the first ridges of pine trees. In Segorbe After about 40 kilometers, you'll find yourself in front of a cathedral with a Donatello in the museum, behind Jérica in front of the only Mudéjar tower in the entire Comunitat Valenciana. Then comes the break: The Cuestas del Ragudo take you from the Mediterranean climate up to the Barracas Plateau, and from there you're at the top—Sarrión, Teruel, Cella, Monreal—this is Aragón’s cold, vast, sparsely populated heartland, and nearly all of the route’s 3,936 meters of elevation gain are concentrated in this single climb and the undulating terrain that follows.

Starting in Teruel, the Jiloca The route is easy: Over the course of fourteen stages, you’ll walk through a valley lined with villages—Cella, Santa Eulalia, Monreal del Campo, Calamocha, Báguena, Daroca with its 116 wall towers. Behind Calatayud the path turns westward into the Manubles-Tal...becomes really lonely, leaves Aragón, and reaches the Castilian high steppe Soria, where Antonio Machado wrote his “Campos de Castilla” on the Duero. The ending is both the most beautiful and the hardest part: the Pinares, the endless pine forests of Soria and Burgos, through Abejar, Navaleno, and San Leonardo de Yagüe—until the path winds between limestone cliffs toward Santo Domingo de Silos leads down to a monastery whose monks were on the Billboard charts in 1994.

Stages, Terrain & Difficulty

The organizing association divides the route from Playa to Burgos into 22 stages, 20 of which go to Santo Domingo de Silos—we suggest that you 23 because three of the club’s stages are over 30 kilometers long and one is nearly 43, and because you can split them up at locations that are already on the route. The kilometer figures below are from the club and the Federación, rounded and marked as “approx.”: Both organizations calculate the same sections differently in some cases because there are route variations—rely on the GPS track, not the decimal places. Technically, the trail is not difficult; what makes it challenging are the stage lengths, elevation, and access to supplies. And one thing applies here more than on any other well-known trail: It's not the kilometer that's planned, but the bed.

1. Sagunto → Torres Torres — approx. 22 km — From kilometer marker 0 at the Anker roundabout, through the orange groves of the Palancia Valley, via Petrés, Albalat dels Tarongers, and Estivella. In Torres Torres, the municipality opens its multipurpose building to pilgrims.
2. Torres Torres → Segorbe — approx. 20 km — Via Algimia de Alfara, Soneja, and Geldo to the episcopal city of Segorbe (diocese since 1239), which offers the usual amenities of a city.
3. Segorbe → Viver — approx. 16–21 km — Via Navajas and Jérica, with its freestanding Mudéjar bell tower from 1634. The club and the Federación measure this stage differently — alternative routes.
4. Viver → Barracas — approx. 19 km — The big climb: As you cross the Cuestas del Ragudo, you’ll leave the Mediterranean climate behind and reach the plateau. Barracas is a highland village—call ahead to arrange lodging.
5. Barracas → Sarrión — approx. 26 km — A plateau stage via Albentosa (good place to stop for a break, with several houses). The hostel in Sarrión is currently listed as under renovation; there are hotels and rural guesthouses available.
6. Sarrión → La Puebla de Valverde — approx. 17 km — A short leg with an unusually wide range of lodging options for this area.
7. La Puebla de Valverde → Teruel — approx. 27 km — Into the Mudéjar city with its four UNESCO-listed towers and the Amantes. No pilgrim hostel, but seven hostales.
8. Teruel → Cella — approx. 22 km — Via Caudé to Cella at 1,023 m, home to one of Europe’s largest spring wells — and the “Albergue el Río,” one of the three authentic pilgrim hostels along the route.
9. Cella → Santa Eulalia del Campo — approx. 19 km — A peaceful stage through the Jiloca Valley. There are only two casas rurales in Santa Eulalia—book in advance.
10. Santa Eulalia del Campo → Monreal del Campo — approx. 31 km — Via Villafranca del Campo and Alba; can be split there. In Monreal, the town hall is opening the Edificio Multiusos, along with a hotel and hostels.
11. Monreal del Campo → Calamocha — approx. 18 km — Through Torrijo del Campo, Caminreal, Fuentes Claras, and El Poyo del Cid, where your route runs alongside the Camino del Cid for a short stretch.
12. Calamocha → Báguena — approx. 17 km — Down the Jiloca Valley via Luco de Jiloca and Burbáguena.
13. Báguena → Daroca — approx. 14 km — Via San Martín del Río to Daroca, with its 116 watchtowers. The pilgrim hostel “El Hospitalillo” is the best place to stay along the entire route.
14. Daroca → Morata de Jiloca — approx. 23 km — via Manchones, Murero, Villafeliche, and Montón — the first part of the club's 43-km split stage.
15. Morata de Jiloca → Calatayud — approx. 20 km — Via Maluenda and Paracuellos de Jiloca, where there is a spa right along the route. Calatayud has plenty to offer.
16. Calatayud → Cervera de la Cañada — approx. 19 km — To the UNESCO-listed Church of Santa Tecla, bearing the mark of the Muslim architect Mahoma Rami. The Albergue Municipal is the second authentic pilgrim hostel.
17. Cervera de la Cañada → Torrijo de la Cañada — approx. 15 km — Through Villalengua into the Manubles Valley. Very limited lodging options — check for alternatives in advance.
18. Torrijo de la Cañada → Berdejo — approx. 15 km — Continue up the Manubles Valley via Bijuesca. In Berdejo, you’ll pick up the key to the community center at City Hall.
19. Berdejo → Almenar de Soria — approx. 31 km — Beyond Reznos, out of Aragon and into the Castilian high steppe — the loneliest stretch of the route.
20. Almenar de Soria → Soria — approx. 34 km — Via Tozalmoro, where the Camino Soriano joins the route, to Soria, with all its city amenities — and the banks of the Duero River.
21. Soria → Abejar — approx. 37 km — Via Golmayo and Cidones. The longest leg of the northern section, sparsely populated — bring water and provisions for the entire day.
22. Abejar → San Leonardo de Yagüe — approx. 30 km — Through the Pinares, the pine forests of Soria, via Cabrejas del Pinar and Navaleno.
23. San Leonardo de Yagüe → Santo Domingo de Silos — approx. 38 km — The highlight of the route: via La Gallega, Pinilla de los Barruecos, Mamolar — where the Ruta de la Lana joins — and down through Peñacoba to the monastery.

With one rest day in Teruel and one in Soria, you’ll be on the road for 24 to 26 days. The “monster” stages—10, 19, 21, and 23—can only be split up to a certain extent—often there simply isn’t a place to stay in between. That’s exactly the crux of planning this route: it’s not about the kilometers, but about where you’ll spend the night.

Highlights Along the Way

• Sagunto — Your Kilometer 0: a Roman theater with a capacity of about 8,000 spectators, designated Spain’s first National Monument in 1896, and the site that Hannibal besieged for eight months in 219 B.C.—the event that triggered the Second Punic War. It also features one of Spain’s best-preserved Jewish quarters.
• Segorbe — Episcopal see since 1239; the Cathedral Museum houses a marble relief of the Virgen de la Leche by Donatello. On the second weekend in September, six bulls run down Calle Colón in 40 seconds—the Entrada de Toros y Caballos, documented since 1386.
• Jérica — the Torre de las Campanas, built in 1634, a free-standing tower and the only Mudéjar tower in the entire Comunitat Valenciana.
• Teruel — four Mudéjar towers, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1986. Located in San Pedro are Los Amantes: the mummies of the lovers from 1217, discovered in 1555, which have been housed since 1955 beneath two alabaster figures whose hands reach toward one another—yet deliberately do not touch.
• Cella — a 12th-century spring well, 34.83 by 24.84 meters, up to 11.5 meters deep, expanded between 1729 and 1731 — one of the largest in Europe, and your path runs right through the middle of it.
• Daroca — 4 kilometers of city walls with 116 towers, a 600-meter flood-protection tunnel built between 1555 and 1560 (“La Mina”), and in the Basílica de Santa María, the Sagrados Corporales: the cloths that were brought here from the coast on a mule in 1239.
• Calatayud and Bílbilis — the 70-meter-high octagonal Mudéjar Tower of Santa María (UNESCO 2001), the Colegiata del Santo Sepulcro, the Spanish motherhouse of the Order of the Holy Sepulcher — and, overlooking the city, the ruins of Bílbilis, where the poet Martial was born around the year 40.
• Cervera de la Cañada — Santa Tecla, completed in 1426, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2001, bearing the brick inscription of the Muslim architect Mahoma Rami: “obra y dificada: por: mahoma: rami: con dios.”
• Soria — San Juan de Duero, with its cloister featuring four different types of arches, was built by the Hospitallers of St. John of Acre. On the very same banks of the Duero, Antonio Machado wrote “Campos de Castilla” between 1907 and 1912.
• Santo Domingo de Silos — Your destination: the Romanesque cloister with 64 capitals, construction of which began shortly after 1080; in front of it stands a cypress tree over 30 meters tall, to which a sonnet was dedicated in 1924. The monks who sing here reached No. 3 on the Billboard charts in 1994 with “Chant”—selling four million albums.

How Pilgrims Find Their Way Here

Most come via Valencia: international airport, AVE connection, and from there, a commuter train will take you the 28 kilometers to Sagunto. However, kilometer marker 0 is not located in the Old Town, but down by the sea, at the Anchor Roundabout in Puerto de Sagunto — Inaugurated on February 27, 2025, about six kilometers from the Old Town. Anyone who wants to walk the entire 515.4 kilometers should start at the Anker.

Valencia is also interesting because that's where a second path begins: the Camino del Levante, which starts at the cathedral and heads west toward Zamora. The two routes don’t share a single meter—so anyone arriving in Valencia faces a real choice: westward through La Mancha or northward via Teruel. There is a marked walking trail from Valencia to Sagunto, but much of it is paved; most people take the train to avoid the road.

Continue the pilgrimage?

This route ends in Santo Domingo de Silos, but your journey isn't over yet: 15 kilometers before that, in Mamolar, is the Ruta de la Lana joined from the right—the old wool route from Alicante to Burgos. From Silos on, they continue together, passing through Retuerta and the royal Covarrubias to Mecerreyes and then to Burgos: about 58 kilometers, two strenuous days. It’s one of the most unassuming transitions on the Spanish route—you just keep walking, except now the trail has a different name. In Burgos, the Camino Francés about 490 kilometers to Santiago; according to Spanish sources, the total distance from the Ankerkreisel to the Obradoiro is about 1,055 kilometers—a good two months of continuous walking.

And there's one connection you should know about: Starting at Tozalmoro, less than 15 kilometers from Soria, you'll be walking along the same route as the Camino Soriano (also known as the Camino Castellano-Aragonés), which comes over from Gallur on the Ebro—from Soria onward, the final 105 kilometers or so to Silos are the same for both routes. Two approaches, one finish: Anyone who has walked the Pinares once knows why both routes share this very same final stretch.

Preparation & Practical Information

First things first: This way, you plan by beds, not kilometers. There are exactly three authentic pilgrim hostels — “El Hospitalillo” in Daroca, of the Municipal Hostel in Cervera de la Cañada and “El Río” in Cella; the hostel in Sarrión is listed as being under renovation. The second option is “town hall beds”: In Torres Torres, Monreal del Campo, Berdejo, and Portillo de Soria, the local government will open up a multipurpose room for you if you call ahead. The rest are hostales, rural guesthouses, and country hotels—surprisingly plentiful in the province of Teruel, but sparse between Berdejo and Soria and beyond Soria. You plan for such gaps in advance, not while you’re on the road.

The trail is marked with yellow arrows, and the trail is better than its reputation: Pilgrims in 2025/2026 describe it as good to very good, especially between Sagunto and Teruel. Nevertheless: On a trail where you won't encounter anyone coming toward you, a GPS track isn't a convenience—it's essential gear. — The club provides the trails. Regarding the season: The south has a Mediterranean climate, but the rest does not. From Barracas onward, you’ll be running at an elevation consistently above 900 meters; Teruel has about 95 days of frost per year and a record low of −22.5 °C; snow is possible from October through May; in midsummer, the plateau becomes scorching hot with no shade. May, June, September, and the first half of October are the windows—and you should always pack water in your backpack, because not every Jiloca village has a bar that's open.

As with all routes along the Way of St. James, you'll need a Pilgrim's Passport (Credencial) — You can get it from the sponsoring association for 1.50 euros; it’s stamped twice a day at parish offices, city halls, bars, and lodging facilities. As is the case everywhere, the Compostela in Santiago is awarded for the final 100 kilometers on foot—on this route, that doesn’t become relevant until well past Burgos, so you’ll be collecting the stamps here for later. It’s best to order the passport online in advance so it arrives in time for the start of your journey. And plan your daily stages in advance, because accommodations are small, spread far apart, and some are only open by appointment—the easiest way to do this is directly in the Camino Ninja app, where you can put together your stages and plan suitable accommodations at the same time.

What the journey will cost you

Expect 45 to 70 € per day (As of August 2026) — significantly more than on the Camino Francés, and the reason is simple: along the 515 kilometers, there are only three nights where you can stay at a pilgrim hostel. The rest are hostales, casas rurales, and country hotels—a single room in this area usually costs €35 to €55, a double room €50 to €75; the multipurpose rooms in town halls are often free or available for a donation, but that’s the exception, not the rule. When it comes to food, however, you’re in one of the most affordable parts of Spain: a menú del día for €12 to €16, breakfast at the village bar for under five, and the Credencial for €1.50. If you plan ahead and stay at the town hall accommodations, you can get by on about 40 € a day; if you book on the fly, you might end up paying as much as 90 € in the summer. For the entire route to Silos, a realistic estimate would be €1,200 to €1,800. — Travel expenses not included (all prices as of August 2026).

Getting There

The start is easy, but the finish isn't—you should know that when you book, not just when you're packing. Sagunto is located on the main Mediterranean line and is served by commuter, regional, and long-distance trains; from Valencia you'll be there in just under half an hour, and you can reach Valencia itself by plane or by AVE train from Madrid and Barcelona. Kilometer marker 0 at the Ankerkreisel roundabout in Puerto de Sagunto is about six kilometers from the old town—a good hour on foot, or a few minutes by city bus.

Santo Domingo de Silos has no train station: From there, the local bus goes to Burgos, and Burgos has trains, long-distance buses, and connections to all major routes. If you’re continuing on anyway, this isn’t a problem—the two stages on the Ruta de la Lana to Burgos are the more convenient way back. Handy for shorter segments: Teruel, Calatayud, and Soria are all connected to the rail network.

• Getting to the starting point: Fly to Valencia (about 40 km from the starting point), take the AVE from Madrid or Barcelona; from Valencia, take the local train to Sagunto (just under half an hour), then a city bus to the Ankerkreisel in Puerto de Sagunto.
• Return trip from Santo Domingo de Silos: Local bus to Burgos (about 58 kilometers by road); from Burgos, trains and long-distance buses in all directions, including an AVE connection to Madrid.
• Intermediate entry: Teruel (after 7 stages, approx. 150 km), Calatayud (after 15 stages, approx. 310 km) and Soria (after 20 stages, approx. 425 km) all have rail connections—the route can be easily split into two or three trips.