Partner
Asociación Gaditana Jacobea „Vía Augusta“
The St James association of Cádiz, founded in 2009: it has researched, waymarked and looks after three Ways of St James in Spain's far south – the Vía Augusta to Seville, the Vía Serrana through the mountains and the Camino del Estrecho.
The Caminos on the map
Caminos of this partner
Vía AugustaThe Vía Augusta takes you 182.4 kilometers from Cádiz through Jerez de la Frontera and Utrera to Seville—along the Roman road whose name it bears, the longest in Hispania, built between 8 and 2 B.C. from Gades to the Pyrenees. It is the route where the farthest south converges: at Puerto Real, the Camino del Estrecho from Tarifa joins it; at Utrera, the Vía Serrana from Gibraltar joins it; and at the Seville Cathedral, the Via de la Plata takes over.Explore this Camino- Vía SerranaThe Vía Serrana is the southernmost Way of St. James on the European continent: 212.4 km from Gibraltar through the Guadiaro Valley and the Serranía de Ronda, via Ronda and Olvera, to Utrera, where it merges with the Vía Augusta. It follows a route with four distinct histories—a Merinid courier road, a smugglers’ trail, a British railway, and, since 2009, a Way of St. James—and, together with the Vía Augusta, attracts about 300 pilgrims a year.Explore this Camino
- Camino del EstrechoThe Camino del Estrecho takes you on a 148.8-kilometer journey in seven stages from Algeciras through Tarifa—the southernmost point of mainland Europe— and the hilltop town of Medina Sidonia to Puerto Real in the Bay of Cádiz—through three natural parks, past a Roman town, and across a lake that has not existed since 1967. It is the newest Way of St. James in Andalusia: designed by the organizing association starting in 2010, officially unveiled on March 4, 2024—and thus younger than most of the hiking boots that tread its path.Explore this Camino
Who stands behind the route
The Asociación Gaditana Jacobea “Vía Augusta” – “gaditana” simply means “from Cádiz” – was founded in 2009 by a group of pilgrims from Cádiz. It takes its name from its first project: the Way of St James on the Roman Vía Augusta, which began in Gades, today's Cádiz, and ran as the longest Roman road in Hispania all the way to the Pyrenees. Today's pilgrims walk it in the other direction – north, towards Santiago.
The one route became three. The association researched, laid out and waymarked them itself, still maintains them today, and in 2015 received one of the Premios Camiño de Santiago of the Xunta de Galicia for the Vía Serrana. It is based at the parish of Nuestra Señora de la Merced in the old town of Cádiz, a few minutes' walk from the start of the Vía Augusta.
The association's routes
- Vía Augusta – 182.4 km from Cádiz via Jerez de la Frontera and Utrera to Seville, the founding project, planned and waymarked together with the St James association of El Puerto de Santa María
- Vía Serrana – 212.4 km from La Línea de la Concepción on the Gibraltar border through the Serranía de Ronda to Utrera
- Camino del Estrecho – 148.8 km from Algeciras via Tarifa and Medina-Sidonia to Puerto Real, designed from 2010 and officially presented in Tarifa on 4 March 2024
The three routes form one system: the Camino del Estrecho joins the Vía Augusta at Puerto Real, the Vía Serrana joins it at Utrera – and at Seville Cathedral the Via de la Plata takes over. Whether you start on the Atlantic, on the Mediterranean or off the ferry from Africa, in the far south you end up on the same path.
What the association does for pilgrims
The routes are waymarked with yellow arrows, plus ceramic tiles (azulejos) and concrete markers (hitos). For each route the association publishes stage descriptions, accommodation lists and a leaflet, and the tracks of every stage are on Wikiloc – on routes this young and this little walked, that is not a nice extra but the most important help. The stage guides are updated regularly.
You can get the credencial during the association's office hours, on Wednesdays at the parish of Nuestra Señora de la Merced, Plaza de la Merced 1, Cádiz – from 6 to 7 pm in winter and from 7 to 8 pm in summer (as of October 2026). Along the way you collect stamps at town halls, parishes, tourist offices and some bars. Details on becoming a member are on the website.
Contact and getting involved
Website: asociacionjacobeacadiz.org (Spanish) with stages, accommodation and news for all three routes; email info@asociacionjacobeacadiz.org, phone +34 687 831 458, on social media as @asojacobeacadiz. A road that led from Cádiz to Rome two thousand years ago – and an association that rerouted it to Santiago.