Picked by our team
Towns along the Camino worth stopping in. Open a town to see what it offers and where to stay.
58 towns
A Guarda is your first evening in Galicia: the boat from Caminha lands in Camposancos, and above the fishing port rises the 341-metre Santa Trega with a settlement from around the time of Christ. In 2025, 32,785 pilgrims passed through. An afternoon is enough, as long as you spend it up on the mountain.
Alken lives with the view across: on the Bleidenberg, from where the archbishops of Cologne and Trier besieged Burg Thurant in 1248, now stands the pilgrimage church, and opposite it the castle the two of them then shared. Down in the village waits a church first recorded in 1015. Trier is still 139.6 kilometres away.
Astorga is a crossroads: after about 701 kilometres from Seville, the Vía de la Plata ends here and joins the Camino Francés. The Roman town on its hill has Gaudí's Bishop's Palace, a cathedral and a pilgrim tradition going back to 1121. An afternoon is enough, and tomorrow the mountains begin.
Baiona is the harbour where Europe first heard about America: on 1 March 1493 the Pinta sailed in here. Today you arrive along the coast from Oia, walk around the Monterreal fortress on its walls and still have about 129 kilometres to Santiago. There is no public albergue, so book your bed.
Barcelos is the town of the rooster that crowed for a pilgrim: over a fourteenth-century bridge you enter the old seat of the counts, where the stone cross of the legend stands in the palace ruins. Every Thursday since 1412 the market has filled the Campo da Feira. An afternoon is enough, because tomorrow brings 33 kilometres.
Beilstein is a film set with real stories: below the ruins of Burg Metternich, 132 people live among half-timbered houses and a former synagogue. 108 steps lead up to the Carmelite church, whose Black Madonna came home in 1950. On the Mosel-Camino an afternoon is enough, but book your bed ahead.
Bernkastel-Kues is the town to which a cardinal sent his heart home: Nicholas of Cusa is buried in Rome, but his heart lies in the chapel of the hospital he founded in 1458 for 33 people in need. Across the bridge is Bernkastel with its market square and Burg Landshut. The apostle's tomb in Trier is still 66.6 kilometres away.
Bolzano is a crossroads: the Way of St James and the road to Rome come down from the Ritten together and part here, one heading west towards Müstair, the other south towards Rome. Since the twelfth century the town has traded north and south under its arcades, and in its museum lies Ötzi, who crossed the Alps 5,300 years ago.
Burgos was once the capital of Castile, and for pilgrims it is the threshold to the Meseta. Its Gothic cathedral, begun in 1221, is a World Heritage Site and the tomb of El Cid; with a credencial you pay €6 instead of €11. A rest day is worth it before you head out into the vastness of the high plateau.
Top rated
The stays pilgrims rate highest right now, across every Camino.
Turn these towns into a day-by-day plan with the Camino Ninja planner.