Baamonde

How long to stay?

An evening is enough. Baamonde is small. The church, the chestnut tree and the sculptor's house are close together; an hour is enough. After that you have time to rest, because the next stages to Sobrado are long and lonely.

Baamonde in Ninja numbers

• 100.8 kilometres are left from here to Santiago de Compostela. If you want the Compostela, you can start here.
• 19.6 kilometres from Vilalba, with 319 metres of ascent and 394 metres of descent.
• 94 beds in the Xunta albergue according to an albergue portal; if it is full, the municipality opens a sports hall.
• Around 500 years is said to be the age of the chestnut tree into which Víctor Corral carved a chapel.

Arriving: into the valley of the Parga

From Vilalba the way crosses the plateau and drops into the valley. At kilometre 793.4 you reach the lowest point of the stage at 402 metres, and shortly afterwards you come to Baamonde. The village has always been a crossroads: the old Camino Real and the road from Madrid to A Coruña met here. The albergue is on Avenida Terra Chá.

In brief: a village on the road

Baamonde belongs to the municipality of Begonte and has just under a thousand inhabitants. It lives from farming and livestock and has always lain on major routes. The albergue tells the same story: it is housed in a former depot for stagecoaches. The parish church is dedicated to the Apostle: Santiago de Baamonde.

Church and chestnut: what to see

Two stops, both in the village.

• Igrexa de Santiago: The parish church bears the name of the Apostle you are walking to. According to one source, its nave dates from the 12th century and the main chapel from the 15th. In the forecourt stands a calvary with three granite crosses from the 18th century. We did not find opening times.
• Casa Museo Víctor Corral and the chapel in the chestnut: The sculptor Víctor Corral left works in wood, ivory and granite. His best known is a small chapel to the Virgin that he carved into an old chestnut tree. The way there leads past the O Labrego restaurant.

Honestly

• The albergue has a kitchen but no utensils. There is a microwave, but no pots and no fridge.
• Medical help only in the morning. There is a surgery on weekdays from 8:30 to 10 am (as of August 2026).
• Tomorrow the empty land begins. Until Sobrado there are only hamlets with the odd bar. Do your shopping today.

Where pilgrims sleep

The Albergue de peregrinos de Baamonde belongs to the Xunta de Galicia: €10, open all year, check-in from 1 pm to 10 pm, no reservations, sleeping bag required (as of August 2026). There is a washing machine, dryer, heating and a garden. The village also has rooms in guesthouses.

Ninja tips

• Buy food for two days here. Baamonde has a grocery, bakery, butcher, pharmacy and cash machine; Miraz has none of these.
• Take the forest variant in the morning. Just beyond Baamonde a waymarked path leads through the woods, across the railway and the Parga to the medieval bridge before the chapel of San Alberte. It is about a kilometre longer than the road, but nicer.
• Watch out for the fork. A good five kilometres beyond Baamonde the traditional way via Miraz and a new variant via As Cruces separate. The Camino Ninja map follows the way via Miraz.

Onward: to Miraz

Via Carballedo and Seixón the way rolls gently to Miraz, 14.8 kilometres with 238 metres of ascent and 188 metres of descent. The highest point is 489 metres at kilometre 800.8.

Deep dive: The last hundred kilometres

A short read, in case you want to learn more about Baamonde. About two minutes' reading.

One hundred kilometres

For the Compostela, the certificate of the cathedral chapter in Santiago, you must walk at least the last hundred kilometres. On the Camino del Norte this line lies in Baamonde. That is why some pilgrims begin their way here, and for everyone else it is a number worth pausing at for a moment. What lay behind is long. What comes now is manageable.

A sculptor and a tree

The sculptor Víctor Corral lived and worked in Baamonde. He carved in wood, in ivory and in granite. His most unusual work is not a piece for a museum but a small chapel to the Virgin inside an old chestnut tree, a tree said to be several centuries old. Standing in front of it, you see how faith and landscape intertwine in Galicia.

What Baamonde gives you

Baamonde lies on old roads. But just beyond it begins a land in which you meet hardly anyone for hours. Take the evening here as a transition: from now on the number on the waymarker gets smaller every day, and the goal becomes tangible for the first time.