Picked by our team
Towns worth discovering along the Camino de Santiago, chosen by our team. Open one to see its history and sights, and where to stay.
16 towns on the Caminho Leon de Rosmithal
View on the mapAbreiro is the village at the bridge over the Tua: once a vila of its own with a charter from 1225, today a quiet place with a pillory and granite houses. In the summer of 1466 the Bohemian knight after whom the Caminho Leon de Rosmithal is named passed through here. A hostel is due to open in early 2027; until then there is none.
Caminho Leon de RosmithalAlfarela de Jales lies at 831 metres above the gold country of Trás-os-Montes: a municipality of its own until 1853, it gave its name to the Jales gold mine, which worked until 1992; nearby, the Romans were already mining at Tresminas. Shortly afterwards the route reaches its highest point.
Caminho Leon de RosmithalArco de Baúlhe is the stop just before Cabeceiras de Basto: a village at the end of a railway line whose old carriages now stand here in a museum, among them King Carlos I's saloon car. The Bohemian pilgrim party passed through as early as 1466. Good for a break; for the night, walk on 5.6 kilometres.
Caminho Leon de RosmithalBraga was a bishop's seat long before Santiago became a pilgrim destination: its cathedral was consecrated in 1089 and is the oldest in Portugal. The Caminho Leon de Rosmithal and the route from Porto end here, the Camino Torres runs through, and Santiago is still 191.9 kilometres away. Worth a rest day.
Camino TorresPorto - Braga+3Cabeceiras de Basto is the stage town beneath the dome: in the middle of town stands the Benedictine monastery of São Miguel de Refojos, whose Baroque dome rises 36 metres above the crossing, crowned by the Archangel Michael. Today the town hall sits in the monastery. 207.5 kilometres lie behind you; three stages remain to Braga.
Caminho Leon de RosmithalCavez is the place of the bridge: on the 13th-century Ponte de Cavez you cross the Tâmega, 95 metres of granite on five arches, and very probably Rožmitál's embassy already rode across it in 1466. At the bridgehead, an inscription remembers its builder. Nothing for sleeping, everything for a break by the river.
Caminho Leon de RosmithalCerva is the goal after the longest mountain stage of the Caminho Leon de Rosmithal: 29.9 kilometres from Parada de Aguiar over the Serra and 839 metres down into the valley. Below waits an old district town with a church, a pillory and old stone bridges in the valleys around it. An evening to arrive, before the Ponte de Cavez tomorrow.
Caminho Leon de RosmithalFonte Arcada is the stop just before the end of the day: a village 2.9 kilometres before Póvoa de Lanhoso, with a Romanesque church that once belonged to a Benedictine monastery. Here twelve municipalities founded the Caminho Leon de Rosmithal in 2024, and here the Maria da Fonte uprising began in 1846.
Caminho Leon de RosmithalFreixo de Espada à Cinta is the first stage town of the Caminho Leon de Rosmithal, 19.7 kilometres after the start on the Douro at the Spanish border: a border town above the Douro with a seven-sided castle tower, a 16th-century hall church and carved granite windows. Here the Bohemian pilgrims entered Portugal in 1466.
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