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.
52 towns on the Camino del Norte
View on the mapMiraz is a hamlet of around a hundred people, with one bar and an albergue that English-speaking volunteers have run on donations since 2005. From here it is 86 kilometres to Santiago, and tomorrow brings the highest point of the whole Camino del Norte at 710 metres.
Camino del NorteMondoñedo is the first Galician bishops' town on the Camino del Norte, 157.6 kilometres before Santiago: a 13th-century cathedral nicknamed the "kneeling" one for its squat shape, arcades, houses with coats of arms and a mill quarter by the river. A long afternoon is the minimum; tomorrow a long climb up to the plateau awaits.
Camino del NorteMonte do Gozo, the Mount of Joy, lies 4.8 kilometers before the cathedral: from here pilgrims have seen the towers of Santiago for the first time since the Middle Ages. Today trees often block the view, the papal monument has been dismantled, and the albergue is a village of pavilions. You don't have to stay, but you should pause.
Camino FrancésCamino Primitivo+1Navia lies where the river of the same name flows into the sea: a harbour town on the Camino del Norte, 232.3 kilometres before Santiago. Emigrants who came back rich from the Americas left it a casino and grand houses, and a promenade runs along the ría to the beach. It is a pleasant, quiet stage town.
Camino del NorteO Pedrouzo is the eve: for most pilgrims on the Camino Francés it is the last night, 19.3 kilometers before the cathedral in Santiago. The town is young, functional and full in season, and the way even leads past it through the forest. One evening is enough, and an early night is part of it.
Camino FrancésCamino Primitivo+1Pasai Donibane is where the Camino del Norte crosses water for the first time: a fishing village made of a single lane on the bay of Pasaia, 17.0 kilometres from Irún. A small boat takes you over to San Pedro for just under 2 euros. Above the village a tiny donation-based hostel waits with a view over the bay.
Camino del NorteIn Pobeña the Camino del Norte is back by the sea after Bilbao: a village at the mouth of the Barbadun next to La Arena beach, 11.8 kilometres after Portugalete. The hostel in the old village school counted more than 5,200 pilgrims in 2024. Tomorrow morning you walk on old ore tracks above the cliffs into Cantabria.
Camino del NortePortugalete is where the Bilbao estuary meets the sea. 19.2 kilometres after Bilbao, many pilgrims end the stage here, at the foot of the Puente Bizkaia of 1893, the first iron transporter bridge and a World Heritage Site since 2006. The old town with its Gothic basilica climbs steeply above the water. 680.5 kilometres remain to Santiago.
Camino del NorteRibadeo is your first town in Galicia: you cross the Ría del Eo from Asturias on the Puente de los Santos, and 193.5 kilometres to Santiago still lie ahead. An old harbour with a modernist tower, a fortress and a convent, plus albergues for every budget.
Camino del NorteCamino del MarTop rated
The stays pilgrims rate highest right now, across every Camino.
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