Campiello Campiello

How long to stay?

An afternoon is enough. Campiello has no sights we could document, and it doesn't need any. You arrive early after 12.7 kilometres from Tineo, eat, do your washing, shop and check the weather forecast. Because the most important thing about Campiello is the next day.

Campiello in Ninja numbers

• 80.8 kilometres lie behind you since Oviedo, a good quarter of the Camino Primitivo.
• 227.9 kilometres are left to Santiago de Compostela.
• Fewer than 50 people live here, and yet there are two hostels, a shop and a bar.
• 23 kilometres without a shop, a bar or a spring you can rely on: that is the stretch between Samblismo and Berducedo tomorrow if you take the Hospitales route.
• 1,216 metres is how high the path climbs tomorrow on the Hospitales route. Campiello sits at 606.

Arriving: down from Tineo

After Tineo the path climbs once more to 914 metres, then it goes downhill, past Villaluz. Campiello lies on the road, and its two hostels face each other almost directly. The first things you see on arrival are the ones that matter: a shop and a bar.

Honestly

• There is nothing to sightsee here. Campiello is a place to stock up, not a destination.
• No cash machine, no pharmacy. Bring cash and plasters in good time.
• The shop is small. Pilgrims report a decent range, but don't expect a supermarket.
• It gets busy at lunchtime. The restaurant is popular with day trippers too, especially on Sundays.

Where pilgrims sleep

There is no public hostel in Campiello; both houses are private.

• Albergue Casa Ricardo: run by the same family for three generations, with a shop, bar and restaurant. According to Gronze the dormitory is open from 1 April to 31 October and the rooms all year. Another source lists the dormitory as open all year; in winter, call ahead.
• Casa Herminia: hostel, rural hotel, restaurant and a small supermarket under one name, open all year, check-in from 13:00 to 20:00, with washing machine and dryer. It has no kitchen for pilgrims.

A dormitory bed costs between €15 and €18 in both houses (as of October 2026); the figures vary by source. You can book, and in high season it makes sense.

Ninja tips

• Buy food for two meals here. Campiello is the last reliable place to stock up before the mountain. In Borres there is only a bar, and in March 2024 it didn't open until 11:00.
• Take more water than you think. On the Hospitales route the springs are unreliable, and there is no chlorinated water.
• Decide in the evening, not at the fork. Check the forecast for the heights. In fog, snow or a bad forecast, the route through Pola de Allande is the better choice, and in winter always.
• Charge your phone fully. Up there all you have is your GPS and the emergency number.

Practical tips for pilgrims

• Shopping: A shop, a butcher and a baker in the village, plus the small supermarket at Casa Herminia.
• Food: Both houses cook, and there is a pilgrim menu.
• Laundry: Washing machine and dryer at Casa Herminia.
• Money: No cash machine. Bring enough cash.

Onward: Hospitales or Pola

After Campiello the path leads via El Espín to Borres, 2.9 kilometres. About a kilometre past Borres the way splits. To the right begins the Hospitales route: high across the sierra, between 1,000 and 1,250 metres, past the ruins of old pilgrim hospices, with no village to supply you. To the left you go down to Pola de Allande and from there steeply up to the Puerto del Palo, where the two routes meet again. According to Gronze the Pola variant is 4.5 kilometres longer, but it has villages, bars and hostels. Our route follows the Hospitales: from Campiello to Berducedo it is 27.5 kilometres, with the highest point at kilometre 93.3, at 1,216 metres.

What awaits you tomorrow

Berducedo, a village at almost 900 metres that had a pilgrim hospice by the 13th century at the latest. Beside its church stands a yew tree under which the village assembly used to meet.

Deep dive: Why there are two routes

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

The way over the heights

The route over the mountains beyond Borres is considered the older way west. It stays high, between one thousand and twelve hundred and fifty metres, and along it stood hospices whose names are still on the maps today: Paradiella, Fonfaraón, Valparaíso. They are recorded in documents from the thirteenth to the fifteenth century. Whoever walked here had no villages, but houses built for pilgrims.

A new town in the valley

In the thirteenth century that changed. The Bishop of Oviedo founded a new settlement in the valley of the Nisón and granted it its rights between 1262 and 1267. It became Pola de Allande. The young town had up to three hospices, and little by little it drew the path down to itself. The detour cost kilometres and a steep climb back up to the pass. In return there was a town with hospices.

Two answers to the same question

Whether the high route really was the original pilgrim way or mainly a path for herders and miners is still debated by those who know the area. What is certain is this: both routes answer the same question you ask yourself this evening in Campiello. Do you want the open heights or the safety? When this text was written, in autumn 2026, the advice of experienced pilgrims was clear: up top in good weather, down below in bad weather and in winter. Both are the Camino.