Castroverde

How long to stay?

An afternoon is enough, if you stay at all. Many pilgrims walk through in the morning, since it is only 8.5 kilometres from O Cádavo. If you want to split the 30.5 kilometres from O Cádavo to Lugo, this is the right place: you can see the tower, church and fountain in an hour, and then you have a quiet evening in a village where you can shop and eat.

Castroverde in Ninja numbers

• 8.5 kilometres is the walk here from O Cádavo, with 169 metres of ascent and 299 metres of descent.
• 122 kilometres remain to Santiago de Compostela on the Camino Primitivo.
• 20 metres is the height of the keep, the only part of the 14th-century castle still standing.
• 1343 is the year a document mentions the Way of St James through Castroverde and two pilgrim hospitals in the village.
• 22 kilometres are left to Lugo, and there is hardly any food along the way.

Arriving: from the pass into the green valley

Beyond O Cádavo you climb via Pradeda to the Alto da Vacariza, at 849 metres the last high point before Lugo. Then you descend through Vilalle, and Castroverde lies at the foot of the pass. Above the roofs stands the tower. The path runs through the village south of the main road; the hostel is in an open, green setting.

In brief: the castle in the green valley

Until the 19th century the village was called Santiago de Vilariño; only then did Castroverde become the official name. Old documents speak of the "Castrum de Vallis Viridis", the castle in the green valley, meaning the fortress on an older castro above the village, a pre-Roman hilltop settlement. In the Middle Ages Castroverde belonged to the Counts of Lemos. They had the walls and the keep built. In the 16th century the village passed to the Counts of Altamira, who held it until the 18th century. Important for pilgrims is a document from 1343: it describes the Way through the village and two hospitals, one with a chapel to Saint Lazarus, the other dedicated to Saint Bartholomew.

Below the tower: what to see

Everything important is close together in the village centre.

• Torre do Homenaxe: The 14th-century keep is what remains of the castle of the Counts of Lemos. It still has its battlements, machicolations and coats of arms, and at the gate stands the figure of a warrior. Castle and tower are protected monuments. For pilgrims it is the landmark that already stands above the roofs as you arrive.
• Igrexa de Santiago: The parish church was built in the 20th century on the site of an older building. Inside are Baroque altarpieces, one of them from the castle chapel. Look out for the Virxe do Camiño, the "Virgin of the Way", a 17th-century figure restored in 1955. You get your stamp at the town hall opposite.
• Fonte dos Nenos: In front of the church stands a sculpture of children under a bronze umbrella. Locally it is seen as a symbol of the Way of St James.
• The chestnut trunk: Next to the hostel lies the trunk of a centuries-old chestnut tree that stood by the church of Soutomerille on the Primitivo. A storm brought it down in March 2015; in 2016 the trunk was brought here.
• Santa María de Vilabade: The "cathedral of Castroverde" is a Gothic church that Fernando de Castro of the House of Lemos had built in 1457, with a Renaissance porch and a rotating 17th-century Madonna. It is not on the path; we have not found a reliable figure for how far the detour is.

Food and drink

Castroverde has been a market town since the 18th century: on the first and third Sunday of every month there is a market with pigs, sausages, crafts and pulperías cooking octopus. On ordinary days you can shop and eat out in the village. The hostel has a kitchen, but neither crockery nor a fridge.

Honestly

• There is not much to do. Tower, church, fountain, and the tour is over. You see the tower from outside; we have not found opening hours for the interior.
• Many walk past. Evenings are accordingly quiet, too quiet for some.
• It gets lean until Lugo. On the 22 kilometres that follow there is hardly any food apart from vending machines and one small hostel. Stock up here.
• The post office keeps short hours. It is only open on weekdays from 09:00 to 11:00.

Where pilgrims sleep

The Xunta pilgrim hostel has 34 places and costs €10 (as of October 2026). It is open all year, check-in from 13:00, closing at 22:00, and you cannot book. There is a washing machine, a dryer, heating and a roof terrace. There are also two guesthouses in the village, but no private hostel and no parish or donativo hostel. If you walk on, you will find a small hostel 6.2 kilometres later in Vilar de Cas.

Ninja tips

• Get your stamp at the town hall. It is directly opposite the church.
• Pack a lunch for tomorrow. There is almost nothing between Castroverde and Lugo, and the stage is 22 kilometres long.
• Sleep here instead of O Cádavo if you dread the stage to Lugo. Then you only have 22 kilometres left tomorrow instead of 30.5.
• Come on a market Sunday. On the first and third Sunday of the month the village is full, with octopus and sausages.

Practical tips for pilgrims

• Post office: Rúa dos Nenos 5, Monday to Friday 09:00–11:00.
• Bus: The Lugo–A Fonsagrada line runs through the village every day.
• Festivals: On 25 July Santiago, the village's patron saint, is celebrated.

Onward: through the chestnut woods to Lugo

The path leaves the village south of the main road and leads into a chestnut wood. After a careful road crossing and a tunnel you reach the hamlet of Souto de Torres via San Miguel do Camiño, and then Vilar de Cas. Via Gondar and As Casas da Viña you descend to Lugo. In total it is 22 kilometres with 443 metres of ascent and 577 metres of descent.

What awaits you tomorrow

Lugo, the only city in the world with a completely preserved Roman town wall. You walk through a gate into the old town, and in the evening you can walk all the way round it on top of the wall.

Deep dive: The castle in the green valley

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

A name that came late

For a long time this village was not called Castroverde but Santiago de Vilariño, after the Apostle whose tomb you are walking to. It only got its present name officially in the nineteenth century. The name comes from old documents that speak of the Castrum de Vallis Viridis, the castle in the green valley. On the hill above the village there was a fortified settlement of the mountain people even before the Romans. On top of it the lords of the Middle Ages built their castle.

The counts and their tower

The most powerful family in Galicia in the late Middle Ages were the Counts of Lemos. Castroverde belonged to them too. In the fourteenth century they had walls built and a keep, twenty metres high, with battlements and coats of arms. Only a few stretches of the walls are left, but the tower still stands. In the sixteenth century the Lemos sold the village to the Counts of Altamira. A member of the Lemos family, Fernando de Castro, had already founded a large Gothic church in Vilabade in 1457, which people here still call the cathedral of Castroverde.

Two hospitals for pilgrims

What makes the village special for you is written in a document from the year 1343. It describes how the Way of St James runs through Castroverde and names two hospitals for pilgrims. One had a chapel to Saint Lazarus, the patron saint of the sick. The other was dedicated to Saint Bartholomew. Where exactly they stood, we do not know. But they show that people like you have spent the night here for almost seven hundred years.

What Castroverde gives you

When this text was written, in autumn 2026, many pilgrims walked through in the morning and glanced up at the tower. Those who stay notice that this tower was not built to protect pilgrims but to rule a land. The pilgrims came anyway, century after century. Lords change. The Way remains.