Hospital de Bruma

How long to stay?

An afternoon is enough, and there is no more to it. Bruma is a hamlet, not a town. You arrive after the steepest day of the route, shower, eat at the bar next to the hostel and walk once to the chapel at the end of the houses. That is the whole programme, and after the climb it is exactly right.

Hospital de Bruma in Ninja numbers

• 73.3 kilometres lie behind you since Ferrol if you walk the classic Camino Inglés. From the start in A Coruña it is about 32 kilometres on the Camino Inglés from A Coruña.
• 40.7 kilometres remain to Santiago de Compostela, two days or one very long one.
• 461 metres is the height of the highest point of the whole route, a good three kilometres before the hamlet. Bruma itself lies at 397 metres.
• 22 places is all the Xunta hostel has. That is not much for the meeting point of two routes.

Arriving: the meeting point

If you come from Betanzos, you have 836 metres of climbing in your legs. The way rises via Presedo and Beche into the hills, up to 461 metres. At Herves the branch from A Coruña joins, and from here on you are no longer alone. At As Travesas you cross the AC-542 road; a dirt path alongside it, opened in 2021, makes this stretch safer, but you still have to cross the road itself. Then you are there: a few houses, the hostel, the chapel.

In brief: a hospital in the woods

From the 12th century until the 18th a hospital for pilgrims stood here, dedicated to Saint Lawrence. It was the only shelter in a wooded, inhospitable area where travellers could meet robbers. Nothing remains of the hospital. On its site the Xunta de Galicia opened the pilgrim hostel in 1999, and the name of the hamlet still recalls what it was there for.

Coming together: what to see

It is not much, but it tells the story of the place.

• The hostel on the site of the hospital: It stands where pilgrims have spent the night for almost 900 years. The house is small and simple; toilets and showers are in a separate building, reached by a covered passage.
• Ermita de San Lorenzo: The chapel stands at the end of the houses, with the small cemetery around it. It is what remains of the hospital, which was dedicated to the same saint. We have not found opening hours.

Food and drink

A few metres from the hostel there is a bar-restaurant serving breakfast, a set lunch and dinner. In October 2026 pilgrims praised the good-value menu and the hosts; others were less happy. There is no shop. The nearest supermarket, cash machine and pharmacy are in Mesón do Vento, two to three kilometres off the route.

Honestly

• No shop. If you want to cook, you have to shop beforehand. The kitchen has a microwave and a fridge, but usually no crockery.
• The hostel fills up fast. 22 places for two routes: in August 2024 it was full an hour before opening, in August 2025 a pilgrim got the second-to-last place at 11:00.
• Bathroom in the annexe. Toilets and showers are outside. In cold and rain that is unpleasant, and for the number of guests there are few of them.
• No blankets. Pilgrims reported in October 2026 that there were no blankets. A light sleeping bag is enough.

Where pilgrims sleep

• The Albergue de Peregrinos de Hospital de Bruma belongs to the Xunta de Galicia: 22 places in three dormitories, €10, open all year, from 13:00 to 22:00, no reservations (as of August 2026). The hospitalera is praised in almost every report.
• The private Albergue San Lorenzo de Bruma has, according to our data, 22 places, a bed in a shared room from €20, plus single and double rooms.
• There are also private rooms in the hamlet, and guesthouses and a hotel in Mesón do Vento.

Ninja tips

• Shop in Betanzos. On the way, pilgrims say there is still a small place to buy food in As Travesas; in Bruma itself there is nothing.
• Arrive early or book privately. With 22 places in the Xunta hostel, a plan B is no luxury.
• Pack enough for tomorrow. It is 24.8 kilometres to Sigüeiro, and supplies are scarce.
• Careful on the AC-542. At As Travesas you have to cross the road, even though the new dirt path runs alongside it.

Onward: down to Sigüeiro

From Bruma it gets easier: 24.8 kilometres to Sigüeiro, 317 metres up and 484 down, through woods and along country paths. Just past Bruma, Mesón do Vento lies a little off the route. In O Outeiro, a good nine kilometres on, there is another hostel with dormitories, if you want to go further today. From Sigüeiro it is 15.9 kilometres to Santiago.

What awaits you tomorrow

Sigüeiro lies on the Río Tambre, 15.9 kilometres before Santiago, and for most people it is the last evening on the Camino Inglés. The way there is the flattest day since Ferrol, and the day after you reach your goal.

Deep dive: A hospital for all who come

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

The only shelter

Eight hundred years ago this area was not a place where you wanted to spend the night. Woods, hills, hardly any houses, and on the paths men who lay in wait for travellers. The pilgrims who had come ashore at Ferrol or A Coruña had to come up here on their way to Santiago. So in the twelfth century a hospital was founded, dedicated to Saint Lawrence. It was, as the sources describe it, the only shelter far and wide. It took in pilgrims until the eighteenth century.

What remains

Nothing of the hospital itself can be seen any more. What remains is the small chapel of Saint Lawrence at the end of the houses, the cemetery around it, and the name: Hospital. In 1999 the Xunta de Galicia built a hostel on the same spot. Since then pilgrims have slept here again, on the same patch of ground where those before them found shelter from robbers and rain.

What Bruma gives you

Two routes meet here. If you come from Ferrol, you usually have three days behind you; if you come from A Coruña, one long one. From here on everyone walks together. Bruma is not a place for sightseeing, but for arriving, sharing what you have, and walking on the next morning. That is exactly what it was built for.