Ortigueira

How long to stay?

An afternoon is enough. From O Porto do Barqueiro it is 20.7 kilometres, according to Camino Ninja, and Ortigueira is the first larger town since Viveiro. The core is compact: the convent with church, town hall and theatre, the Cantón with its glazed galleries, the gardens at the harbour. You can manage that in the evening after the stage. It is worth staying longer if you are here for the festival at the end of July or want to spend a day at the beach of Morouzos.

Ortigueira in Ninja numbers

• 145.2 kilometres lie between Ribadeo and Ortigueira, according to Camino Ninja, and there are still 126.8 to Ferrol. More than half is done.
• Since 1302 a Dominican convent has stood here. What you see today dates mostly from the 18th century.
• Since 1978 the Festival Internacional do Mundo Celta has taken place at the end of July; the first edition began on 30 July 1978.
• 5,384 people lived in the municipality on 1 January 2025, spread over more than 200 square kilometres.

Arriving: at the ría of Ortigueira

From O Porto do Barqueiro the way leads 20.7 kilometres, according to Camino Ninja, over the cliffs of Loiba with their famous bench, through Espasante and Ladrido. At Ladrido the waymarking of the Camino Natural del Cantábrico ends, and the last stretch runs through villages in the hinterland and over a lot of asphalt. Then the ría opens up, and on the east bank lies Ortigueira with its harbour, gardens and the long bulk of the convent on the Praza Isabel II.

In brief: from tower to Cantón

The oldest quarter is called O Ponto. It grew in the Middle Ages around a tower, at a spot where people were already settled in the Iron Age. From 1302 the Dominicans built their convent; around the middle of the 16th century it burned down and was rebuilt. The Santa Marta quarter dates mostly from the 18th and 19th centuries. From the late 19th century the Cantón was the centre of the town, with townhouses in colonial, modernist and eclectic styles. The gardens on the Malecón were won from the sea in the 1930s.

Pilgrims in Ortigueira

One sign that pilgrims have long passed through here is the former Hospital de San Roque. It was a pilgrim hospital and shows that a way to Santiago led through the town. In September 2026 pilgrims got a stamp in the church and in the town hall.

Santa Marta: what to see

Everything important lies close together at the harbour; you can walk it in an hour and then sit down wherever you like.

• Igrexa de Santa Marta: The Baroque church was built under the direction of Blas de Barros. It has a single nave with a cruciform plan and a lantern over the crossing. Look at the main altarpiece, attributed to Juan Domínguez de Estivada and older than the building itself, and at the covered porch with four arches under the 36-metre bell tower. Since the middle of the 19th century the convent church has been the parish church.
• The former convent: Two storeys around a cloister, three stone coats of arms above, and on the façade a clock from the middle of the 19th century. In 1835 the monks had to leave, and soon after the municipality took over the building. Today town hall, church and theatre are under one roof.
• Teatro de Beneficencia: In the east wing lies a small theatre of 1850, set up in the monks' former wine store. Stalls, boxes and gallery seat 249 people, and ceiling and stage are painted. Where there are boxes today, the monks stored their wine.
• The Cantón: The townhouses with their glazed galleries show how prosperous the town was around 1900. At one end lies the Praza Isabel II with the convent.
• Praia de Morouzos: Opposite the town lies the longest and best-known beach of the municipality, about three kilometres long, with one of the most important dune systems in Galicia. At low tide you can walk to the island of San Vicente. Pilgrims who stayed here in September 2026 learned from locals that you cross the ría over there only at low water.

The ría

The ría of Ortigueira has the largest salt marshes, rush meadows and seagrass beds in Galicia. It is a Natura 2000 site, a Ramsar wetland and an important bird protection area. In autumn and winter wading birds forage on the mudflats. If you walk along the shore at that time, take a few minutes to look.

Food and drink

The town's speciality is cockles Ortegana style, prepared to a traditional recipe. From Espasante, which you passed through today, come percebes, the goose barnacles from the rocks of the coast. In recent years dishes with seaweed from the area have become popular. And then there is the Tarta de Ortigueira, a cake that keeps for several days without refrigeration. For pilgrims that is a rare combination: a local pastry that fits in the rucksack.

Honestly

• No pilgrim bed. According to Camino Ninja, the nearest pilgrim hostel is 45.9 kilometres back in Viveiro, and as far as we know there is none towards Ferrol. In Ortigueira you sleep in a hotel or hostal.
• The way here is a slog at the end. After the cliffs of Loiba the last stretch leads through villages in the hinterland, with a lot of asphalt and without the waymarking of the coastal trail.
• At the end of July the town is full. The festival is free and sometimes draws over 100,000 people. You only get a bed then with long advance planning.
• Tomorrow gets asphalty. In September 2026 one pilgrim described the stage to Cariño as ugly, with a lot of asphalt and no services on the way.

Ninja tips

• Buy the tarta for tomorrow. There is hardly anything on the way until Cariño, and the cake keeps without a fridge.
• Get two stamps. Church and town hall are under one roof on the main square.
• Look into the theatre. If the town hall is open, ask whether you may take a look at the Teatro de Beneficencia.
• Come at the end of July if you like bagpipes. The main stage stands at the harbour; campsites are at the beach of Morouzos and in the pine forest.
• Have lunch in Cuiña. The restaurants of the next stage are on the country road; in September 2026 one pilgrim had a set meal for €14 at Hostal Casa Giz.

Practical tips for pilgrims

• Fill up on water and supplies in Ortigueira. On the stage to Cariño, one pilgrim in September 2026 found no services directly on the way, only restaurants on the country road.
• If you want to go to the beach of Morouzos: you can cross the ría only at low water, otherwise the way goes round the outside.
• Plan your bed for the end of July weeks in advance, or move to the days before and after the festival.

Onward: to Cariño

It is 19.8 kilometres to Cariño, according to Camino Ninja, and after 2.2 kilometres you pass through Cuiña. The stage leads over paved tracks through the parishes west of the ría; if you are looking for a waterfall off the path, you will find the Fervenza do Casón on the Rego do Casón, a good two and a half kilometres from the way. A little further on, above the ría, lie the remains of the Castelo do Casón, an old watchtower, barely two kilometres off the path. An information board there shows what it once looked like, and the view over the ría is worth the detour. The Camino del Mar reaches Cabo Ortegal at Cariño.

Deep dive: The house of Santa Marta

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

A convent by the water

At the beginning of the fourteenth century the Dominicans came to Ortigueira. The year 1302 is given as the start of building on their convent. With the influence of the order the complex grew until it covered some five thousand square metres. Around the middle of the sixteenth century the first convent burned down. For pilgrims there was another house in the town: the Hospital de San Roque took in people on their way to Santiago. The monks rebuilt, and what you see today on the main square dates for the most part from the eighteenth century.

A church for Santa Marta

They had the church built in the Baroque style under the master builder Blas de Barros, with one nave, a cross as its plan and a lantern through which light falls into the crossing. Above the high altar stands an altarpiece that is older than the walls around it. The church is dedicated to Saint Martha, and the quarter around the convent is still named after her.

When the monks had to go

In 1835 the Spanish state dissolved the monasteries, and the Dominicans of Ortigueira too had to leave. The municipality took over the building. Up in the convent three stone coats of arms recall the old emblems of the town, and on the façade a clock has struck since the middle of the nineteenth century. The convent church became the parish church around 1848. The town hall moved into the convent. And in the east wing, where the monks had stored their wine, a theatre with stalls, boxes and gallery opened in 1850. Towards the end of the century it got a painted ceiling and a painted stage, and two hundred and forty-nine people fit inside. So the whole monastery came into the everyday life of the town.

The feast day

The feast day of Saint Martha is the twenty-ninth of July. Around that day the Festival Internacional do Mundo Celta has been held since 1978, founded by the town's bagpipe school. The main stage stands at the harbour, a few steps from the convent, and admission is free. On some evenings more than a hundred thousand people came. The festival is dedicated to the Celtic peoples, and its music then fills the streets through which you came today.

What Ortigueira gives you to take along

In the Bible Martha is the sister who looks after the guests while her sister Mary listens. A house that monks built now shelters the administration, the municipality, the theatre and once a year a great festival. Perhaps that suits her. And perhaps it is also a thought for you before you walk on tomorrow: that a place can carry more than one task without forgetting its first.