Sobrado dos Monxes

How long to stay?

An afternoon is enough, but take all of it. The monastery is the reason to stay: two cloisters, a Baroque church and the monks' evening prayer, which you can attend. Then a walk to the lagoon at the edge of the village. If you arrive early, you have time for everything.

Sobrado dos Monxes in Ninja numbers

• 60.7 kilometres are left from here to Santiago de Compostela.
• 22.2 kilometres to Arzúa, where the Camino del Norte joins the Camino Francés.
• 98 beds in the monastery albergue, open all year for €10 (as of August 2026).
• 1142 Cistercians from Clairvaux took over the monastery.
• 1966 monks returned to Sobrado after more than 130 years.

Arriving: down from the highest point

Beyond Miraz you climb to the highest point of the Camino del Norte, 710 metres, and cross the border from Lugo into A Coruña. Then the way descends to Sobrado, where the monastery dominates the village.

In brief: a monastery founded twice

Around 952 Bishop Sisnando founded a monastery here. By the early 12th century it was abandoned, and in 1142 the counts of Traba handed it to the Cistercian order: monks from Clairvaux, the monastery of Saint Bernard, moved in. Most of the buildings you see today were built after 1498; the church was consecrated in 1708. In 1834 and 1835 the state dissolved the monastery, and its buildings and property were sold and fell into decay. Reconstruction began in 1954, and on 25 July 1966, the feast of Saint James, Trappists from the monastery of Viaceli in Cantabria took up monastic life again.

The pilgrims' monastery: what to see

• Mosteiro de Santa María de Sobrado: The monastery has been protected as a cultural monument since 1931 and since 2015 has been part of the World Heritage as part of the Caminos de Santiago. As a pilgrim you may visit the ground floors of the two public cloisters, and you sleep in the rooms on the pilgrims' cloister. You get the stamp for your credencial at reception during visiting hours.
• The monks' evening prayer: Pilgrims may attend the services in the monks' chapel. Pilgrims describe the evening prayer in particular as moving. Best ask at reception for the times.
• Lagoa de Sobrado: The lagoon at the edge of the village belongs to the Natura 2000 network and is known for its plants and birds. A quiet place for the evening.

Food and drink

This is where the land of Arzúa-Ulloa cheese begins. Gronze also recommends mountain-style trout and the monks' dulce de leche for dessert. The village has a grocery, bakery, butcher, pharmacy, cash machine and bar-restaurants.

Honestly

• The albergue is basic. No heating, no internet, a small gas kitchen. In winter it gets cold inside the old walls.
• The kitchen is closed in the morning. One pilgrim reports that you cannot make breakfast there. Buy something for the morning the evening before.
• Tomorrow it gets crowded. In Arzúa you meet the Camino Francés, and after days of silence you are suddenly walking with many others.

Where pilgrims sleep

The Albergue del Monasterio de Sobrado is run by the monastic community: 98 places in eight rooms, €10, open all year, check-in from 1 pm to 10 pm, no reservations (as of August 2026). If it is full, there are further places on mattresses. There is a washing machine, dryer, lockers and a small kitchen.

The private Albergue Lecer has 28 places for €15 and is open from March to October. There are also guesthouses and a hotel on Praza do Portal.

Ninja tips

• Go to the evening prayer. Even if you are not religious: sitting in the monks' chapel is a quiet way to end the day.
• Get your stamp at reception. Only during visiting hours.
• Buy food for breakfast. The albergue kitchen is closed in the morning.
• Enjoy the last quiet evening. From Arzúa you share the way with the Francés.

Onward: to Arzúa

Via Madelos, As Corredoiras and Boimorto quiet paths lead to Arzúa, 22.2 kilometres with 320 metres of ascent and 445 metres of descent. The highest point is 559 metres right at the start, at kilometre 839.1.

What awaits you tomorrow

Arzúa, the cheese town on the Camino Francés. After days on the lonely Norte it feels like a station: here the ways come together, and you will no longer walk alone to Santiago.

Deep dive: A monastery for pilgrims

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

The foundation

Around the year 952 Bishop Sisnando, a son of the counts of Présaras, founded a monastery on this spot. It was a time when the cult of the Apostle James was just beginning to grow in Galicia. But the first monastery did not last. By the beginning of the twelfth century it stood empty.

The Cistercians

In February 1142 the brothers Fernando and Bermudo Pérez de Traba, lords from one of the most powerful families in Galicia, handed the abandoned monastery to the order of Cîteaux. Monks from Clairvaux, the monastery of Saint Bernard, came to Sobrado. With them began a long flowering. After a reform in 1498 the great buildings you see today were built, and in 1708 the new church was consecrated.

Decay and return

In the nineteenth century the state dissolved the monasteries. The decree for Sobrado came in 1834, and a year later buildings and lands were sold. The monastery fell into ruin. Only in 1954 did reconstruction begin. In July 1966 Trappists came from the monastery of Viaceli in Cantabria, and on the twenty-fifth of July, the feast of the Apostle James, the life of a monastic community began again.

What Sobrado gives you

Since then the monks have taken in pilgrims, in the rooms on the pilgrims' cloister. Today the monastery is part of the World Heritage as part of the Caminos de Santiago. But what most people take away is not a building but the evening prayer. It is the last quiet evening before the busy way from Arzúa. Whoever sits here and listens takes some of this silence on to Santiago.