Caldas de Reis → Padrón

The Xunta gives 18.8 km for this stage, practically the same as gronze.com's 18.6 km, which also flags it as possibly the most scenically interesting of the whole Camino Portugués: riverside woods, the crossing of the river Ulla and the arrival in Rosalía de Castro's home town.

The route, village by village

You leave Caldas de Reis towards O Cruceiro, in Carracedo (5.3-5.9 km), where the stage's first bar opens as early as 7:00 for the early risers. Then O Pino, in Valga (9.6 km), with an intermediate Xunta hostel of 78 beds and a kitchen of its own — a good option if you would rather split the stage in two — and San Miguel de Valga (12 km, self-service bar).

At Pontecesures (16.1 km) you cross the river Ulla, the boundary between the provinces of Pontevedra and A Coruña. This is also where the Spiritual Variant rejoins for anyone who took the detour through Poio and Combarro. The town was a river port in Roman times, the Pons Cessuris of the Via XIX.

Padrón: where the Apostle's boat moored

Beneath the altar of the church of Santiago de Padrón sits the pedrón, a Roman altar dedicated to Neptune that tradition reinterpreted as the stone where the boat carrying the Apostle's body from Palestine was moored — hence the town's name. Padrón is also where Rosalía de Castro spent her last years, in the nearby house of A Matanza, today a museum devoted to the writer.

Where to sleep in Padrón

The Xunta hostel, on Costiña do Carme, has about 46 beds and the usual 10 € rate, with check-in from 13:00. Among the private ones: O Pedrón from 18 €, Corredoiras (18-24 €), Murgadán (18-20 €), Camiño do Sar (20-22 €) and d'Camiño (19-27 € with breakfast). Guide prices for 2026.

Stamp in Caldas de Reis on the way out and again on arrival in Padrón: that covers the minimum of two daily stamps the Compostela requires.