---
title: "Camino Primitivo: stages, difficulty and starting from Lugo"
description: "The 14 days of the Primitivo from Oviedo with real distances and climbs, the Hospitales route and when not to take it, and why Lugo is the 100 km mark."
url: https://santiago.es/en/camino-de-santiago/primitivo
locale: en
---

# Camino Primitivo: stages, difficulty and starting from Lugo

The Camino routes

The oldest of the eight routes, and the hardest. Fourteen days from Oviedo, with the climb on each one, the famous high stage you should skip in fog, and why Lugo does here what Sarria does on the Francés.

![Brújula antigua sobre un plano del casco histórico, grabado dorado](https://santiago.es/img/illus/brujula.jpg)

[© santiago.es · Ilustración](https://santiago.es)

By [Cesar Rodriguez](https://santiago.es/en/author) · updated 11 September 2026

Updated 25 August 2026.

This is the original one. In the 9th century King Alfonso II walked out of Oviedo to see the newly discovered tomb for himself, and the route he took is the one now called the Primitivo. Twelve hundred years later it is still the least changed of them all: Asturian mountains, Galician mountains and very few people. It is also, by some distance, the one that asks most of your legs, and that is the part almost no guide puts numbers on.

## The short answer

It is **between 306 and 311 km from Oviedo** over **14 days**: eleven to Melide, where it joins the Camino Francés, and three more into Santiago along the stretch we already cover in [our route comparison](https://santiago.es/en/camino-de-santiago/routes). In 2025 it was walked by **27,873 pilgrims**, 5.25% of the total, according to the [Pilgrim's Office dashboard we track](https://santiago.es/en/camino-de-santiago/pilgrim-statistics). That makes it the fifth busiest route, a long way behind the Francés but comfortably ahead of the [Camino del Norte](https://santiago.es/en/camino-de-santiago/norte), which finished on 21,521 and which it splits from at the hamlet of Casquita, just past Villaviciosa.

Correction: this page said 21,521 pilgrims, and that was wrong

Between 23 and 25 August 2026 this page said the Primitivo had **21,521 pilgrims in 2025, 4.05% of the total**, and that it was "level with the Camino del Norte". All three claims were wrong. 21,521 is the **Norte's**figure; we gave the Primitivo the Norte's number and then, to make the percentage work, handed the Norte a round 21,500 that no source publishes.

The Pilgrim's Reception Office dashboard, read on 25 August 2026, gives **27,873** for the Primitivo and **21,521**for the Norte: a gap of 6,352 pilgrims, 29.5% more for the Primitivo, which is the fifth busiest route and not the sixth. The outside check agrees. Oviedo Turismo, the official tourist board at this route's kilometre zero, announced in January 2026 that "the Camino Primitivo closes 2025 with a new record: 27,871 pilgrims, 14% more". That fits — 27,873 against 24,473 in 2024 is +13.9% — whereas our old figure would have meant a 12% collapse, not a record.

Where the mistake came from: in 2023 the two routes were nearly level (20,715 for the Primitivo, 20,583 for the Norte) and we carried that snapshot forward for two years. The Norte was the larger of the two every year from 2003 to 2020; the Primitivo overtook it in 2021 and has been pulling away since. Now corrected.

Be careful with the distances you will see, ours included

There is no single official figure, so we publish a range and say where it comes from. Adding up the stage table below, Oviedo to Melide is **253.2 km** via the Hospitales route and **257.7 km** via Pola de Allande; with the ~53 km left from Melide to Santiago, the total runs from **306 to 311 km**. That is the figure we use throughout, and the only one you can check by adding up what is on this very page.

You will see others elsewhere: Wikipedia says 313 km and some guides reach 317, because they split the stages differently. Until August 2026 our own routes page said 321 km, then 313; neither is backed by a sum we can show you. Now corrected.

## The eleven stages from Oviedo to Melide

Distances and elevation from Gronze, the Spanish-language reference that most pilgrims plan with. The climb column is the one to read: eight of the eleven go over 500 metres of ascent and three go over 850.

**Camino Primitivo stages from Oviedo to Melide, with cumulative elevation (source: Gronze)**

| Stage | Km | Ascent | Descent |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1. Oviedo – Grado | 25.2 | 425 m | 598 m |
| 2. Grado – Salas | 22.3 | 646 m | 469 m |
| 3. Salas – Tineo | 19.8 | 676 m | 241 m |
| 4. Tineo – Borres | 15.9 | 292 m | 357 m |
| 5a. Borres – Berducedo via Hospitales | 24.1 | 963 m | 694 m |
| 5b. Borres – Berducedo via Pola de Allande | 28.6 | 1,216 m | 949 m |
| 6. Berducedo – Grandas de Salime | 20.4 | 1,017 m | 663 m |
| 7. Grandas de Salime – A Fonsagrada | 25.2 | 858 m | 470 m |
| 8. A Fonsagrada – O Cádavo | 24.3 | 710 m | 934 m |
| 9. O Cádavo – Lugo | 29.5 | 509 m | 775 m |
| 10. Lugo – A Ponte Ferreira | 26.5 | 521 m | 450 m |
| 11. A Ponte Ferreira – Melide | 20.0 | 320 m | 404 m |

Stages 5a and 5b are the same day by two different ways: you pick one, you do not walk both. And one honest note about stage 6, because we would rather say it than hide it: the Gronze entry gives 1,017 m of ascent and 663 m of descent, but the text of that same stage describes dropping from 1,040 to 210 metres in 8.2 km. The two do not add up and we suspect the labels are swapped at source. Treat them as indicative until we can check on the ground.

## The Hospitales route, and when not to take it

This is the stage in all the photographs: hours along a ridge between 1,000 and 1,250 metres, past the ruins of three medieval pilgrim hospitals (Paradiella, 15th century; Fonfaraón, 13th to 14th; Valparaíso, 14th). The fork is clearly waymarked 1.2 km out of Borres, and as well as being the finer walk it is **4.5 km shorter** than the Pola de Allande alternative, with 250 metres less climbing.

The 23 kilometres with nothing on them

There is not a single service on the whole variant, from Samblismo to Berducedo. The two water fountains on the way, at Montefurado and Lago, **often do not work**, so the day's water and food go up with you.

And the part that matters: **in snow, in fog or with a bad forecast you take the Pola de Allande route**, which passes through inhabited country: villages, bars and a roof to shelter under. It is not that it stays much lower (the Puerto del Palo tops 1,100 m, some 50-100 m below the Hospitales ridge); it is that up there there is nothing at all. Gronze says so in as many words, and adds that thick fog up there is «fairly common». These are mountain precautions: do not go alone, and give it up without regret if the morning is closed in. The variant will still be there next year.

## Why it has the reputation of being the hardest

Because it strings climbs together without a break, not because of one famous pass. The most cited point is the **Puerto del Palo at 1,147 metres**: from Pola de Allande, which sits at 525, that is 622 metres of continuous ascent. The Berducedo to Grandas de Salime stage drops from 1,040 to 210 metres in a little over eight kilometres, then climbs some 570 again by road into the village. No other Camino route chains something like that together for a fortnight.

For comparison with the stretch most people know: of the five stages from Sarria to Santiago, the hardest is Portomarín to Palas de Rei, with 519 metres of ascent. On the Primitivo **seven days beat that figure** and three nearly double it.

## Starting from Lugo: this camino's 100 km mark

Anyone with only a week who wants the Compostela asks the same thing: where is the Primitivo's Sarria. The answer is **Lugo**. In February 2022 the Xunta put up an **official 100 km marker** there, on the central walkway of the Ronda das Fontiñas, on the same basis as the one at Sarria on the Francés, and the council marked the exact spot with two-metre letters.

It is worth saying that third-party measurements range from 97 to 101 km depending on who is adding up. What is solid is the Xunta's official waymarking, and that is what counts at the counter. From Lugo it is four or five days to Santiago — [the five, worked out stop by stop](https://santiago.es/en/camino-de-santiago/planner/from-lugo-in-5-stages), with the hostels on record at each one — and on the way you cross a city worth stopping in: the **Roman wall of Lugo has been a World Heritage Site since 2000** — two kilometres around, 8 to 10 metres high, 85 towers, and the only Roman wall anywhere that still has its full circuit intact.

By bike, starting in Lugo does not earn the Compostela

The Pilgrim's Office asks for **100 continuous km on foot or on horseback, but 200 by bicycle**. With 100 km waymarked from Lugo, a cyclist who wants the certificate has to start considerably earlier, from Grandas de Salime back or simply from Oviedo. It is a planning mistake that costs on arrival, and we go into it in [our guide to the Compostela](https://santiago.es/en/camino-de-santiago/compostela-certificate).

## Where it joins the Camino Francés

At **Melide**, about 53 km from Santiago. From there the Primitivo stops being solitary all at once: you share the path, the albergues and the queues with the Francés, which carries ten times the traffic. People arriving from a fortnight of empty mountains tend to feel that change more than the tiredness.

You will read that the two meet at Palas de Rei, including on one official tourism site. They do not: the Primitivo does not go through Palas de Rei at all.

## Beds: where it actually gets tight

This week we asked pilgrims openly which village they had actually failed to find a bed in. From the Primitivo we got **Grado, Borres, Samblismo, Oviedo and Grandas de Salime**. Setting those names against what each village really holds, the problem is not the same in all of them, and the difference matters when you plan.

**Capacity in the three Primitivo villages that come up most, and what lies beyond**

| Village | Public albergue | Booking | Nearest alternative |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Grado | 16 beds, donation | None, and no check-in before 2 pm | Cabruñana, 18 beds at €7.50, 6 km on |
| Borres | About 20 beds, €9 | None | Samblismo, 12 beds, 1.2 km on. Then 23 km of nothing |
| A Fonsagrada | 42 Xunta beds, €10 | None | Padrón, 1.5 km on. Then 24 km of nothing |
| Oviedo (the start) | 50 beds in the municipal | None | It is kilometre zero: there is no previous stage |

**Grado** is the straightforward capacity case: sixteen beds for the first stage of the route, no reservations possible, and registration only from two in the afternoon. What people tell us is that it fills early, and although we could not confirm that in any source, the three facts that are documented explain it on their own. Six kilometres on, Cabruñana has eighteen beds and opens all year: that is the safety net.

**Borres** is different and rather more serious. The whole village, municipal and private together, comes to around thirty beds, and what follows is not another village but the Hospitales stage, twenty-three kilometres without a single service. There is no plan B at four in the afternoon here. One operational detail as well: the keys to the municipal albergue are picked up at the El Barín bar, which Gronze listed as temporarily closed in May 2026. If you plan to sleep there, call ahead.

**A Fonsagrada** has the most beds: 42 in the Xunta albergue, open all year, plus three or four private places. Here it is worth being exact, because the one account we have from the village **is not somebody who failed to get a bed**: they had everything booked, the private albergue filled up and they ended up being given a single room. We include it because the village's real risk is structural: **there is absolutely nothing for the next 24 km** to O Cádavo. Anyone who finds nothing here cannot simply walk on for another hour, which is what you do on the Francés.

And one surprise we did not expect: the village people complained about most is not in the mountains, it is **Oviedo**, kilometre zero. We were told that in late April the municipal albergue, which has fifty beds, was full. If you start in season, the first night counts too.

The practical conclusion, and it holds for the whole route: on the Primitivo the question is not how many beds there are in the village you mean to sleep in, but **how many there are in the next ten kilometres**. For over half the route the answer is none.

## When to walk it

**No section closes in winter**, contrary to what you sometimes read. What does happen is that accommodation shuts: the public albergue in Grado and La Quintana open from 1 March to 31 October, and La Montera in Borres closes from November to March. Cabruñana, the municipal in Borres, Casa Pasarín in A Fonsagrada and the one in O Cádavo stay open all year.

Spring is what almost everyone recommends. August brings crowds, and September and October are still good with a higher chance of rain. The Hospitales rule overrides the calendar: in snow or fog, go via Pola de Allande, whatever the month.

## Frequently asked questions

**How long is the Camino Primitivo?**

Between 306 and 311 km from Oviedo to Santiago: 306 via the Hospitales route and 311 via Pola de Allande, adding up stage by stage. There is no single official figure — Wikipedia says 313 km and some guides reach 317 with a different stage split — so we publish the range. It is normally walked in 14 days.

**Is the Camino Primitivo the hardest route?**

Yes, and because of cumulative climbing rather than one hard stage. Eight of the eleven days to Melide go over 500 metres of ascent and three go over 850. The Puerto del Palo is at 1,147 metres, climbed from 525 at Pola de Allande. For comparison, the hardest stage between Sarria and Santiago has 519 metres of ascent.

**Where do you have to start the Primitivo to get the Compostela?**

From Lugo, where the Xunta installed an official 100 km marker in 2022, the equivalent of Sarria on the Camino Francés. It is four or five days to Santiago. By bicycle it does not count: the Pilgrim's Office requires 200 km, so you have to start much earlier.

**Is the Hospitales route worth it?**

It is the most celebrated stage of the route and it is also 4.5 km shorter than the Pola de Allande alternative. But it has no services at all across 23 km, the two water fountains often fail, and in snow, fog or a poor forecast you should give it up and drop down via Pola de Allande. Treat it as a mountain day.

**Where does the Camino Primitivo join the Camino Francés?**

At Melide, about 53 km from Santiago. From there you share the route and the albergues with the Francés. One official tourism site places the junction at Palas de Rei, but the Primitivo does not pass through there.

**How many people walk the Camino Primitivo?**

27,873 pilgrims in 2025, 5.25% of the 530,844 the Pilgrim's Office dashboard adds up to, read on 25 August 2026. It is the fifth busiest route, ahead of the Camino del Norte (21,521, sixth) by 6,352 pilgrims, 29.5% more. Until 25 August 2026 this page said 21,521 for the Primitivo: that was the Norte's figure, and it was wrong.

**Can you walk the Primitivo in winter?**

No section is officially closed, but several albergues shut between November and March, including the public one in Grado, and the Hospitales variant is out of the question in snow or fog. With that in mind, yes.

## Keep reading

**[All the Camino routes](https://santiago.es/en/camino-de-santiago/routes)** — Comparison — The eight routes with distances, stages, difficulty and what share of pilgrims walks each one. — Read the guide

**[The Compostela and the credencial](https://santiago.es/en/camino-de-santiago/compostela-certificate)** — The certificate — The 100 continuous kilometres, the 200 by bike, and what the Pilgrim's Office actually says. — Read the guide

**[Arriving in Santiago](https://santiago.es/en/camino-de-santiago/arriving)** — The last day — The pilgrim mass, the botafumeiro and what to sort out before you walk into the city. — Read the guide

**[How many nights to stay in Santiago](https://santiago.es/en/camino-de-santiago/how-many-nights)** — After the Camino — What 51 pilgrims told us they actually did, and why two nights is the most common answer. — Read the guide

**[How many pilgrims reach Santiago](https://santiago.es/en/camino-de-santiago/pilgrim-statistics)** — The numbers — Figures by route, by month and by country, from the Pilgrim's Office. — Read the guide

**[The best albergues in Santiago](https://santiago.es/en/where-to-stay/best-albergues)** — Sleeping on arrival — Where to sleep on the last night, and why there is no public albergue in the old town. — Read the guide

**[Botafumeiro schedule](https://santiago.es/en/what-to-see/botafumeiro)** — What to see — The dates it is guaranteed to fly, and the August 2026 notice about it being out of action. — Read the guide