---
title: "Caldas de Reis → Padrón"
description: "Fifth Camino Portugués stage: 18.6 km to the town that gives the peppers their name, crossing the river Ulla, with the optional detour to Herbón."
url: https://santiago.es/en/camino-de-santiago/stages-tui-santiago/caldas-de-reis-padron
locale: en
---

# Caldas de Reis → Padrón

Stage 5 of 6

18.6 kilometres that gronze.com calls possibly the finest scenery on the whole Camino Portugués: riverside woods, the crossing of the Ulla and Rosalía de Castro's home town.

[By Cesar Rodriguez · local guide](https://santiago.es/en/author)

**Caldas de Reis–Padrón stage card**

| Distance | Approx. time | Elevation | Difficulty |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 18.6 km | 4h30-4h45 | +187 m / −209 m | 2 of 5 |

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**](https://santiago.es/en/camino-de-santiago/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.

Optional detour: the monastery of Herbón

About 3 km before Padrón a turn-off leads to the **Franciscan monastery of Herbón**, with a donation-based hostel open from April to October. The first **Padrón peppers** came out of its gardens, introduced by the Franciscans: if you like [Galician food](https://santiago.es/en/where-to-eat), the detour has a certain culinary pilgrimage value.

## 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.

Sigue leyendo

**[Pontevedra → Caldas de Reis](https://santiago.es/en/camino-de-santiago/stages-tui-santiago/pontevedra-caldas-de-reis)** — Stage 4 — 21.1 km, the most manageable of the stretch, with thermal springs on arrival. — Leer la guía

**[Padrón → Santiago](https://santiago.es/en/camino-de-santiago/stages-tui-santiago/padron-santiago)** — Stage 6 — 24.4 km, the longest of the stretch, to the Obradoiro. — Leer la guía

**[All the Tui–Santiago stages](https://santiago.es/en/camino-de-santiago/stages-tui-santiago)** — Back to the hub — The full summary of the six days of the Camino Portugués. — Leer la guía