Camino Finisterre

In this first stage, you’ll hike up through ancient forests which provide a lot of shade. On the hilltop just outside the city, you’ll have a great view of Santiago. The trail continuously meanders through little villages and countryside before heading into the trees again. The municipality of Ames is very beautiful with its ancient bridge to cross the river Tambre. After that, you’ll soon reach the town of Negreira. In Negreira you can stay in one of the hostels, which are simple but all you need. There are also a handful of shops and restaurants in Negreira.

Leaving Negreira behind, you head further west, walking on big dirt roads and through the countryside. Cornfields, pine trees, and eucalyptus are native vegetation here. You’ll pass numerous farms and it’s a very peaceful environment to walk through. Nevertheless, it can be pretty windy in these areas, especially on the hilltops. A nice place to stay is Monte Aro, just a few kilometers before Olveiroa. It is a pretty little hostel located in the heart of the Galician region, where you can have a delicious meal and breakfast before you continue toward the coast.

During the third stage, you continue mainly on dirt roads along leafy vegetation. You cross the village of Hospital and soon after you reach a roundabout where the ways to Fisterra and Muxía separate. From here you descend to Cee, the largest municipality of the Death Coast and a picturesque town with colorful houses and little fishing boats. Corcubión is now just around the corner. Its old quarter had been declared a historical-artistic site. On the Rúa San Marcos, you come to the church of the same name, devoted to the town’s patron saint.

The last stage of this trail takes you from Corcubión to the end of the world at Fisterra; a short stage with only 14.2 kilometers. You start with a steep climb that leads to the village of Vilar. You then cross a region that has one of the most beautiful coasts in the Iberian Peninsula, with large calm beaches, rocky cliffs, and a rough sea that has left hundreds of stories and legends of shipwrecks and rescues. You follow the coastline past Sardiñeiro and then pass the long beach of A Langosteira. The town of Fisterra emerges like an island in the background.

Through sand dunes, the path leads into Fisterra past a big stone cross on a slope. You then soon walk up to the mythical lighthouse which marks the end of the Camino Finisterre with the 0 km milestone. There’s a cozy little bar next to the lighthouse where you can enjoy a cold beer, but not after you’ve walked to the back of the lighthouse and experienced the fierce wind that is home to these cliffs. If you’re lucky you can watch the sunset at the cape to have a beautiful ending of your hike. Buen Camino!

Although the Camino Finisterre can be hiked all year round, the best time to hike this trail is from March to November. This is because the weather is much more pleasant to hike in these months. Winters are mild but they are also quite wet. April to June and September to October are popular times to experience the Camino so there will be a lot of pilgrims on the trail and the hostels can be crowded.

Depending on when you plan to hike this trail, there’s a chance you may experience bad weather on this trail. So it’s recommended to bring proper rain gear, as it can rain a lot in this area. Especially in autumn, certain paths can be flooded by extensive rainfall and you can stumble upon fallen trees along the way.

You can get a map of the trail at the official Pilgrim’s Reception Office in Santiago which provides you with all the information you need about waymarking, altitudes, accommodation, and services along the way.

The trail is marked very well. Besides the big milestones, you follow little square blue tiles with the yellow shell of St. Jacob, the famous symbol of the Camino.