The last 100 km: Sarria to Santiago de Compostela

Sarria is the most popular starting town on any Camino, because it is the first town on the Camino Francés that sits more than 100 km from Santiago. Five walking days are left from here, all of them in green Galicia: eucalyptus woods, small villages, Romanesque churches, and a path that is never empty for long.

115 km (71 miles) 5 walking days, one stage a day +1780 m total climb −1987 m total descent Over the 100 km Compostela minimum

The stretch at a glance

Elevation sampled from terrain data (Terrarium DEM, built on SRTM) along the track, from Sarria to Santiago only.

Open this route in the map app Plan these days in Plan mode Full Camino Francés guide

Your plan, day by day

This is the planner preset for the Sarria start: the guide's own stages, one per day, with the night towns in order. Tap any day for its stage page, with the profile slice and the services along it. Want shorter or longer days, or a rest day? Open the same route in Plan mode in the map app and regroup the days around your pace.

Day	Walk	Km	Climb	Descent	Walking	Night in
Day 1	Sarria → Portomarín Stage 29 of the Camino Francés	22.0	+324 m	−430 m	6 h 10 min	Portomarín
Day 2	Portomarín → Palas de Rei Stage 30 of the Camino Francés	25.0	+476 m	−282 m	7 h 10 min	Palas de Rei
Day 3	Palas de Rei → Arzúa Stage 31 of the Camino Francés	29.0	+434 m	−600 m	8 h 05 min	Arzúa
Day 4	Arzúa → O Pedrouzo Stage 32 of the Camino Francés	19.0	+286 m	−387 m	5 h 20 min	O Pedrouzo
Day 5	O Pedrouzo → Santiago de Compostela Stage 33 of the Camino Francés	20.0	+260 m	−288 m	5 h 30 min	Santiago de Compostela

Walking time uses 4 km/h plus one hour per 500 m of climb, the same pace as the stage pages.

Why start in Sarria

Services are the densest on any Camino: albergues, cafes, and water in village after village, so you can walk light and stop when you like.
It is the easiest of the three starts to reach and the easiest to walk without planning every bed in advance, outside the peak weeks.
The honest downside: this is the busiest stretch of walking in Spain. In late spring and summer, popular albergues fill early, so book the nights you care about.

Watch for the 100 km marker stone just after Ferreiros, and for Portomarín, a town moved stone by stone up the hill before the Miño reservoir flooded the old one. The Primitivo joins at Melide, between Palas de Rei and Arzúa, and from there the path gets busier still.

Getting to Sarria

Sarria has its own train station and bus links, with connections through Lugo and Ourense. Many walkers fly into Santiago, then take a bus or train back out to Sarria and walk back in over five days.

The Compostela, honestly

The Cathedral's Pilgrim Office asks walkers for at least 100 km on foot, finishing in Santiago, with a credencial stamped along the way: at least two stamps a day over this final stretch is the standing guidance. Sarria gives you 115 km, so every one of these starts qualifies with room to spare. Get the credencial before you start, stamp it in churches, albergues, and bars along the way, and carry it into the office in Santiago.

The other last 100 km starts

From Ferrol: 111 km on the Camino Inglés
From Tui: 117 km on the Camino Portugués
Compare all three starts side by side