Camino Primitivo

Hence this hard but beautiful route is called the Camino Primitivo.

It has landscapes of extraordinary beauty, good waymarking and an adequate, continuous network of lodgings along its more than 300 kilometers. However, it is famous for its hard stages, which alternate steep climbs with long descents, on typical mountain and inland routes.

It is the first historic route for which references survive. This visit to the tomb marked the beginning of the Camino de Santiago, and the devotion of Alfonso II, nicknamed the Chaste, helped establish the cult of the Saint. After this first pilgrimage, the king ordered a church to be built, the first dedicated to Santiago, and financed the monastery of San Paio de Antealtares. Today the original route is still kept.

The Camino leaves Oviedo and runs through western Asturias through towns such as Grado, Salas, Tineo or Pola de Allande. The entry into Galicia is made at A Fonsagrada, in Lugo, after crossing the Acebo, the mountain area that separates Asturias from Galicia: one of the hardest stages. Lugo, of Roman origin, is one of the key points of the route in Galicia. It is usually done in 13 or 14 stages, joining the last 3 with the Camino Francés at Melide.

One of the hardest pilgrimage routes. It alternates climbs and descents, along muddy paths and mountain and inland trails. There is hardly any contact with busy roads and the day-to-day is spent fully in nature. For pilgrims on bicycles it is one of the most demanding routes and has the worst conditions for cycling, especially in autumn and winter. Since 2015 it has been declared a World Heritage Site by Unesco, together with the Camino del Norte.

Camino de San Salvador. The Primitivo has a variant that makes Oviedo a destination: the Camino de San Salvador, which links León with the Asturian capital across the Cantabrian mountains. Its origin goes back to the Middle Ages, when many pilgrims decided to turn off at León to visit the relics in the Cathedral of San Salvador, in Oviedo, and continue from there to Santiago. From those days we have inherited the saying: «Quien va a Santiago y no va a Salvador, honra al criado y deja al Señor».

Tap a stage to see its page: distance, map, elevation profile and kilometres to Santiago.

• Oviedo - Grado (26.2 km)
• Grado - Salas (21.4 km)
• Salas - Tineo (19.6 km)
• Tineo - Pola de Allande (28.6 km)
• Pola de Allande - A Mesa (21.4 km)
• A Mesa - Grandas de Salime (15.8 km)
• Grandas de Salime - Alto do Acevo (12.6 km)
• Alto do Acevo - Paradavella (24.6 km)
• Paradavella - Castroverde (19.8 km)
• Castroverde - Lugo (22.1 km)
• Lugo - San Romao da Retorta (18.8 km)
• San Romao da Retorta - Melide (28.4 km)
• Melide - Arzúa (14.5 km)
• Arzúa - Arca (O Pino) (18.4 km)
• Arca (O Pino) - Santiago de Compostela (20.2 km)

Oviedo: there are trains from Madrid, Barcelona, Zaragoza, Valencia or León (Renfe). The bus station is on Calle Pepe Cosmen, central and close to the train station, and companies such as Alsa arrive there. Asturias airport is in Castrillón, 47 km away, with regular Alsa buses to the city. By car, the A-66 arrives, connecting with Avilés and Gijón and with the A-8.