Camino de Invierno

General Description: The Camino de Invierno has been developed as an alternate route for the last portion of the Camino francés. For the peregrino the advantages are that it bypasses the height of O Cebreiro and the crowding that occurs starting at Sarria. 261 km from Ponferrada through Monforte de Lemos and Lalín, where the route joins the Sanabrés, to Santiago. For an overview map (source: Camiño de Invierno a Santiago, www.caminodeinvierno.com) click HERE.

Waymarking: Well marked with painted yellow arrows as well as concrete pylons in Galicia.

Terrain:

When to go: July and August will be hot and should be avoided. April into May and September into October are recommended. Climate tables for Ourense and Santiago de Compostela.

Accommodation: There are now a number of pilgrim albergues on this route—as of early 2011 about a dozen. But aside from those there are numerous hotels and pensiones. The site of the Asociación Amigos do Camiño de Santiago por Valdeorras in particular has two good downloads with lists of services.

Guidebooks: The Asociación Amigos do Camiño de Santiago por Valdeorras has a good site devoted to the Invierno including several PDF downloads with distances, services and a calendar of events. (Spanish) They are also a source for the printed guidebook La Guía del Camino de Invierno. There is a textual description (in Spanish) of the route compiled by the Asociación de Camiños a Santiago pola Ribeira Sacra (HERE).

Internet links: The Asociación Amigos do Camiño de Santiago por Valdeorras has a good site devoted to the Invierno and it offers several PDF downloads with distances, services and a calendar of events. (Spanish) The Asociación de Camiños a Santiago pola Ribeira Sacra has a very informative website on the Invierno (Spanish). Also, as this is a new route and not a lot of information is available, the various Internet forums can be of great use. This is a link to a thread on the site Pilgrimage to Santiago that began in 2006 and continues into the present. The Xunta de Galicia has a section with extensive information on that portion of the Camino invierno within Galicia including history, tourism, albergues, other services and Santiago itself.

Other remarks: The Camino de Invierno is scheduled to acquire official status under the Xunta de Galicia and Castilla-León early in 2010. In the interim, most facilities such as waymarking and albergues are already in place. One negative aspect of the Invierno is that from Ponferrada the route is 261 km to Santiago while the francés is only 205 km from that point. The Camino de Invierno is a modern invention and has essentially no historical basis at least between Ponferrada and Lalín.