Camino Lebaniego

A lane past fields at Lebeña, below limestone peaks in cloud

Photo: Simon Burchell, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Distance
about 73 km (45 miles)
Country
Spain
Difficulty
Moderate
Type of trip
Hiking trail

The Camino Lebaniego is a pilgrim path in Cantabria. It leaves the Camino del Norte at San Vicente de la Barquera, on the coast, and heads inland to the monastery of Santo Toribio de Liébana, just outside Potes. The monastery keeps what tradition says is the largest piece of the Lignum Crucis, the cross Christ died on, and pilgrims have been walking there since the Middle Ages. The official site splits it into three long stages, San Vicente to Cades, Cades to Cabañes and Cabañes to Santo Toribio, but says that’s only one way of doing it. Its own advice, if you haven’t trained, is to keep under 20 km a day, so four or five days is easier going.

You sleep in pilgrim albergues and village guesthouses. To use the albergues you need the route’s own credential, which you can get in San Vicente, in Potes or at the monastery. Not every albergue opens all year, and if you want to sleep in Cades itself, book ahead. At Muñorrodero the yellow arrows carry on to Santiago and red ones turn off for Santo Toribio. Some stretches are on roads with no hard shoulder. At the end the monastery issues the Lebannensis, a certificate for doing the route on foot, by bike or on horseback, from the stamps in your credential.

Highlights along the way

  1. Senda Fluvial del Nansa: From Muñorrodero an 8 km riverside path runs through woodland and along wooden walkways to Camijanes, past three fishermen’s huts and the Mirador del Poeta. The official site says Camijanes has no bar at the moment, so carry water.
  2. Ferrería de Cades: An ironworks finished in 1752. A channel brought water down from 1,000 m to drive it and two flour mills. Guided visits have to be booked.
  3. Lafuente and Cicera: Lafuente’s church of Santa Juliana dates from around 1200 and already has pointed arches. From Cicera a detour of about 3 km climbs to the Mirador de Santa Catalina, which looks over the Picos de Europa and into the gorge of La Hermida.
  4. Santa María de Lebeña: After 9.6 km of oak and beech woods from Cicera you reach this pre-Romanesque church, built in 925 by Christians who had come north from Moorish Spain.
  5. Potes and Santo Toribio: The public albergue in Potes is in the old Gothic church of San Vicente. The monastery is 4.2 km further on. Its Puerta del Perdón, the Door of Forgiveness, only opens in Holy Years.

Distance

About 73 km (45 miles) in all. The official stage pages give 28.5 km (17.7 miles) with 577 m of climbing from San Vicente de la Barquera to Cades, 30.53 km (19 miles) with 1,525 m from Cades to Cabañes, and 13.7 km (8.5 miles) with 339 m from Cabañes to Santo Toribio. The route’s main page says 71.73 km, but its three stages add up to 72.73 km.

Best time to go

The official site doesn’t name a best season, but it warns that not every albergue opens all year and suggests a fleece, gloves and a warmer sleeping bag in winter. The second riverside stretch of the Nansa path, near Cabanzón, is only passable in summer when the river is low, and expect mud even then. A Holy Year falls when 16 April, the saint’s day, is a Sunday, and that’s when the Puerta del Perdón opens. The last one ran through 2023 and 2024, and by that rule the next is 2028. Check caminolebaniego.com for albergue dates before you go (dates checked November 2026).

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