Camino Primitivo

Walker on a hill path near the Puerto del Palo, Asturias, with mist in the valleys

Photo: José Antonio Gil Martínez, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Distance
about 320 km (199 miles)
Country
Spain
Difficulty
Moderate to challenging
Type of trip
Hiking trail

The Camino Primitivo starts in Oviedo, the old capital of Asturias, and heads west over the mountains into Galicia. It goes through Lugo and joins the Camino Francés at Melide for the last two days into Santiago. It’s about 320 km. The Gronze guide splits Oviedo to Melide into 11 stages, so with the two on the Francés it’s around 13 days of walking. The name means the original way. In the early ninth century Alfonso II, king of Asturias, went from Oviedo to see the newly found tomb of St James, and he’s counted as the first pilgrim king.

It’s well under half the length of the Francés, which is about 780 km, but there’s a lot more climbing, with long ups and downs most days in Asturias. In 2024 about 24,400 pilgrims finished it, against more than 235,000 on the Francés. You sleep in albergues (pilgrim hostels), guesthouses and hotels. There’s no permit. For the Compostela, the certificate from the Pilgrim’s Office in Santiago, you need to walk at least the last 100 km and get your credencial (pilgrim passport) stamped at the start and end of each stage. Lugo is about 100 km from Santiago, and a third of the people who finish start there. Since 2015 the route has been on the UNESCO World Heritage list, along with the Camino del Norte.

Highlights along the way

  1. Oviedo: For centuries pilgrims came to the cathedral of San Salvador for its relics before going on to Santiago. The walk starts in the city, and the first stage, to Grado, is 25.2 km.
  2. The Hospitales route: After Borres you choose between the Hospitales route over high, empty hills, 24.1 km to Berducedo, and the way through Pola de Allande, which is 4.5 km longer. Hospitales has no villages or services and you’re exposed to wind and cold even in summer.
  3. The drop to the Salime reservoir: On the stage from Berducedo to Grandas de Salime you go down from 1,040 m to 210 m in 8.2 km, on tracks and then a footpath. After the reservoir it’s a long climb up the road to Grandas.
  4. The Roman walls of Lugo: The walls were built between 263 and 276 AD and run for about 2.1 km round the old town. You can walk along the top all the way round. They’ve been a UNESCO World Heritage site since 2000.
  5. Melide: This is where the Primitivo meets the Francés and the Gronze stages end. From here it’s two days into Santiago with a lot more company.

Distance

About 320 km (199 miles), the figure the Confraternity of St James gives. Gronze puts Oviedo to Melide at about 253 km by Hospitales or 258 km by Pola de Allande, in 11 stages of 15.9 to 29.5 km, and then there are two days on the Francés. In Galicia the Xunta de Galicia measures 166.9 km from Alto do Acevo, where its stages begin, to Santiago.

Best time to go

Most pilgrims finish in August. Watch the weather on the high ground in Asturias. Gronze says to take the Pola de Allande route instead of Hospitales if the forecast is bad, and always in winter, and to carry clothes for wind and cold even in summer (Gronze, November 2026). For the public albergues in Galicia, check the Xunta de Galicia’s site, caminodesantiago.gal, before you go.

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