Walking the Via de la Plata : A 1,000 km Pilgrimage Across Spain

Pilgrimage on the Via de la Plata

A Camino Journey on the Roman Road to Santiago

The Via de la Plata is one of Europe’s great long-distance pilgrimages - a path of stone and history stretching from the vibrant streets of Seville to the sacred square of Santiago de Compostela. For over a thousand kilometres, this route follows ancient Roman roads, medieval tracks, and rural pathways through the quiet heart of Spain.

When we walked it, we crossed quiet landscapes, passed milestones carved two thousand years ago, and met locals whose hospitality felt as welcoming and timeless.

Why Walk the Via de la Plata?

Walking the Via de la Plata is to follow one of Spain’s oldest north–south corridors, a pilgrimage shaped by nearly two millennia of history. Beginning in Seville, Andalusia, and stretching roughly 1,000 kilometres to Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, the route traces the line of a Roman road whose bridges, milestones, amphitheatres, and stone causeways remain visible - and in some cases still in use - today. The terrain is varied but generally steady, being a mix of paved Roman sections, dirt tracks, farm lanes, and rural paths that carry pilgrims through some of western Spain’s most expansive landscapes.

 
Unlike the Camino Francés, the Via de la Plata sees far fewer walkers, offering long, quiet stages where solitude becomes part of the experience.
 
The route crosses Extremadura’s dehesa woodlands dotted with cork and holm oaks, the open plains of Castile, and eventually Galicia’s rolling green hills. Towns and villages along the way remain largely untouched by mass tourism, preserving regional cuisine and local festivals. With stages that can be long and services occasionally spaced far apart, the Via de la Plata demands preparation, patience, and self-reliance. Typically, this Camino is completed in 35–45 walking days and is best undertaken in the cooler months of March–May or September–October; it is a pilgrimage well-suited to those ready to embrace endurance, slow travel, and time in nature.

Our Day-by-Day Pilgrimage

Over the coming entries, we’ll share our full pilgrimage, stage by stage - with reflections, practical advice, and photographs from the trail. Whether you’re planning to walk it yourself or simply following along from home, we invite you to join us step by step.

Itinerary and Stages on the Via de la Plata:

About the Via de la Plata Camino Pilgrimage

Slow Travel on the Via de la Plata

Beginning the Via de la Plata Camino: Seville to Guillena

Pilgrims on a Roman Road: Guillena to Castilblanco de Los Arroyos

The Pace of Nature: Castilblanco de Los Arroyos to Almaden de la Plata

Every Step a Lesson: Almadena de la Plata to Monesterio

Fields of Gold: Monesterio to Fuente de Cantos

Camino along Country Roads: Fuente de Cantos to Zafra

When Trust is Tested on the Camino: Reflections on Theft on Pilgrimage

A Different Camino Every Day: Zafra to Villafranca de los Barros

Culture Shock and Questions: Villafranca de los Barros to Torremejia

Making Choices on Camino: Torremejia to Merida 

In the Shadow of the Roman Empire: Exploring Merida

Roman Aqueducts, Dams and Baths: Merida to Aljucen

Amazing Vistas and Insights: Aljucen to Alcuescar

Mileposts to Marshes: Alcuescar to Valdesalor

Pilgrims in the City: Valdesalor to Casar de Caceres

Walking Your Own Camino: Casar de Caceres to Canaveral

Forests, Fields and Fence lines: Canaveral to Galisteo

A Camino in Three Parts: Galisteo to Oliva de Plasencia

Where are all the Pilgrims?: Oliva de Plasencia to Aldenueva del Camino  

Into Castilla y León: Aldeanueva del Camino to La Calzada de Bejar

Challenges and Trail Angels: La Calzada de Bejar to Fuenterroble de Salvatierra

Looking Backward, Looking Forward: Fuenterroble de Salvatierra to Morille

Attacked on the Camino: When Peace is Broken on the Way

Halfway and Meseta: Morille to Salamanca

A Day off the Camino Exploring Salamanca

Road to Nowhere: Salamanca to El Cubo del Vino

Cross Country on Camino: El Cubo del Vino to Zamora

Don Quixote in Zamora

Frustrations and Faith on Camino: Zamora to Riego del Camino

Camino Decisions: Riego del Camino to Granja de Moreruela

Via de la Plata and Camino Sanabres: Long Distance Hike or Spiritual Pilgrimage?

Reflecting on Pilgrimage along the Vía de la Plata

The Quiet Way or the Pilgrim Highway: Comparing the Via de la Plata and the Camino Francés

Slow Travel on the Camino

The Via de la Plata isn’t a race to Santiago - it’s an invitation to slow down, to walk with history, and to listen to the landscapes as they change around you. The days can be long, the sun unforgiving, but every stage brings new beauty, new challenges, and a deeper sense of connection to Spain’s people and places.

The Via de la Plata would prove unlike any Camino pilgrimage or long-distance hike we had ever undertaken. Over more than forty days between Seville and Santiago de Compostela, almost nothing went as planned. En route, after long days on the trail, we constantly struggled to find accommodations and supplies. We would have to navigate having a thief in the albergues - and at one point, events would take a violently unexpected turn, leaving one of us with a black eye and a lost tooth.

We set out fully aware of the trail’s reputation: long, gruelling stages, scarce amenities along the way, and even fewer accommodations. Yet even with that knowledge, the relentless focus on logistics, combined with the constant uncertainty of what lay ahead, made this route the toughest journey we had ever faced.  It tested our stamina, patience, and resolve in ways no other Camino had before.

Continuing Our Pilgrimage Across Spain

Reaching Granja de Moreruela brought our journey along the Via de la Plata to an important crossroads. We had followed the historic route north from Seville through Andalusia, Extremadura, and Castile and León, spending weeks walking across agricultural plains, through dehesa woodlands, and into historic cities whose streets still preserve reminders of Spain's Roman past. Yet this pilgrimage had also proved more difficult than almost anything we had previously undertaken. Long distances between communities, uncertain accommodation, difficulties finding supplies, and several deeply troubling encounters had challenged our expectations of the Camino and reminded us that experience does not eliminate the uncertainties of long-distance travel.

Our journey had actually begun farther south, after an unexpected arrival in Cádiz encouraged us to follow the Via Augusta north to Seville. What initially seemed like an opportunity to explore a relatively short pilgrimage route through Andalusia became the beginning of a much longer walk across Spain. The transition onto the Via de la Plata introduced us to an entirely different scale of pilgrimage, where distances, services, weather, and the realities of finding somewhere to sleep increasingly shaped our daily decisions.

At Granja de Moreruela, we faced another choice. Rather than continuing north toward Astorga, we turned northwest onto the Camino Sanabrés, following another historic route toward Santiago de Compostela. This next stage would carry us into different landscapes and communities, offering both new challenges and an opportunity to reconsider what we had experienced over the preceding weeks. Our pilgrimage was continuing, but our understanding of what we wanted and needed from the journey had changed.

For readers interested in discovering how different two pilgrimages to Santiago can be, our earlier Camino Francés offers a revealing contrast. Its more established network of pilgrim services, larger walking community, and familiar traditions provided experiences very different from those we encountered on the Via de la Plata. Both routes introduced us to remarkable landscapes, history, and hospitality, but they also revealed how profoundly the practical circumstances of a journey can influence the experience of pilgrimage.

Looking back, the Via de la Plata remains one of our most complicated walking experiences. We would not dismiss its beauty, history, or the kindness we encountered simply because some parts of the journey were difficult. Nor would we pretend that every challenge was a meaningful lesson or that all unpleasant experiences somehow contributed to the rewards of pilgrimage. Sometimes the difficulties were simply difficulties, and acknowledging them is part of telling the story faithfully.

For readers interested in our other Caminos, long-distance hikes, and journeys by trail, rail, and sail, we invite you to explore the wider Come Walk With Us travel collection.

Buen Camino, and see you on the Way!