The Vía de la Plata and the Camino Sanabrés: 994.6 km, 47 stages, and where the climbing is

By August Frederik Kramer, who has walked the Camino twice · Last updated 20 September 2026

The Vía de la Plata is 994.6 km from Seville to Santiago on our track, 47 stages on our plan, which is 6 weeks and 5 days, and it climbs 11,724 m: 11.8 m for every kilometre walked, flatter than 7 of the ten routes on this site. That average is the least useful number on this page, because the route is two routes, and the climbing is almost all in the second.

Seville to Granja de Moreruela, where the Sanabrés turns off on day 29, is 636.4 km and 29 stages, and climbs 6,065 m: 9.5 m per kilometre, flatter than any whole route on this site, the Portugués included. Granja de Moreruela to Santiago, the Camino Sanabrés, is 358.2 km and 18 stages, and climbs 5,659 m: 15.8 m per kilometre, 36% of the distance carrying 48% of the climbing.

Eight starting points, one track

Each row is a place people start from, with the day you set out from it on our plan from Seville, what is left to the cathedral on our track, how many of our stages that is, the metres you will climb, the climb per kilometre, and the highest point still ahead of you.

Mérida, 10 days out of Seville with 774.3 km and 37 stages left, is where the Camino Mozárabe from Granada joins, at the same node on our track; what it adds is in the Camino Mozárabe guide. Salamanca is 469.0 km out in 23 stages, Zamora 401.6 in 20, and from there the climb per kilometre only rises, because everything hard is still ahead.

The Camino Sanabrés: 358.2 km, and every climbing day on the route

The fork is at Granja de Moreruela, the end of day 29; the route we hold is the Sanabrés, through Puebla de Sanabria and Ourense, and the branch north to Astorga is not measured here. The route’s high point, 1,352 m, is on day 35 from Puebla de Sanabria to Lubián. All 6 stages that climb 20 m or more per kilometre are on the Sanabrés, the first of them day 36, and 4 of them are in the steepest tenth of the 214 stages we measure across the site, every one of them after Laza on day 38.

The biggest descent is day 38, Veiga de Nostre to Laza, 829 m down, and it comes the day before the first of those four. Descent is what damages feet rather than lungs; why is in our guide to the ten worst descents.

From Ourense: the last 109.9 km, and the steepest

Ourense is 109.9 km from the cathedral on our track, 6 stages, and those stages climb 2,337 m: 21.3 m per kilometre, 1.8 times the route’s average and the steepest hundred kilometres on it. Ourense clears the 100 km the Compostela requires; the next stage end, Cea, is 92.6 km out and does not. Where that line falls on the other routes is in our guide to the last 100 km.

The 47 stages, measured

Generated from the route itself rather than copied from a guidebook, and split where our stage planner picks: 47 days averaging 21.2 km. Climb and per-kilometre figures come from the same elevation profile as the route page, so the two cannot disagree.

Only 6 of the 47 stages climb 20 m or more per kilometre, and none of them is before day 36. For 29 days the route climbs less than the flattest whole route on this site; then, from Puebla de Sanabria on day 35, it is a mountain route to the end.

What this page does not measure

The Astorga branch from Granja de Moreruela, which joins the Camino Francés and is a different walk. The Camino Mozárabe, whose numbers are in the Camino Mozárabe guide. Nothing here is about heat, water, or the distances between beds in Extremadura, which we do not measure; the numbers are the route’s. If you are choosing between routes rather than reading about this one, our comparison of all ten routes puts all ten side by side.

The full Vía de la Plata route page: every stage, the elevation profile and the app

Common questions

How long is the Vía de la Plata?

994.6 km from Seville to Santiago on our track, in 47 stages: 6 weeks and 5 days of walking. It climbs 11,724 m, 11.8 m per kilometre.

Where does the Camino Sanabrés start?

At Granja de Moreruela, 636.4 km and 29 stages out of Seville, where the Vía de la Plata forks. The Sanabrés is 358.2 km and 18 stages from there to Santiago.

Is the Vía de la Plata flat?

To the fork, yes: 636.4 km at 9.5 m per kilometre, flatter than any whole route on this site. After it, no: the Sanabrés climbs 15.8 m per kilometre and holds every climbing day on the route.

Does starting at Ourense earn the Compostela?

Yes. Ourense is 109.9 km from the cathedral on our track, over the 100 km required. The next stage end, Cea, is 92.6 km out and does not qualify.

What is the highest point on the Vía de la Plata?

1,352 m, on day 35 from Puebla de Sanabria to Lubián, on the Sanabrés. Seville to the fork tops out at 1,146 m.

How far is it from Salamanca to Santiago?

469.0 km in 23 stages on our plan. From Zamora it is 401.6 km in 20, and from Mérida 774.3 km in 37.

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