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STAGES Our best tips for stages and acommodation on Camino San Salvador

Here is our daily itinerary for Camino San Salvador – and our honest opinion on the places we stayed

We walked Camino San Salvador in six days – if you prefer using more or less days, check out our suggestions at the end of this blog post. In retrospect, we wouldn’t change anything about the stages we walked, because they gave us sufficient time to truly enjoy the sceneries:

Arrival day León 0 kms
1. León – La Robla 27 kms
2. La Robla – Poladura de Tercia 24 kms
3. Poladura de Tercia – Pajares 14,7 kms
4. Pajares – Bendueños 17,1 kms
5. Bendueños – Mieres del Camino 26,7 kms
6. Mieres del Camino – Oviedo 19,5 kms

Check out our guide for Camino San Salvador right here


León

Arrival day 0 km

We stayed at Covent Garden Hostel (commercial link) – a homey albergue in the heart of León directly on the camino. Driven by Juán, who gladly welcomes pilgrims, even if you arrive late. Just write him a message.

León – La Robla

1. stage 27 kms

We stayed at Pensión Mundo på (+34 987 570 733). There is also Hostal Ordóñez de Celis (+34 987 572 342) i the town. The room was tiny and with non existing ventilation, but the host was nice and friendly. There is also a public albergue in La Robla. Another possibility is to stay back in Cabanillas instead – a charming little place without any services:


La Robla – Poladura de Tercia

2. stage 24 kms

We stayed at Posada el Embrujo (booking posadaelembrujo@gmail.com) where we had dinner and breakfast as well. There is a nice garden for a sunny afternoon:

We thought the place would be somewhat fancy, but it’s actually a rather basic inn with disposable bed linen so we were glad to have our sleeping bags and merino mummy liners:

The food was good. The best thing about staying for the night in Poladura de Tercia is you get the wonderful morning light over the mountains:


Poladura de Tercia – Pajares

3. stage 14,7 kms

We booked Posada Real de Pajares (commercial link). A bit pricy and special being alone at home in a huge posada – ice cold and sparkling clean. To begin with we disliked the location right at the main road – but luckily we didn’t hear the cars indoor and had a good night’s sleep.


Our Spanish was accurately sufficient to understand the lady on the phone telling us where to find the keys:

There is a pool in the garden with a wonderful view of the mountains. Too cold for October, but a scoop if you stay here during summer.

Pajares – Bendueños

4. stage 17,1 kms

We took a little detour off camino to reach the parroquial Albergue Bendueños. The location is magic with the views of the mountains and the church as nearest neighbor. Wonderful terrasse with evening sun and cows grazing around the albergue. By far the best place we stayed on the whole camino and well worth the 1,6 + 1,6 kms detour.

Albergue Bendueños is placed 1,6 km off camino, and it is well signposted in the hamlet of Herias where to turn left uphill for Bendueños (what an ascent…):

Bendueños is a parroquial hostel which means it is run by the church. The church of Santuario de Nuestra Señora De Bendueños is the nearest neighbor. Bendueños is donativo which means you pay what you are able to.

Enjoy the gigantic key for the church and the subtle sunbeam on the Madonna:

Albergue Bendueños is driven by lovely Sandra, who also cooked for us and came to welcome us. Find Sandra on Whats App +34 674 67 17 06  – she appreciates a message a day or two in advance no matter where you will start your day from, because she wants to make sure she has enough food..


Bendueños – Mieres del Camino

5. stage 26,7 kms

We stayed at Hotel Mieres del Camino (commercial link) – 59 USD for an ok room. Originally we wanted to stay at the pension in La Peña, but both the pension and the hostel in La Peña were closed due to corona. The other pilgrims we met had stayed at a temporary hostel at the university campus – private rooms and ok. We had really nice dinner in the sidreria to the left on the little plaza behind this statue:


Mieres del Camino – Oviedo

6. stage 19,5 kms

Do you want to walk other stages?

There are many ways to divide the 120 kms of Camino San Salvador. Check out our suggestions here:

1. León – Buiza 40 kms
2. Buiza – Pajares 24 kms
3. Pajares – Pola de Lena 25 kms
4. Pola de Lena – Oviedo 34 kms

Beware you have to be in real good physical shape to walk Camino San Salvador in four days – you won’t have much time to enjoy the sceneries.

1. León – La Robla 27 kms
2. La Robla – Poladura de Tercia 24 kms
3. Poladura de Tercia – Bendueños 30 kms
4. Bendueños – Mieres del Camino 25 kms
5. Mieres del Camino – Oviedo 19 kms

The downside of these stages is the very long day 3 – a hilly and very scenic part we were glad we split up. Another downside is the fact that day 4 will be almost entirely on asphalt – at least the 21 kms from Campomanes to Mieres del Camino. You can solve that by choosing these stages:

1. León – La Robla 27 kms
2. La Robla – Poladura de Tercia 24 kms
3. Poladura de Tercia – Bendueños 30 kms
4. Bendueños – Pola de Lena 10,9 kms
5. Pola de Lena – Oviedo 34 kms

You can also choose these five stages:

1. León – La Robla 27 kms
2. La Robla – Poladura de Tercia 24 kms
3. Poladura de Tercia – Pajares (or Llanos de Somerón) 15 kms (or 18 kms)
4. Pajares (or Llanos de Somerón) – Pola de Lena 25 kms ( or 22 kms)
5. Pola de Lena – Oviedo 34 km

The downside is that you surpass the magic Albergue Bendueños…

1. Léon – La Robla 27,2 kms
2. La Robla – Poladura de Tercia 23,4 kms
3. Poladura de Tercia – Pajares 13,7 kms
4. Pajares – Bendueñas 16,3 kms
5. Bendueñas – Mieres del Camino 23,6 kms
6. Mieres del Camino – Oviedo 18,3 kms

Those are the stages we walked and we would definitely choose them again. The only downside was that day 4 was almost entirely on asphalt – at least the 21 kms from Campomanes to Mieres del Camino. You can avoid this by choosing these stages for the last two days:

5. Bendueños – Pola de Lena 10,9 kms
6. Pola de Lena – Oviedo 34 kms

1. León – Cabanillas 17 kms
2. Cabanillas – La Robla 10 kms
3. La Robla – Poladura 24 kms
4. Poladura – Pajares (or Llanos de Somerón) 15 kms (or 18 kms)
5. Pajares (or Llanos de Somerón) – Pola de Lena 25 kms (or 22 kms)
6. Pola de Lena – La Peña (Mieres) 15 kms
7. La Peña (Mieres) – Oviedo 19 kms

The downside is that you surpass the magic Albergue Bendueños…

1. León – Cabanillas 17 kms
2. Cabanillas – La Robla 10 kms
3. La Robla – Buiza 15 kms
4. Buiza – Poladura 9 kms
5. Poladura – Pajares (or Llanos de Somerón) 15 kms (or 18 kms)
6. Pajares – Bendueños/Campomanes 15 kms (or 16.6 kms)
7. Bendueños/Campomanes – La Peña (Mieres) 26.6 kms (or 25 kms)
8. La Peña (Mieres) – Oviedo 19 kms

Really good stages if you are physically challenged or you simply want lots of time to enjoy this scenic camino. Beware that 21 kms out of 26 kms on day 7 are on asphalt along a noisy motorway.

1. León – Cabanillas 17 kms
2. Cabanillas – La Robla 10 kms
3. La Robla – Buiza 15 kms
4. Buiza – Poladura 9 kms
5. Poladura – Pajares 15 kms
6. Pajares – Bendueños/Campomanes 15 kms (or 16.6 kms)
7. Bendueños/Campomanes – Pola de Lena 11.6 kms (or 10 kms)
8. Pola de Lena – La Peña (Mieres) 15 kms
9. La Peña (Mieres) – Oviedo 19 kms

Really good stages if you are physically challenged or you simply want lots of time to enjoy this scenic camino. Beware that day 8 is entirely on asphalt along a noisy motorway.

Which albergues are open after corona?

In October 2021 almost all the public albergues were closed on Camino San Salvador. This camino is truly not overrun by pilgrims, so if you are ok with private rooms and hostels, you won’t have any problems finding acommodation. We suggest you book a couple of days in advance to make sure the acommodation is actually open for bookings. Keep yourself updated on which albergues are open on www.gronze.com.

The donativo albergue Bendueños has survived corona. Fantastic place!

What does “commercial link” mean?

Disclosure: This blog post contains commercial links. That means that if you book accommodation via the available commercial links, a small share of the payment goes to finance Camino Life. When booking through Camino Life you support our blog, and booking.com earns less. Your price remains the same.

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