Variante Histórica

The inland historic line of the Camino del Norte through Vegadeo

TolSantiago de Compostela

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The Variante Histórica is shown in yellow; the purple line is the Camino del Norte it belongs to — zoom out to see the whole way to Santiago.

Distance193 km
Walking time—
Elevation profile · 3,648 m ascent
0 m250 m500 m750 m0 km50 km100 km150 km200 km

The Variante Histórica is the older line of the Camino del Norte between Asturias and Galicia. Instead of crossing the long bridge into Ribadeo it goes inland through Vegadeo and Trabada, following what is believed to be the original medieval path before rejoining the main route near Mondoñedo.

Walk the Variante Histórica with Camino.Today

Plan your stages on the map, see the elevation profile and the weather for every hour of your walk, find albergues along the way and talk to pilgrims on the same route — free, offline-ready, in English, Spanish and Russian.

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The Variante Histórica (right column) leaves the Camino del Norte and follows an inland route through Vegadeo instead of the modern coastal alignment.

It avoids the long bridge crossing and follows what is believed to be an older historic path before rejoining the main route.

Difficulty

Moderate.

Places along the way

Vegadeo

Km 10

A market town at the head of the Ribadeo estuary, on the Asturian side of the border with Galicia.

Stages

Every pilgrim walks the Variante Histórica at a different pace, so this page does not prescribe daily stages. In the Camino.Today app you pick any two towns on the route and get the stage between them — distance, walking time, elevation profile and the weather for each hour of the walk. Plan the whole Camino stage by stage before you leave, or decide each morning how far you go today; the plan is yours to change at any time.

Towns along the way

Distances from Tol. Every town and village within a kilometre of the path, as shown in the app.

  1. 0 kmTol
  2. 47.8 kmMondoñedo
  3. 51 kmMaariz
  4. 56.3 kmLousada
  5. 61.2 kmGontán
  6. 66.6 kmAs Paredes
  7. 71.1 kmMartiñán
  8. 81.5 kmVilalba
  9. 86.7 kmSan Xoan de Alba
  10. 93.3 kmPígara
  11. 98.6 kmBaamonde
  12. 103.5 kmSan Breixo de Parga
  13. 110.1 kmA Lagoa
  14. 122.2 kmA Roxica
  15. 136 kmSobrado dos Monxes
  16. 142.4 kmMadelos
  17. 150.4 kmSendelle
  18. 156.8 kmArzúa
  19. 181.7 kmSan Paio
  20. 188.2 kmSan Marcos
  21. 193.1 kmSantiago de Compostela

Common questions

How long is the Variante Histórica?

193 km from Tol to Santiago de Compostela, with about 3,648 m of climbing along the way.

How difficult is the Variante Histórica?

Moderate.

When is the best time to walk the Variante Histórica?

Late April to early June and mid-September to mid-October are the most comfortable windows: mild weather, long days and everything open. July and August are hot inland and busy; from November to March many private albergues close.

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