5-day Camino Lebaniego Walking Holiday

After arrival at Santander or Bilbao airport, you take the bus to the city centre of Santander and from there a direct bus to San Vicente (3 to 4 buses a day, in July and August up to 9, duration 75min). If you arrive in San Vicente de la Barquera with some time, this beautiful historical fishing town is worth an afternoon stroll through its old town and the port.

To avoid a steep and uninteresting section, you will be driven with the luggage transfer part of the way, up to the village of Serdio. Here you will see for the first time the route signs for the Camino Lebaniego, the branch from the Camino de Santiago to the pre-Romanesque monastery of Santo Toribio, which was quite popular among pilgrims in medieval times because of a Lignum Crucis relic. Your route today takes you down to the river Nansa, then Southward along its shore.

Challenge: 13 - 17.5 km / 8 - 11 mi, 300 m ascent, 285 m descent, 4 - 5.5 hrs

Again you will be taken with the luggage transfer to avoid a long section of tarmac road into the valley of Lamasón, you will be dropped off at the small hamlet Lafuente, apparently in the middle of nowhere. A steep surfaced tractor road takes you uphill to the pass Collada de la Hoz (at 665 m) from where you look down upon the Cicera valley and the limestone wall of the Picos de Europa at the back. The rest of the walk is a step back into history, as you traverse the rural hinterland, first down to the village of Cicera (465 m), then up again to the Arceón pass (845 m) and down again to Lebeña. You will have time to visit the unique Mozarabic church Santa Maria de la Lebeña and admire the gothic statue of Mother Mary, before a taxi drives you to your cosy and comfortable rural hotel.

Challenge: 13 km / 8 mi, 750 m ascent, 800 m descent, 5.5 hrs.

Extension from Lebeña to Castro Cillórigo: + 4.5 km / 3 mi, + 2 h, + 250 m ascent, + 200 m descent

After a 10 min transfer to Allende we rejoin the Camino Lebaniego on its last section. First 340 m uphill to Cabañes - a small hamlet with with beautiful views of the valley - then through an old chestnut wood via Pendes and back to Tama. From here, you continue to the nearby medieval town of Potes. Here, we take some time to prepare ourselves for the spiritual climax of the pilgrim's route, which - unfortunately - is not the most interesting part: the last 3 km along the sidewalk of the main road and then up and down to the monastery of Santo Toribio. At the end of the day, there will be a transfer back to the hotel.  

Challenge: 12 km / 7,5 mi, 5 hrs, 530 m ascent, 450 m descent

Up to Santo Toribio: + 3 km / 2 mi, + 1h, + 225 m ascent/descent

After breakfast, you take a bus back to Santander or Bilbao, but during high season an extra night stay at the hotel in Tama is compulsory. You might want to spend this day in the high part of the Picos de Europa, taking the cable car at Fuente Dé and starting at the upper cable car station (1835 m), walking down to Espinama, via the high pastures of Áliva. There are public buses that can take you there and back.

Challenge: 10 km / 6 mi, 4.5 - 5 hrs, 500 m ascent and descent