Camino de Santiago from Sarria. ¿Cómo llegar?

Peregrinos caminando en Sarria

How to get to Sarria to do the Camino de Santiago?

Sarria, in the province of Lugo, has more than 800 years of history behind it and is more than accustomed to the tourism of pilgrims through its streets; the reason? It is the starting point of the Camino de Santiago most chosen among the pilgrims who begin their adventure year after year. The reason is that Sarria marks the starting point with the minimum distance to get the compostela (a stretch of at least 100 km is required). You can walk from Sarria to Santiago de Compostela in just five days (with stages that are around 20 km), a goal that can be accomplished for most pilgrims, both by time and by physical condition, but in return this stretch is by far the more crowded of all the Jacobean routes, where we will find the highest concentration of walkers and bicigrinos and therefore, it may be that problems to find bed in hostels in high season.

How to get to Sarria by train

The communications of Sarria are very good with the rest of Spain, with daily direct trains from Madrid (except Saturdays), Lugo and Barcelona; the latter can also be taken in several provincial capitals of the northeast as Tarragona, Lleida, Zaragoza, Pamplona, ​​Vitoria, Burgos, Palencia and León. To get to Sarria by train from the south of the Peninsula, you have to transfer to Madrid and from Valencia, you can travel to Tarragona and then take the train from Barcelona. Although traveling by train to Sarria is not the cheapest option, it is the most recommended for comfort and for us to start enjoying the scenery even before we start walking.

How to get to Sarria by bus

If you travel more cheaply by road, there are daily direct buses from Santiago (Freire company) and Lugo (company Monforte) to Sarria, with multiple daily frequencies. There are no direct buses from Madrid to Sarria; It would be necessary to travel first by bus (ALSA) to Santiago de Compostela or Lugo (all leave from T4, Estación Sur and Moncloa). There are no direct buses from Barcelona either; You have to travel first to Santiago or Lugo (two daily frequencies per ALSA). For the rest of large Spanish cities, it is advisable to choose the train or plane to Santiago.

How to get to Sarria by car

From Madrid

Traveling by car to do the Camino de Santiago is not recommended (it is best to leave from home with your backpack and forget about the car for a few days). However, some pilgrims are willing to leave their car at starting points such as Sarria, parking them in private parking lots, then return for it and return home comfortably. If this is your case and parts from Madrid, you can reach Sarria in less than 5 hours; you must take the A-6 towards Galicia and in the province of Lugo take the exit 479 to join the CP-1611. You have to travel several kilometers to take the detour to the left of the LU-546 to Sarria.

From Barcelona

If you live in Barcelona, ​​traveling by car to Sarria is not advisable both for the distance (about 1,000 km) and for the tolls to be paid for both variants (AP-2 and A-6). Between fuel and tolls both on the way and back, it is much cheaper to travel by plane or train. If you still decide to travel from Barcelona by car to Sarria, you have to leave Barcelona towards Zaragoza on the B-23 and take the toll roads AP-7, AP-2 or AP-1 towards Burgos. Once we reach the province of Burgos, we have to take the A-66 to the exit 143, to deviate to the AP-71 towards Astorga until the exit 37, with which we will finally connect with the A-6. We take the highway to A Coruña and from this point, we must follow the same steps as from Madrid (exit 479, CP-1611 and LU-546 to Sarria).

How to get to Sarria by plane

Traveling by plane to Sarria is without doubt the fastest option if we start from Madrid or Barcelona, ​​due to the short duration of the flight and the really cheap prices. From Madrid we can fly to Santiago de Compostela (Lavacolla airport) in a journey of just over an hour for around 60 euros; from Barcelona we can fly in around two hours with tickets of less than 50 euros generally. Once we land in Santiago de Compostela, we can take a bus to Sarria (Monbus company) that takes less than three hours or travel by train, which will take us two hours.