Program 2: Ribeira Sacra (May 10-17, 2025)

The Ribeira Sacra is a pleasure for the senses. Candidate for World Heritage is crossed by the Miño and Sil rivers, which model a spectacular landscape and give life to its vineyards, arranged on steep terraces for the heroic viticulture practiced by its people. Their forests seem a fairy story and in them we will find the largest concentration of Romanesque churches in Europe. Put on your boots, come here and discover with us all the secrets of this beautiful region.

Dificultad ALTA
Difficult MIDDLE-HIGH
Dificultad ALTA
Total: 99,7 km (16.6 km/day)
Dificultad ALTA
7 hours/day
Dificultad ALTA
Total slope: +- 5500 m (+-916 m/day)

Seoane - Ferrería Vella 0174
Enter a fairytale forest ...
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fly over the Sil River ...
Ferrería Vella - Froxán 0751
admire his jewels of the Romanesque ...
Seoane - Ferrería Vella 0150
and know their heroic viticulture ...
Ferrería Vella - Froxán 0334-1
RIBEIRA SACRA
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Planning 2025 (May 10-17)

This is the initial planning that realizes our mission to show you the most authentic of Ribeira Sacra.

* Day 1 – Check-In Santiago & Transfer to Ourense & Arrival at accommodation. Presentation & Briefing

SATURDAY, MAY 10

Welcome to the Galicia Walking Festival.

From 2:00 p.m. we are at the Hotel in Santiago de Compostela, where we receive all participants.
From there, at 4:00 p.m., we take the bus to Ourense where the hotel staff are waiting for us to check-in.
At 8:00 p.m. we make the presentation of the festival and briefing to solve the last doubts.
Later, we had dinner together before starting this adventure.


* Day 2 – Ribeira Sacra of Miño: heroic viticulture (14.2 km)

ROUTE DIOMONDI – A COVA (PR G-172)

SUNDAY, MAY 11

We begin this trail along the Ribeira Sacra with a stage along the Miño River, with a great variety of landscapes and in which we will see its most characteristic elements: the Romanesque of its churches, the viewpoints over the river, and the vineyards planted on its slopes and wineries. We will walk through typical villages and, going through the middle of their vines. We will be already integrated in the landscape amazed by that viticulture this heroic viticulture practiced by its people. Thus we will arrive at Cabo do Mundo, spectacular meander and one of the panoramic views of the area.



* Day 3 – Maquino Largaño: the path of bitterness (10.5 km)

ROUTE SAN ESTEVO – LUINTRA (PR G-178)

MONDAY, MAY 12

Maquino Largaño means “long path” in barallete, the guild jargon used by former sharpeners to communicate with each other. The Monastery of Santo Estevo de Ribas de Sil, whose origin is the sixth and seventh centuries, is one of the monumental jewels of the Ribeira Sacra. During this route through the municipality of Nogueira de Ramuín, of great ethnographic value, we will visit dense forests of century-old chestnut trees, among which we will discover, again and again, vestiges of human presence from prehistory, such as the Necropolis da Moura.



* Day 4 – Sil River Canyon: ancient trails (19 km)

ROUTE PARADA DO SIL (Circular) (PR G-98)

TUESDAY, MAY 13

The third stage runs through the municipality of Parada de Sil. Prepare your senses to enjoy nature in its purest form, listen to the crackling of leaf litter in the carriozas, touch the green moss of its stones and have that forest smell permanently. Upon reaching the Sil, the panoramic view offered by its balconies leads us almost to meditation. In the middle, cobbled paths, abandoned villages that have been engulfed by nature or the beautiful Monastery of Santa Cristina. It’s a hard thing to tell, you have to walk it.



* Day 5 – Mao River Canyon: the light factory (16.2 km)

ROUTE A FABRICA DA LUZ (circular) (PR G-177)

WEDNESDAY, MAY 14

This stage begins at Fábrica da Luz, a former hydroelectric power station and one of the oldest in Galicia, which was a great advance in its time and served to give electricity to this entire area of the Ribeira Sacra. In a stretch of continuous ascent we will reach San Lourenzo de Barxacova and its medieval necropolis, with tombs carved into the same rock. Through forests of oaks and chestnut trees, we reach the Sil River again. In the last section we will ascend through a wooden walkway the entire canyon of the Mao river. At the end point a cold beer will be waiting for us.



* Day 6 – Magic Forests of Castro Caldelas (23.3 km)

ROUTE CASTRO CALDELAS (circular) (PR G-213)

THURSDAY, MAY 15

This stage brings us closer to the landscapes that surround Castro Caldelas. Enter a magical forest full of centuries-old chestnut trees, where water flows through all the places and where you will get to know all the natural and ethnographic heritage. Windmills that tell old stories, villages that keep all their essence, cobbled paths that lead us to “sequeiros” where the chestnuts are dried, monasteries, medieval bridges and a monumental castle once dried up complete this last stage by a Ribeira Sacra that will remain marked forever .



* Day 7 – Ourense Monumental & Thermal Route (16.5 km)

ROUTE OURENSE (circular)

FRIDAY, MAY 16

In this stage we will be dedicated to know the two faces of Ourense. On the route through the Monumental Ourense we will visit the Cathedral and all the buildings that invite you to take a walk through the time of a city founded more than 2000 years ago. Already known by the Romans for the great quality of its waters, every day more than three million liters of hot springs arise in the province. On the Miño Thermal Route we travel along a pedestrian path with several thermal facilities located in an environment of great natural beauty.



* Day 8 – Check-out & Transfer to Santiago & End of Services

SATURDAY, MAY 17

With breakfast and transfer to Santiago we end this week of hiking in Ribeira Sacra. We hope you have lived an authentic adventure in Galicia and we hope to see you next year in any of our Galicia Walking Festival programs.


Make your reservation for the GWF Ribeira Sacra Program

At the time of booking you can make the full payment or an advance of 150 euros per person (non-refundable). The remainder will be effective before April 1, 2025.

What is included?

  • Accommodation in rooms with private bathroom
  • Half Board (breakfast and dinner)
  • Transfer Santiago – Ourense – Santiago
  • Transfer start / end of stage (according to program)
  • Specialized local guides in English and Spanish languages
  • Accident insurance
  • Gastronomic tastings
  • Cultural visits

What is not included?

  • Flights or transportation to coming Galicia
  • Personal picnic during the stages
  • Drinks in the bars where we stop

Lodging

The center of the festival will be the city of Ourense, staying all in the same hotel located in the center that will give us many options of visits and leisure for its monumental and thermal areas.


Knowing more Ribeira Sacra

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-zCTPPLZYI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnP3KFx7JOs