19,4 kmDistance+300 mAscent−360 mDescent22,4 kmEffort7 hTime needed · On foot
Monte do Gozo and the Obradoiro
The last stage is short and kind: 19.4 kilometres with 300 metres of ascent and 360 of descent, low difficulty. You leave O Pedrouzo on a trail among eucalyptus, in half-darkness if you start early, towards Amenal and San Paio, with a short climb or two. Then the route skirts the edge of Lavacolla airport, between tarmac and track, and passes through Lavacolla, where pilgrims of earlier centuries washed in the river before entering the city.
From there it climbs through Vilamaior to the Monte do Gozo, with its monument and the first views of the cathedral towers, if the day is clear. It is a short climb and worth a stop at the top. The descent enters Santiago through San Lázaro and follows the rúa dos Concheiros and San Pedro, now among houses, to the Porta do Camiño and the old town, and a few stone-paved streets further on the plaza del Obradoiro opens out before the façade of the cathedral. It is a moment to take slowly.
Santiago has the Pilgrim's Office, where you ask for the Compostela with your stamped credential, and everything else: it is a big city with services at any hour. The stage ends in the square, and the Camino ends when each walker decides.
Tips
Get your departure stamp in O Pedrouzo before taking the trail: the last stage of the parchment needs its four stamps like all the others.
Put the transit stamps in Lavacolla and at the Monte do Gozo, and the arrival stamp at the cathedral or at the Pilgrim's Office, which also stamps.
The Pilgrim's Office has queues in high season; if you arrive mid-morning, go there first and then come back to the square at leisure.
You cannot enter the cathedral with a rucksack; there are left-luggage lockers nearby, and the pilgrim mass is at midday.
The selfie in front of the façade with the last stamp in place is the one that unlocks your parchment: take it without hurrying.
Where am I?
Your phone says where you are; the guide tells you how far is left and where the next water is.
Your position is used to answer you and is not stored anywhere.
Walk with me
It crosses where you are with the time, the daylight left, the water, the beds and the notice board. Three things at most: the ones that actually change your afternoon.
112 is the same number in Spain, in Portugal and across the European Union. It works with no credit, with no SIM, and over any operator's network, not just yours.
Say where you are
I am walking the Camino Primitivo, on the stage from O Pedrouzo to Santiago de Compostela.