• For 2024 Pilgrims: €50,- donation = 1 year with no ads on the forum + 90% off any 2024 Guide. More here.
    (Discount code sent to you by Private Message after your donation)
  • ⚠️ Emergency contact in Spain - Dial 112 and AlertCops app. More on this here.

Search 69,459 Camino Questions

The Vigo Nightmare

Time of past OR future Camino
Frances, Portugues, Norte
I have walked about 9 Caminos. Last year I was walking the Seaside Route and got lost in Vigo for about two hours. I wandered around for 10km trying to find a way out to Redondela. Through some sort of Grace a local man who has done many Caminos saw me and could tell I was a little freaked, well a lot freaked. He literally walked me to the starting point, took about 30 minutes of his time. Lovely story, but the question is in the sequel.
I am walking the sea side again and I'm having trouble finding the street the man showed me to start my days walk. It was a broad street with shops on either side, sort of upscale. I think in England it would be called a high street. The day I was on it they had a whole section roped off and small children were learning to ride bicycles.
So the question is: Does anyone know where this street is? Or even info about that route. The route itself went up the side of a hill on residential streets overlooking Vigo and the bridge. Normally, I wouldn't be so worried, I've been lost more than once on Caminos and it has always been like an adventure. But last year's experience traumatized me.
Apparently, according to the man who saved me last year, there is some sort of political reason they don't have any arrows in Vigo.
 
The one from Galicia (the round) and the one from Castilla & Leon. Individually numbered and made by the same people that make the ones you see on your walk.

This is a map of the camino through Vigo. Perhaps it will help you find your way!

I found this on another thread - it was a link to caminador.es
 
I too had a Vigo nightmare last year - we had a hard time getting out of town (and I was walking with a Spaniard). I believe the street you walked up was Rua de Urzaiz (and this agrees with the map mentioned above) and at some point, we turned up a street (Rua de Toledo) to the Iglesia de los Picos (Parroquia de la Inmaculada Concepcion). I recall after that we began seeing arrows. You wind along a variety of streets and eventually you come to the Camino de Traida das Augas, which is the route to Redondela.
 
Down bag (90/10 duvet) of 700 fills with 180 g (6.34 ounces) of filling. Mummy-shaped structure, ideal when you are looking for lightness with great heating performance.

€149,-
€2,-/day will present your project to thousands of visitors each day. All interested in the Camino de Santiago.
Here is my map and directions that we took! I hope this helps as well! Day twenty-one on the CP. We did not go by the railway, but there is another wonderful shelf road (it's what we call it in the USA), high above the bay, with gorgeous views below, after you finally get through Vigo.

My link shows the way through Vigo, with all the street names, - through the main park, called the Parque de Castrelos. After walking through the park you pick up a very nice trail system called the Senda do Lagares that follows a stream, then you walk up the hill to the Ermida de San Roque (church) and eventually walk on the main pedestrian shopping street, before getting on the shelf road, called the Senda da Auga. If you look at my photos you will see that we found all the yellow arrows that we needed through here.

There are a few tricky spots in town, however, so study my information, follow my map and I believe you will have no trouble!

The shelf trail system is flat and very easy for a long, long way! There is a long steep downhill from the shelf trail into Redondela for the end of the day.

I always had trouble with the Freixo maps myself, and found them difficult to read. I guess we just got lucky, to find the right way! Have a wonderful Camino, and keep the faith!
 
Very easy. Go downtown to the railwaystation
The caminho almost follows the railroad to Redondela
That's not a good route! The best route is to follow the yellow arrows where he was before from Urzaiz as the route of water to Redondela which hugs the same contour is beautiful with lovely elevated views of the Ria de Vigo & Rande Bridge. You can download Freixo's pdf map of the stage as advised in this thread...
 
Join our full-service guided tour and let us convert you into a Pampered Pilgrim!
Do exactly as LynnT said above. I just did it today and was in fear if getting lost after reading horror stories. Find Rua Urzaiz, Zara the shop is on it. Walk it uphill in a northerly direction for 2km until it becomes pedestrianised. At the end of this section before you see cars again us a turn left onto Via Toledo. There is a small yellow arrow. After one minute you come to a major junction. Cross it and you are still on Via Toledo. Walk for 5 minutes and you are on Rua Cantabria to the right. This is clearly marked with yellow way signs and you are on the Camino to Redondela. Be mindful that once on the woodland path there is nowhere to sit or use facilities until in Redondela. I was given directions at a hotel but the Wisely App is great in case you get lost.
 
I had no problems getting through Vigo. It was a lovely city. The Maps.Me app has been a great companion to me on Caminos. It is a free offline gps driven mapping app. No need to access data, just download the map you need beforehand. I have even managed to add GPS data for all the Caminos in Spain courtesy of the Ivar message boards.
 
Thanks Washie, so the OSM (openstreetmap.org) data is correct.
The track can be seen and downloaded online e.g. https://hiking.waymarkedtrails.org/#?map=17!42.2313!-8.7043 or used offline with apps like OSMAnd, Oruxmaps and Maps.me (after you've downloaded the galician map). It's always the same data, so use the app you like / understand best. OSM data is also widely available in Garmin format.

Btw. OSM is geografical database, which can be updated by everyone (somehow like Wikipedia). You are encouraged to change it's faults and fill empty areas. It's no surprise that it is usually good and detailed near touristic attractions like the caminos in Spain, while neighboring places 5km away may just show the name of the place and 3 unnamed streets. It happened cause one of the 1000th of tourists not only brought the gps/app with him but also gave some new data back to the database. What's really interessting: You can often find newly opened motorways etc. just from the start, while the updates for my car gps take months or even years to show that.
 
New Original Camino Gear Designed Especially with The Modern Peregrino In Mind!
We had the same nightmare. We finally GPS the nearest alburgue thinking it would be on the Camino. It was thankfully. I remember climbing straight up and out. Never so glad to leave a city behind!
 
€2,-/day will present your project to thousands of visitors each day. All interested in the Camino de Santiago.
I almost gave up in Vigo as well :eek: From the main bus station I turned left and walked up on the right hand side. There was a main shopping street to my right and there was my friend the arrow :) I hate big citys and when I did the English way I got lost in A Coruna :rolleyes: I was fine for some parts of it but then no arrow nothing....
 

Most read last week in this forum

I would like to walk the river route in Tui next month. I can see on google maps exactly where it starts, but it seems a bit overgrown. Has anybody used this route this year or last year...
Hello, my friend of 50+ years and I are on our first Camino walk. We are looking for: 1) safe, comfortable hostels in Lisbon; 2) stages from Lisbon to Porto (via Tomar) in about 16 days...
Hi I have searched everywhere to see if there is a luggage service from Lisbon to Porto. I know there is from Porto to Santiago, but Lisbon ???. Thanks for any info.

❓How to ask a question

How to post a new question on the Camino Forum.

Forum Rules

Forum Rules

Camino Updates on YouTube

Camino Conversations

Most downloaded Resources

This site is run by Ivar at

in Santiago de Compostela.
This site participates in the Amazon Affiliate program, designed to provide a means for Ivar to earn fees by linking to Amazon
Official Camino Passport (Credential) | 2024 Camino Guides
Back
Top