Hiking the Camino dos Faros Alone: Everything You Need to Know

General Facts about the Camino dos Faros

O Camiño dos Faros (The Lighthouse Way) is a 200-km hiking route in Galicia, Spain, that links Málpica de Bergantiños with Finisterre along the rugged coastline of Northern Spain. A long distance hike that runs by all the lighthouses (called faros) and the most important landmarks in A Costa da Morte, where the ocean plays the main role for any outdoor enthusiast.

You will pass by a variety of different scenery: From beautiful lighthouses, white sand beaches, majestic dunes and small river streams, over to rugged cliffs, dense forests and estuaries with a great variety of singing birds. Some castros (“hill-forts”), dolmens and small, sleepy fishing villages. Along the way, there are many scenic viewpoints from where to enjoy sea breaks, magnificient sunsets and much more. This long distance hike is surely unique and will introduce you to a world full of distinctive sensations only enjoyable around the Costa da Morte.

Hiking the Camino dos Faros Solo: Why the heck did I do it?

Originally, I was planning on hiking the Camino del Norte along the Coast of Northern Spain. A few days in, however, I realized that I did not want to be a pilgrim like everybody else around me. All I wanted was to hike somewhere along the ocean where it was less crowded.

I talked with my friend Tonia, a fellow long distance hiker, and she suggested to hike the Camino dos Faros instead. In a cute beach bar, in the small surfing village Zarautz I started planning my hiking route to the sound of the ocean waves and live music soon after.

I felt quite relaxed as the new hiking route seemed to be exactly what I was looking for. Less crowded, less known, following the coastline and ocean every day. Tonia had told me that the locals I would meet in the small fishing villages were incredibly friendly (and she would be so right).

My heart was longing for a solo adventure. I knew I wanted to explore the road less traveled or in this case, walk the path less hiked, again. I didn’t want to experience any regular adventure just so I could say “I did it. I hiked the whole Camino de Santiago. I can call myself a pilgrim because I have achieved this successfully.”

So, I listened to my heart, changed plans and went on another solo adventure travel instead.

Complete & Detailed Travel & Hiking Itinerary

I booked a bus over the website Rome 2 Rio (tour operator: ALSA) to travel from Bilbao to A Coruña from 1:45am to 12:25pm. I also booked the first night at Hostal JB, the bed & breakfast Tonia recommended over booking.com (30 euros).

Took the train from Zarautz to Bilbao at 11pm and prepared for a long night. When I arrived in Bilbao, I didn’t know which bus to take from the long-distance bus station but asked around and some locals helped me out (thank god I knew a little bit of Spanish, lol).

8 ½ hours later I arrived in A Coruña. The last bus to Málpica de Bergantiños takes around 1 ½ hours and leaves five times a day from the Estación da Coruña.

Important small note: the Spanish bus drivers can be a bit late and don’t care that much about being on time, haha (I guess that’s partly a cultural thing).

I was lucky enough to find my bus driver who was smoking a cigarette right at the bus station. He updated me on the time we’d be leaving. To keep staying awake after my long, long travel journey, I ordered a café con leche de soya at Café Café right in front of the bus station.

And then the last part of my solo adventure trip began…

Where to Stay along the Camino dos Faros

Length of Stay: September, 8th – 19th (11 nights)
Bus Operator: ALSA (Bilbao – A Coruña)
Travel Route: Loosely following the hiking stages from this online guide and started walking my own trail after day 3

Day 1: Málpica de Bergantiños – Niñons – JB Hostal in Málpica
Day 2: Niñons – Ponteceso – Apartamentos Turísticos Playa de Osmo in Niñons
Day 3: Ponteceso – Laxe
Day 4: Laxe – Camelle – Hostal Residencia Bahía in Laxe
Day 5: Camelle – Camariñas – Airbnb in Camelle

Day 6: Camariñas – Muxía – Hotel Playa de Camarinas
Day 7: Muxía – Lires – Albergue Muxía
Day 8: Lires – Finisterre – Albergue as Eiras in Lires
Day 9: Finisterre – Santiago de Compostela – Albergue Arasolis in Finisterre, El Colchón del Apóstol in Santiago

Sustainability on the Hiking Trail

Sustainability in Northern Spain is generally much harder to implement than expected: Small villages have tiny grocery stores without much to choose from, plastic bags are still a thing, tehre are almost no healthy options in the grocery stores let alone in restaurants (healthy eating is not a thing here yet but alcohol definitely is, lol).

I brought along my sustainable travel essentials and would eat with my own cutlery, had my refillable water bottle with me and tried eating as healthy as I could. I would prepare a baguette with Avocado and veggies for my snack during the day and get a bag of nuts and raisins and healthy(ish) cookies.