Camino by Ultreya Tours Main Photo

French Way by Horse

If you believe the world is best viewed through the ears of a horse and that no hour spend on the saddle is wasted, then this is the Camino for you. Spend 6 days traveling horseback from the timeless Celtic village of O Cebreiro through the beautiful region of Galicia to the resting place of the Apostle Saint James in Santiago de Compostela. Follow the gaits of the first royal pilgrims, stay in the most beautiful, peaceful and historical places and eat at the best gourmet restaurants along the last 154 km of the French Way before obtaining your Certificate of Achievement, the Compostela.

From €2.200 per person sharing!

  • French Way by Horse INCLUDES

    • En-suite accommodation in charming luxurious manors & 2 to 4* charming hotels
    • Meals and accommodation for the Horses near your hotel (the organizer always plans more horses than needed so you will never be without a horse)
    • Transfers in and out from Santiago airport, other airports on request
    • Private Van Support during the riding days
    • A horse per person and all necessary equipment
    • Access to the Obradoiro Square on the last day with the horses
    • Dedicated bilingual Guide with 15 years experience on the Camino de Santiago
    • Luggage transfers from hotel to hotel
    • Emergency support from our local team
    • All taxes and gratuities for the guides and hotels
    • A detailed guidebook per room
    • All Breakfasts, lunches and Dinners
    • A Pilgrim Kit per person including an official Pilgrim Passport (Credential)
    • A collection of photos of the group to share
    • Ride between 24 km and 39 km per day

    price & dates

    Due to the nature of this Camino, we have chosen a highly experienced partner to help us organize this tour and to take care of the horses. Our partner responds to our strict sustainability and quality policies and has pre-booked departure dates. New dates can be organized on request for groups of at least 4 participants on the date of your choice - subject to availability and price fluctuations, simply ask us for details.

    Join a guided tour or plan your own departure with 4+ participants: 2.200 per person

    • Single room supplement: extra €60 per night
    • Start in Sarria (5 nights / 6 days): total €1.900 per person
    • Extra night in Santiago in the same 4+* hotel or in the city center: + €160 per room (dinner not included)
    • Extra night in the 5* Parador of Santiago: from + €300 per room (dinner not included)

    Ask us for 2024 tour dates - to be released soon

    Ask us for other departure dates, traveling with a horsecar or with shorter distances (20 to 25 km per day), travel insurance, extra nights in Spain and stop-overs.

    •   fact file

      Accommodation  Luxurious Manors & 2 to 4* Hotels
      Singularity  Horse-riding trip
      Total Riding Distance  154 km
      Duration  7 days / 6 nights
      Starts  O Cebreiro
      Stops  Samos, Portomarin, Palas de Rei, Arzua, Monte de Gozo
      Ends  Santiago de Compostela
    • highlights

      A whole new adventure on the Camino
      Improve your horse-riding skills
      Get your Compostela
      A private guide for the duration of your trip

You can also horse-ride the Portuguese Spiritual Way or ask us for a personalized journey.

what to expect on this tour?

Expect to have a wonderful time and to experience the last 154 km of the French Way in a unique Way with your new best friend! This tour was designed by our partner which has over 30 years experience horse-riding the Camino de Santiago. If you love horses you will have the time of your life. Learn more about our Services here.

Be ready for the ride of a lifetime

The Camino on a horse is a unique experience. You will be able to cover larger distances each day and share your journey with your trusted horse. Our partner's horses are very well suited for the region, mostly native breed and they always plan extra horses to make the journey easier on our companions and to ensure you always have a horse to ride. Their horses are very well treated, used to traveling on the Camino and get large resting periods afterwards.

Don't worry if you are not an expert rider, the journey will be fairly easy with moderate distance days but you will need previous horse-riding experience. So, make sure you practice your horsemanship skills beforehand.

You will travel as a group with an experienced and bilingual English / Spanish guide. There will be scheduled stops every 2h along the Way for meals, to allow you and your horse to rest. A special highlight of your horse-riding tour will be entering Santiago de Compostela on horseback. You will feel like a VIP clattering along the cobbled streets into the city center towards the Obradoiro Square.

Sleep in charming luxurious manors & 2 to 4* historical hotels

On this tour, you will sleep in charming luxurious guest-houses near the Camino & 2 to 4* historical hotels in town centers. They all provide a welcoming, authentic and unique experience with all the comfort and service of a hotel of these category with en-suite bathrooms. Your horse will stay in a stable nearby if not in your hotel.

Everyday, as you change accommodation, you will find your suitcase, left with your hotel receptionist in the morning, will travel with you to the next accommodation and you will have different facilities to enjoy including for example swimming pools and spas (during summer and in selected locations). Most nights, you will be in the heart of a town and others you will enjoy the peace of the countryside. However, you will never be far away from the Camino and always in a area full of history.

Eat fresh, delicious & traditional meals

All meals have been included in this tour and will be either served at your hotel or at a local nearby restaurant, whichever offer the best quality meals. Expect mouth-watering traditional three-course meals with several choices prepared with the best fresh and local products.

We cater for vegetarians, vegans and any special dietary requirements or allergies. Just let us know beforehand so we can advise the chefs.

Add extra days or activities for an unforgettable adventure

Why not take advantage of the fact you are in Spain to do some tourism and visit Madrid, Barcelona, Grenada or any Spanish city on your bucket list? The closest International airport to your Camino is Santiago de Compostela but you might want to change the airport pickup town or add nights somewhere on your way to Santiago. Pick ups from Santiago Airport are included in the tour.

We can help you choose and book those extra nights before or after your tour, for example, you could start your journey in Astorga instead of O Cebreiro or continue to Finisterre after you arrived in Santiago. We could also organize day tours around Galicia (Cies Islands, Finisterre, Oporto... ), extra activities during the tour (wine-tasting, guided tours of the Cathedral de Santiago... ). Let your imagination run wild and let us know how you would like to make this tour even more unique.

French Way by Horse DAY BY DAY ITINERARY

This 6 nights horse-riding route brings you along the last 154 kilometers of the Camino Frances - French Way into Santiago de Compostela.

Map of the Last 154 km into Santiago

DAY 1 - MAKING YOUR WAY TO YOUR STARTING POINT OF THE CAMINO

We will pick you up at your arrival airport at 3pm or from Santiago City and drive you out to the starting point of your Equestrian Pilgrimage 3h away, a typical Galician guiest-house in the heart of the Celtic mountain village of O Cebreiro. With stunning panoramic views of the valleys below from 1300 meters up, the ancient pallozas (circular pre-Roman stone dwellings built by the Celts of the region) and the rebuilt Romanesque church of St. Mary’s, site of a 14th century Eucharistic miracle, few places along the Camino are as enchanting as O Cebreiro!

After check-in take your time to enjoy the views with a Galician beer or wine in one of the village’s terrace with your fellow pilgrims, before enjoying a welcome dinner in the guest-house.

DAY 2 - 31 km - RIDE FROM O CEBREIRO TO SAMOS

This is the day you start your equestrian pilgrimage! After meeting the horse you will share the journey with, we will saddle up around 10 am and initiated a steady descent towards the valleys of Galicia. Through your horse’s ears, you will enjoy a unique viewpoint onto traditional farmland villages and the beautiful valleys beneath.

As Medieval horse-riding pilgrims would have done, we will ride until we get to the Benedictine Monastery of Samos, one of the wealthiest and most powerful of all the monasteries of the peninsula in Medieval Times. The Monastery is still run by Benedictine monks and allows guests to stay over for one night at a time. We will spend the night in this unique environment and probably enjoy a typical trout and eels dish for dinner.

DAY 3 - 33 km - RIDE FROM SAMOS TO PORTOMARIN

Saddle up after breakfast to follow the river down from Samos towards Sarria, where most pilgrim now start their pilgrimage. Today's Camino will be easy paved trails through beautiful countryside, meadows and oak woods, charming villages with slate roofs and will head towards a huge medieval bridge.

Don't forget to take a picture of yourself and your horse in front of the 100 km marker. We will have lunch in the Mercado da Serra by an old water mill and continue our journey to the 3* hotel of Portomarin, a town with great history, impressive archways and a memorable church. We will tell you about the battles that took place here, the great Medieval Bridge and the town that was relocated rock by rock to avoid floods.

DAY 4 - 30 km - RIDE FROM PORTOMARIN TO PALAS DE REI

Today, you will be following a trail that has been protected by the Knights of the Order of Santiago since 1184 and you will pass near a Romanesque Church, of Vilar de Donas, where the knights are buried (2,5 km away from the Camino - a detour can be organized on request). There will be some more uphill and downhill but you will mostly be riding through peaceful oak and eucalyptus forests and charming villages including Gonzar and Airexe until Palas de Rei.

You will be staying tonight in a beautiful and luxurious Guest-House/ Galician Manor just outside the Camino.

DAY 5 - 29 km - RIDE FROM PALAS DE REI TO ARZUA

While we ride along the ancient Roman road into a different Province - A Coruña, we will have a chance to marvel at true jewels of the Camino such as Furelo's’s medieval bridge, considered one of the jewels of the French Way’s civil architecture, and the oldest surviving cruceiro (calvary) in the world.

In the afternoon, we will pass by Castañeda, where the limestones used for the construction of the Cathedral of Santiago were cut. Back in the 11th century, pilgrims would carry stones from this quarry on their back to increasing their penance and help built the Cathedral. Our destination for the night, Arzua, is famous for cheese, so we will do a cheese and wine degustation before your gourmet dinner at your Galician Manor.

DAY 6 - 34 km - RIDE FROM ARZUA TO monte de Gozo

The first half of the day, we will be riding through farmlands and forests with totally symmetric rows that produce curious visual effects. You will pass villages with no name that seem stuck in time. We will visit the hermitage of St. Irene and its baroque fountain whose water is said to have curative properties.

A bit further, you will go through the hamlet of Lavacolla, 10 km from Santiago. Lavacolla's name comes from a purification ritual that pilgrim would undergo before reaching Santiago. It was traditional to clean your clothes - and hence purifying your soul - in that same river before stepping into the Cathedral the next day.

After a short break there, you will continue your journey to the borders of Santiago, Monte de Gozo, (Mount of joy) which was transformed into an area for pilgrims for the Jacobean Holy Year of 1993 and offers stunning views on the City of Santiago de Compostela. We will spend our last night together in a beautiful 4* hotel on the Mount and take advantage of the free hotel shuttle to visit Santiago in the afternoon, obtain our Compostela and assist Pilgrim Mass at 7:30pm.

day 7 - 5 km - Ride into Santiago de Compostela

Wake up early because this is it, only 5 kilometers separates you from your goal, the resting place of the Apostle Saint James. The group will need to leave at 7:45am to reach Santiago before nine to be able to enter the city and the Obradoiro Square on your horses. In the afternoon, if you have not opted for an extra night in Santiago, we will bring you back to Santiago Airport.

We hope the Camino has brought you whatever you were looking for and wish to see you again soon in Galicia!

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Step 1   After you have filled in our inquiry form and clicked 'Submit', a Camino Planner will get back to you with a personalized quote within 24h or contact you over the phone for further details

Step 2   Once you are satisfied with the Terms & Conditions of your tour, we will invoice you for a non-refundable 50% deposit of the total price to process the booking - we currently offer two modes of payment: bank transfers & credit card payments via a secured page of our website (we will add an extra 1,50% if paying with American Express - VISA & MasterCard free).

Step 3   Ultreya Tours Reservations Team will start booking your accommodation, meals, activities, guides and other services immediately after receiving the initial deposit and send you your hotel vouchers as soon as they are ready

Step 4   30 days before the departure, we will request the 50% remaining deposit and we will send your pilgrim kits directly to your first hotel along with printed versions of your vouchers, your scallop shells and guidebook

To make sure we constantly meet your expectations, we will regularly follow up with you and keep you updated throughout the whole process and until you come back home.

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