De Séville à Saint-Jacques-de-Compostelle à vélo - la via de la plata

The Via de la Plata, from Seville to Santiago de Compostela

Formerly, Via de la Plata was a Roman road, then a transhumance track and, since the 19th century, a pilgrimage route.

Far from the crowds, this route offers almost 1000 km of often isolated and always exceptional landscapes, such as Andalusian pastures, Castilian steppes and Galician mountains.

Here we are in the heart of mainland Spain. The 1,000 km route crosses the entire Iberian Peninsula from south to north, from Seville to Santiago de Compostela. Currently, the Via de la Plata is a multifaceted route: it is above all an ancient Roman road, from which it takes its name, it is also another Way of Saint James, the Mozarabic Way described by guide, and finally it is a part of the European route EuroVelo 1 which links the North Cape in Norway to Cape Saint-Vincent in Portugal. Three entities, each accompanied by its own markup, and all
dotted with the same natural, historical and tourist treasures: Seville, Mérida, Cáceres, Salamanca, Zamora and of course Santiago de Compostela, bear witness to this.

Due to the changing geography, official markings are not always easy to follow, but the guide makes it possible to dodge certain conflicting sections and offers more suitable alternatives for the trip by bicycle.

This bike guide contains essential information to get the most out of your bike trip.

It includes in particular:

- comments on stages (quality of the route, distances, water points, etc.)

- topographic profiles (elevation differences)

- practical information of the cities crossed (where to sleep and where to eat)

- variations in order to deviate from the traditional route.

The strong point of the guide: the 1/75 000 mapping made to measure by and for cyclo-travelers.

Between Caceres and Zamora, the route taken is that of Eurovelo 1!