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Day Hikes on the Lighthouse Way
- petermorley200
- Jul 12, 2024
- 12 min read
Updated: 1 day ago
Contents
1. Introduction to the Lighthouse Way
The Lighthouse Way is a hard 8 day trek along the Coast of Death on the tip of north-west Spain. It is called the Coast of Death because of the numerous shipwrecks. The Lighthouse Way isn't busy or commercialised like the Camino Frances and the majority of the Lighthouse Way is on coastal paths rather than roads.
We had never heard of the 8 day Lighthouse Way trek until a friend of Lani (my wife) mentioned it and suggested they do it while I was trekking in Nepal. They didn't do the Lighthouse Way trek and I think they would have struggled with the long and tiring sections.
When I was planning our 10 week road trip from the UK to southern Morocco in 2024 I decided to spend a week in Muxia at the end of the journey. Our plan was to do the last 5 sections of the Lighthouse Way as day hikes from Muxia.
Some of the advantages of doing day hikes on the Lighthouse Way from a comfortable base, rather than doing it as a continuous trek, are:
It is easy to do it independently.
You don't have to carry, or arrange transfers for, your bags.
If the weather is bad you can postpone hiking on the Lighthouse Way to another day. Galicia isn't known for it's great weather!
Road sections at the start and end of each daily stage of the Lighthouse Way can be cut out easily when using taxis.
You can have rest days and do excursions.
Most of the 8 stages of the Lighthouse Way trek are long. Unfortunately the excellent official website for the Lighthouse Way doesn't provide any information on how the stages can be shortened.
We wanted to do more relaxed hiking so I worked out how sections 4 to 8 of the Lighthouse Way hike could be shortened without missing out too much of the great scenery. My blog includes information on:
How to shorten the daily sections of the Lighthouse Way.
How to use buses and taxis to get to and from the daily sections.
A review of sections 4 to 8 of the Lighthouse Way to help you decide which sections you want to hike.
Route finding on the Lighthouse Way.
See my trip report Week 9 - Muxia & the Lighthouse Way for additional information about our hikes along the Lighthouse Way.
2. The Official Lighthouse Way Website
The official website for the Lighthouse Way provides excellent information about the 8 day trek. It provides detailed information for each of the stages including downloads of the Lighthouse Way on Google Maps and Wikiloc. There is also information on taxis, accommodation and restaurants.
Unfortunately the official Lighthouse Way website is designed to help hikers who want to do the Lighthouse Way in full and as one continuous trek. A hiker we met informed us that the officials don't want to encourage shortened sections and therefore don't provide any information on how it can be done.
My blog provides information that isn't on the official website about hiking individual sections of the Lighthouse Way and shortening some of the long sections.
3. Maps & Signs for the Lighthouse Way
The trail for the Lighthouse Way has been marked with green dots and arrows painted on to rocks and trees. Sometimes they aren't clear and the markings have been made for hikers going from north to south.
Fortunately the official website provides information on each stage of the Lighthouse Way. This includes trails for the 8 stages which can be downloaded on to Google Maps or Wikiloc. You can then see your position in relation to the trail.
We followed the trail on Google Maps and it worked very well. We would have gone the wrong way several times without Google Maps. We found that when hiking along a road or beach it is often not apparent when to turn off on to a path and Google Maps alerted us to the turn off.
4. Taxis & Buses
I had planned to use buses for 2 of the Lighthouse Way's sections in order to save money. In the end we used taxis for the 5 sections of the Lighthouse Way that we hiked as it was more convenient and the cost was reasonable.
Google provides details of 9 taxi drivers in Muxia. One of these drivers is Mathew Smith (telephone 34 683 36 24 65) who is a Brit married to a Spanish lady. We used Mathew for all our hikes as he is a great guy and we could communicate with him in English.
Lani is learning Spanish but she didn't relish phoning a Spanish taxi driver and trying to arrange a trip. Particularly since most of the time we were trying to shorten the stages and start hiking a few kilometres after the official starting points for the Lighthouse Way.
When I first contacted Mathew I asked about the cost. After that I didn't bother as the Muxia taxi drivers have set rates for all the destinations and Mathew had them on a sheet of paper. The fares were reasonable and the official website provides details of many of the fares.
There is a taxi office on Muxia's seafront but it is only manned when there are drivers waiting for rides. The taxi rank is shown as Parada de Taxis on Google Maps.
Aviva Spain has a bus service between Fisterra, Muxia and Camarinas. There are 5 buses each day on weekdays and 1 daily bus at weekends. Single bus tickets currently cost Eur 2.60. This bus service is useful when doing stages 6 and 8 of the Lighthouse Way.
If you are based in Muxia you can take a taxi to the start of stage 8 of the Lighthouse Way and then take the bus from Fisterra to Muxia at the end of the stage.
For stage 6 of the Lighthouse Way hike the bus service provides a couple of options if you are based in Muxia. If you want to do the entire section 6 you can take a bus from Muxia to Camarinas. However, if you want to reduce the length of stage 6 you can take the same buses and alight at Cereixo.
5. Accommodation & Restaurants in Muxia
We booked an excellent 3 bedroom apartment in the centre of Muxia through Booking.com for Eur 474 in June. It had a very high approval rating of 9.6.
If you intend to use Mathew Smith's taxi service it would be worth considering the accommodation he offers which is about a 5 minute drive from Muxia. His accommodation is:
A 3 bedroom house which has an approval rating of 9.6 on Booking.com.
A studio apartment for up to 4 people which has an approval rating of 9.4 on Booking.com.
Mathew recommended several restaurants and we ate at O Porto and A Marina. Both the restaurants were good. In June the O Porto was frequented by locals and wasn't busy. A Marina was mainly frequented by visitors and was busy. The staff at A Marina were very welcoming.
6. Weather
We were surprised that the weather forecasts for Muxia were very reliable. We were lucky that in June we had good weather and no rain at all.
The only negative was a very strong northerly wind for about 4 days of our stay. Apparently this isn't unusual and Muxia is particularly affected by wind.
It is important to take into account the wind direction when planning the Lighthouse Way hikes so that the wind is behind you. It makes walking much easier and more pleasant.
We did stage 7 of the Lighthouse Way hike from the south to the north and left it until the end of our stay when the wind had died down. We found it very hot without the wind!
7. Organised Lighthouse Way Treks
If you want someone to organise a self guided trek along the Lighthouse Way then On Foot Holidays seems to be the major operator. They offer packages for both the full trek and reduced stages. They also offer shortening options for each stage.
The official website also offers packages for the Lighthouse Way through a Spanish travel agent.
8. Stages of the Lighthouse Way & Shortening Options
We did day hikes on stages 4 to 8 of the Lighthouse Way hike. We really enjoyed stages 4, 5 and 8. The scenery on stage 7 of the Lighthouse Way wasn't as good as we expected and the second part of the trail was a bit overgrown.
We only did the second half of the very long stage 6 and it was a good starting hike. When driving from Muxia to Camarinas we passed some of the first section of stage 6 of the Lighthouse Way. The trail along the busy road didn't look appealing as too much of the trail goes inland, and through forest.
8.1. Stage 4 of the Lighthouse Way
Stage 4 of the Lighthouse Way goes from Laxe to Arou. It's the easiest stage of the Lighthouse Way as it is 18 kilometres long and there isn't much elevation. The official website estimates that stage 4 will take 7.5 hours and that allows enough time for photos and a picnic lunch.
We enjoyed the hike and thought that the coastal scenery was excellent. One of the highlights of stage 4 is near the end when the trail for the Lighthouse Way goes through a spectacular area of large boulders.
We shortened stage 4 by taking a taxi to Praia dos Cristais instead of to Laxe. This cut out the headland that has Laxe lighthouse on it. It reduced stage 4 by 2.8 kilometres and saved 1 hour. Our entire hike for stage 4 of the Lighthouse Way took 6 hours.
You could reduce the length of stage 4 by another 3.1 kilometres if a taxi collected you in Camelle instead of Arou. See my trip report Week 9 - Muxia & the Lighthouse Way (28 June) for information about how we organised the taxi for stage 4 of the Lighthouse Way.
8.2. Stage 5 of the Lighthouse Way
Stage 5 is one of the best stages of the Lighthouse Way hike. It is 23.7 kilometres long and the official website estimates it will take 9 hours.
We shortened stage 5 by taking a taxi to Lobeiras viewpoint instead of Arou. This reduced stage 5 by 1.7 kilometres and saved half an hour.
We didn't walk up to Vilan lighthouse and that probably saved another half an hour. The northerly wind was ferocious and 2 hikers who went up to the lighthouse told us it was much worse there.
At the end of stage 5 of the Lighthouse Way we bypassed an uphill section to the Hermitage of Virxe do Monto.
It took us 6.25 hours to reach Camarinas when cutting out the 3 sections mentioned above. We didn't think the hike was particularly tiring as there wasn't much elevation. The scenery for stage 5 was excellent.
Stage 5 of the Lighthouse Way could be reduced by an additional 3 kilometres by arranging for a taxi to collect you from Lago beach, instead of Camarinas. There is a reasonable road to Lago beach but only a tiny parking area.
The English Cemetery is on stage 5 of the Lighthouse Way and it is worth quickly stopping to visit it. There is a reasonable road to the English cemetery and it continues westwards along the coast almost to the Vilan lighthouse. There is very little traffic on the road.
8.3. Stage 6 of the Lighthouse Way
Stage 6 goes from Camarinas to Muxia and is the longest stage of the Lighthouse Way. The official website estimates that the 32.6 kilometres hike would take 10 hours. A lot of stage 6 isn't the sort of hiking we enjoy as the trail runs along roads and through forests. It's also too long.
The hike from Camarinas to Cereixo can easily be avoided by starting in Cereixo instead. It isn't a particularly nice trail as too much of it is inland and along roads. It would reduce stage 6 of the Lighthouse Way by 14.5 kilometres (4 hours).
Buses from Muxia could be used for stage 6 of the Lighthouse Way as there are 5 buses a day between Muxia, Cereixo and Camarinas.
We hiked from Leis Beach to Muxia and enjoyed it. The hike was 10 kilometres long and took 3 hours. Although the trail went along some country roads there was very little traffic. It also went through forest but much of it was very nice virgin forest. We started hiking on stage 6 by taking a taxi from Muxia to Camping Praia Barreira Leis.
The last 2.5 kilometres of stage 6 of the Lighthouse Way continues from the centre of Muxia to the tip of the headland and back to Muxia. This section isn't necessary in order to reach accommodation in Muxia. We walked around the headland on a day we had a break from hiking and enjoyed it as we could take our time and weren't tired.
8.4. Stage 7 of the Lighthouse Way
Stage 7 of the Lighthouse Way goes from Muxia to Nemina and is 25.3 kilometres (9.25 hours) long. It is a tough section as there are several hills that have to be climbed. In addition part of the last section of the trail was overgrown in places.
We were a bit disappointed with the scenery at times on the southern section of stage 7 of the Lighthouse Way as the trail deviates from the coast.
We did stage 7 of the Lighthouse Way from south to north as it was easier taking a taxi to the start of the trek than arranging for a taxi to meet us at the finish. At the end of our hike we just walked back to our apartment in Muxia.
There are a few ways that stage 7 of the Lighthouse Way hike can be shortened:
Our taxi driver dropped us off in the hamlet of Talon (called Heel on the official website), which is one kilometre north of Nemina beach, and it saved 15 minutes of walking. The trail from Nemina beach to Talon goes inland so the views are unlikely to be good.
The headland with the Tourinan lighthouse can be bypassed and this saves 3.5 kilometres (1 hour) of walking.
Some hikers use the road to completely bypass the beautiful Punta Buitro headland. We were also going to do that but met someone whose wife had been attacked by a dog when doing so.
As a result we decided to hike around the Punta Buitro headland and cross over to the other side at a narrow point. As we walked along the headland we could see that there was too much thorny ground vegetation to be able to cross over unless there was a path.
We weren't disappointed in having to hike around Punta Buitro as the scenery was superb. Then halfway to the tip of the headland there was a dirt track crossing over to the north side. I am not sure how much time this dirt track saved but it was probably around half an hour.
8.5. Stage 8 of the Lighthouse Way
Stage 8 of the Lighthouse Way goes from Nemina to Fisterra lighthouse and it's 27 kilometres (8.75 hours) long. It is a beautiful hike but tiring due to the length and hilly terrain.
We took 2 shortcuts on stage 8 which reduced the hiking time to 6 hours, including lunch and photo stops. We only saw 3 other hikers the entire hike!
We started stage 8 of the Lighthouse Way by taking a taxi from Muxia to Area Grande. This cut out 7.3 kilometres (1.75 hours) of a mainly inland section of the hike from Nemina to Area Grande.
At low tide it is also possible to wade across the Lires estuary from Praia de Lires on the north side to the south side. See the article on the Estuary of Lires in the official website.
We ended our hike at the town of Fisterra where the taxi collected us. However, stage 8 of the Lighthouse Way ends at Fisterra lighthouse which is a further 5 kilometres and much of it is uphill! If I was doing the entire Lighthouse Way trek I would leave this final part to the next morning so I could enjoy it.
As mentioned earlier in this blog there are are buses from Fisterra to Muxia and Camarinas.
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