San Nicolás del Real Camino

Stage 18 · Ledigos – SahagúnPalencia Province
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What is there in San Nicolás del Real Camino

San Nicolás del Real Camino is a small village in the municipality of Moratinos, the last in Palencia Province on the Camino Frances.

With about forty people, this hamlet of brick and adobe carries the Camino even in its name: “del Real Camino” recalls that it stood on the main pilgrim road, and in the Middle Ages it had a hospital run by canons regular that took in walkers and lepers. Its church, of brick like almost everything in this part of Tierra de Campos, is dedicated to the saint who gives the village its name, and the festival is held on the third Sunday of September. It is a good place for a drink before the last Palencian stretch: soon after leaving, the Camino leaves Palencia behind and enters the province of León, with Sahagún barely seven kilometres away.

Accommodation in San Nicolás del Real Camino

There is no accommodation registered here yet. The nearest is in Sahagún, 6.6 km away.

See accommodation in Sahagún

Distances from San Nicolás del Real Camino

From San Nicolás del Real Camino to Sahagún it is about 6.6 km.

To Calzada del Coto it is about 12.6 km.

And to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, in Santiago de Compostela, about 373.7 km remain.

What to See in San Nicolás del Real Camino?

Church
Iglesia de San Nicolas Obispo Camino de Santiago Frances 768x403

Church of Saint Nicholas the Bishop San Nicolás del Real Camino

Church of Saint Nicholas the Bishop in San Nicolás del Real Camino In the heart of Palencia Province, in Castile

History

The «Real Camino», royal road, in the name is the pilgrim route. In 1183 Alfonso VIII gave the place to the Order of the Temple, and tradition credits Don Tello Pérez de Meneses with founding a hospital for pilgrims, run from 1554 by Dominican nuns.

Church of Saint Nicholas the Bishop

The Church of San Nicolás Obispo, of brick with a single barrel-vaulted nave, is the typical church of Tierra de Campos. Inside there is a Baroque altarpiece and images of the Virgen del Rosario, Saint Roch and the titular saint.

San Nicolás on the Camino

It is the last village of the Camino Frances in Palencia Province: shortly afterwards you enter Leon Province. About 370 km remain to Santiago de Compostela, so those who set out from Roncesvalles are already close to the halfway point.

The old hospital

The medieval hospital took in pilgrims and also lepers. It was linked to the Order of Saint Augustine, had a dozen beds and was dedicated to Saint Nicholas; nothing of it remains today.

Services

Laganares hostel

The private Laganares hostel, with some twenty beds and a bar-restaurant, is where pilgrims gather. It opens in season, from spring to autumn; check dates before you go.

Other services

There is a doctor’s surgery a few days a week and a mobile bakery calls, but there is no ATM, pharmacy or shop: the nearest are in Sahagún.

Festivities

The festivities in honour of Saint Nicholas are held in September.

How to get there

It is reached on the Camino motorway (A-231) and the N-120. From Palencia, on the CL-613.

Transport

There is a bus only one day a week, on the line between Santervas de la Vega and Palencia.

In short

San Nicolás del Real Camino is a tiny, quiet village that bids farewell to the province of Palencia. For pilgrims who do not want to sleep in Sahagún it is a good alternative.

Camino de Santiago Frances
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