Church and Mass - Iglesia de Santiago, Plaza de la Iglesia. Originally Romanesque, the church was rebuilt in the 18th c. Mass at 18:00 daily.

Bar Río c/Leoncio Cadorniga 1. Welcoming, good meals. 10€ menu. Bocadillos and Sello. ‖ O Peregrino bar, opposite the Xunta albergue, opens for breakfast at 07:30 and has a good menú del día.

Church of Santiago - a very pilgrim friendly priest offers Pilgrim Mass at 19:00 daily.

2 supermercados, 2 banks and all facilities.

There is a choice of two routes from Triacastela to Sarria. The first takes you through Samos with its famous monastery. The second, direct to Sarria and 3.5 km shorter, is the original camino - now partly tarmac. The Samos route, although longer, is very peaceful and shady and in true old camino style for long stretches.

Sarria via Samos route (25.1 km)

The L turn to San Cristovo and Samos at the western end of Triacastela is not well-waymarked. Be aware that sometimes local businesses paint yellow arrows to divert pilgrims to their establishment. Yellow arrows may point you to the right to San Xil. To go to Samos, leave town and turn left onto LU633.

Direct route via San Xil (18.5 km)

The old camino takes you through the villages of A Balsa, San Xil, Furela and Calvor.

Triacastela probably gets its name from the three local Roman castle forts of Triacastela (42.76190, -7.23229), Lagares (42.76615, -7.22203) and San Adrián (42.77827, -7.21923). Unfortunately, the forts were probably destroyed in the 10th century during resistance to Norman invaders and nothing visible remains of the ruins. The first documented history we have of Triacastela is the establishment of the monastery of San Pedro and San Pablo sometime in the middle of the 9th century (soon after the discovery of the remains of St James). In 922, King Ordoño II of León made a donation to the monastery in memory of his first wife Queen Elvira. However, the main champion of Triacastela was King Alfonso IX who in the early 13th century developed Triacastela as a major pilgrim stop and who visited Triacastela several times including on his last pilgrimage before dying in Sarria in 1230.

During the creation of the stucco western façade of the cathedral at Santiago, pilgrims were asked to carry limestone rocks from here to Castenada to be slaked into lime and the lime used to create stucco type plaster.

Despite its rich history Triacastela is somewhat of a modern disappointment although with a large number of beds it provides a convenient overnight stay.