Via Podiensis (Le Puy)

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About the Route

Key Waypoints

1. Le Puy-en-Velay

   0km from start · 630m

   Le Puy-en-Velay has been a sacred pilgrimage destination since the 5th century. In 951 AD, Bishop Godescalc became the first documented French pilgrim to walk to Santiago de Compostela, establishing the Via Podiensis. The Cathedral of Notre-Dame du Puy houses the famous Black Madonna brought back from the Crusades. Pilgrims receive their credential and first stamp here before setting out on the 750 km journey to Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port.

2. Aumont-Aubrac

   87km from start · 1040m

   Aumont-Aubrac is a small market town on the edge of the Aubrac plateau, a crucial resupply point for pilgrims since medieval times. The Church of Saint-Étienne holds a painted wooden retable from the 17th century. This town marks the gateway to the famous Aubrac plateau crossing — one of the most dramatic and exposed sections of the entire Via Podiensis, where winter conditions can persist into spring. Stamp at the Maison du Pèlerin or the church.

3. Espalion

   140km from start · 342m

   Espalion is a historic town in the Lot valley, where a medieval bridge with pointed cutwaters reflects in the river alongside half-timbered tanneries — one of the most picturesque scenes on the Via Podiensis. The Church of Saint-Pierre-de-Bessuéjouls, carved into a cliff outside town, contains a remarkable 11th-century apse with intricately carved capitals. Stamp at the Pilgrim Welcome Point or the Church of Saint-Hilarian.

4. Conques

   188km from start · 280m

   UNESCO World Heritage site. The Abbey of Sainte-Foy de Conques is one of the most significant stops on the entire Via Podiensis. The abbey's Romanesque tympanum over the west door — depicting the Last Judgement — is considered one of the supreme masterpieces of medieval sculpture. The Treasury contains the golden reliquary statue of Sainte Foy, dating from the 9th century. Conques is spectacularly set in a gorge of the Dourdou river. Stamp at the Abbey of Sainte-Foy.

5. Cahors

   304km from start · 120m

   Medieval city famous for its Pont Valentré, a 14th-century fortified bridge with three towers that has guarded the Lot River crossing since 1378 — one of the best-preserved medieval fortified bridges in Europe and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Cathedral of Saint-Étienne has a remarkable Romanesque nave and two Byzantine-inspired domes. Stamp at the Cathedral of Saint-Étienne.

6. Miradoux

   444km from start · 195m

   Miradoux was chartered by Alphonse de Poitiers in 1253 as one of a string of royal bastides securing his Gascon frontier; the arcaded Place Centrale preserves the exact dimensions of that 13th-century foundation plan. The village stands in the heart of the Lomagne Gasconne, a plain documented since the 13th century as France's foremost producer of the violet garlic of Lomagne — strings of it still hang from the bastide doorways at harvest.

7. Aire-sur-l'Adour

   567km from start · 80m

   Aire-sur-l'Adour is where the Via Podiensis crosses the Adour River, entering the flat Landes and Béarn country. The Crypt of Sainte-Quitterie below the cathedral contains one of the finest early Christian sarcophagi in France — a 4th-century marble coffin depicting scenes from the Old and New Testaments. Saint Quitterie was a 5th-century princess martyred near here, venerated for centuries before Santiago became the great pilgrimage destination. Stamp at the Cathedral or the Pilgrim Welcome Point.

8. Aroue

   655km from start · 125m

   Aroue sits in the historic Basque territory of Mixe (Lower Navarre), where the GR65 follows the line of the ancient Roman road from Dax toward the Pyrenean passes. The Romanesque church of Saint-Étienne d'Arüe, with its 12th-century carved apse, served medieval pilgrims crossing from Béarn into Basque country — a linguistic and cultural boundary that pilgrims have felt at this very ridge since the 1100s.

40 waypoints total · Sacred Trails app contains full detail for every waypoint.

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