Stage 5. Puente la Reina – Estella (21.6 km)

In this stage we will be able to see that the landscape is changing little by little for the first time since we started the French Way. Between Puente la Reina and Estella the beech and oak forests are gradually replaced by olive groves and vineyards. A landscape that is altered by the A-12 motorway, whose construction ignored the route of this pilgrimage route. However, the road runs along dirt tracks whose only difficulty is the short but intense climb to Mareñu. On the other hand, Estella, the end of this stage, will welcome us among beautiful poppy fields.

Would you like to walk this stage with your accommodation already booked? These organised trips include it: French Way from Roncesvalles to Santiago de Compostela and French Way from Roncesvalles to Logroño.

From Puente la Reina you cross the Arga and climb to Mañeru, through vineyards and olive groves, up to Cirauqui, with its Roman road and bridge. You pass by the Salado river —the "river of death" from old pilgrim legends— and, between paths and fields, reach Villatuerta and its San Miguel hermitage. The day ends in Estella, a beautiful town known as the "Toledo of the north."