A group of travelers stop to rest, sitting together in the road. One of them speaks to a muleskinner, who leads a caravan of loaded mules. A very broad landscape unfolds on the left.

In this painting, Brueghel offers one of his views with figures, but without any defined plot. He reveals his debt to the landscape ideas of Joost de Romper (1568-1625) by placing the figures at a bend in the road and in the corner of the compostion. But he also borrows elements from other masters, such as the tree trunk in the foreground, which is characteristic of landscapes by Gillis van Conixloo (1544-1607). The detailed lush foliage and figures are characteristic of Brueghel's late works.

This painting is first documented in 1746 as part of Felipe V's collection at the La Granja Palace.