The Camino de Santiago: choosing your route and planning the walk

For a first Camino, the Camino Francés is the simplest choice: continuous waymarking, albergues at every stage, and close to half of the Compostelas of 2025 went to pilgrims who arrived by it, so you are never short of company. The Camino Portugués, from Lisbon, Porto or Tui, is gentler; its coastal variant follows the Atlantic. The Camino del Norte alternates cliffs and beaches, with more climbing. The Primitivo, the oldest route, crosses the mountains of Asturias over more than 310 km from Oviedo, in fourteen classic stages. The Inglés takes less than a week from Ferrol; the Vía de la Plata, from Seville, is the longest and the loneliest, the Sanabrés forms its Galician end, and the Camino de Invierno leaves the Bierzo along the Sil valley instead of climbing to O Cebreiro. The four French routes reach the Pyrenees with a network of walkers’ gîtes; from Santiago, the Finisterre and Muxía route leads to the ocean.

Most walkers do less. In 2025, close to a third of the Compostelas, according to the provisional figures of the Pilgrim’s Office (Oficina del Peregrino), went to pilgrims who had set off from Sarria, a little over 100 km from Santiago; Porto then Tui come next. One week is enough from Sarria or Tui, about ten days from Porto, two weeks from León.

On each route page, the planner suggests a day-by-day breakdown from your number of days and your pace, with a recommended starting point.

The rules of the Pilgrim’s Office come down to three points: walk at least the last 100 km on foot or on horseback, or 200 km by bike, on a single route; carry a credencial (the pilgrim passport) issued by the cathedral or by an association it has authorised; have it stamped twice a day on that final stretch, with the date, at the start and at the end of each stage.

Stamps are available in albergues, churches, town halls and bars. If you begin your walk outside Spain, at least 70 km must be covered on Spanish territory. The Camino can be walked in several trips, in geographical order. Sarria is the most common starting point because it sits just beyond the threshold.

From May to June and from September to early October, the days are long, temperatures moderate and the albergues open. July and August concentrate the crowds, with heat on the Meseta and albergues in high demand on the last 100 km in Galicia.

In winter, some albergues close and, between 1 November and 31 March, Navarre shuts the variant over the Col de Lepoeder: the first stage of the Camino Francés goes through Valcarlos. The 2027 Holy Year should draw more pilgrims: during the previous one, in 2022, the Pilgrim’s Office had passed the total for the whole of 2019, that is 347,578 Compostelas, by the end of September. If you walk in 2027, book early on the last 100 km.

Private dormitory albergues range from €12 to €25 depending on the place and the season, the top of the range in Santiago itself; albergues run on a “donativo” basis leave the amount to you, and donativo does not mean free.

The pilgrim menu, three courses with bread and a drink, comes to around €10 to €14 in the villages of the Camino Francés; allow €20 to €30 a day for food. In total, a walker in dormitories and on pilgrim menus spends in the region of €40 to €50 a day, transport excluded. A private double room costs, in the albergues surveyed in 2026, €42 to €70 per room, to be shared between two. Carry cash for small albergues and village bars.

Weight matters more than the list. Two sets of clothes, washed in turn each evening, will see you through the whole walk. Choose boots or shoes you have already worn in, never new ones on departure day. If a blister becomes infected or a pain persists, see a pharmacist or a doctor rather than pushing on.

All of them end on Praza do Obradoiro, in front of the baroque façade of the cathedral, which houses the crypt with the tomb of the apostle. Three moments mark the end of the Camino: the pilgrims’ mass; collecting the Compostela at the Pilgrim’s Office, on Rúa das Carretas, a few minutes’ walk away; and, on major feast days or at the request of a group, the botafumeiro, the giant censer swung across the transept. Many then carry on to Cape Finisterre and Muxía, facing the Atlantic.