The big guide
Everything you need to know before walking the Camino de Santiago. From hikers who have walked it again and again since 2016.
When we set off for the Camino the first time, we believed, like most people, that there was only one Camino. It turned out that the Camino de Santiago is a huge network of pilgrimage routes that all lead to the same cathedral in Santiago de Compostela in north-western Spain. Since then it has become the Camino Francés twice, the road out to Finisterre four times, the Camino Portugués and a long list of smaller caminos at home in Denmark and around Europe.
This page is where you start. Here you get answers to what the Camino is, which routes you can choose between, how long it takes, how to prepare, what to pack and what it all costs. Along the way we link on to our guides that go deeper into each topic.
The Camino is the name most of us use for the Camino de Santiago. Camino simply means way in Spanish, and Camino de Santiago means the way to Santiago. According to tradition, the apostle James lies buried in the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela, and for more than a thousand years pilgrims from all over Europe have walked there. In English the route is also known as the Way of St James.
Today the Camino is far more than a religious journey. Almost 500,000 people reached Santiago in 2024, and they walk for very different reasons: the nature, the challenge, the community, the reflection or simply the joy of walking. You need to be neither Christian nor spiritual to have a great experience. The way is well marked with yellow arrows and scallop shells, there are beds and food in almost every village, and you meet people from all over the world, all walking towards the same goal.
If you want to go deeper into the history and the terminology, read our article on what the Camino de Santiago is, or look up the pilgrim words in our Camino glossary.
There are many ways to Santiago, but seven routes carry by far the most pilgrims. When someone says the Camino, they almost always mean the Camino Francés, the classic route from the books and the films. Here are all seven, each with its own guide.
from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port
The classic route, and the one most people mean when they say the Camino.
771 km 31 to 35 days
from Lisbon or Porto
Gentler climbs, coastal variants and a milder introduction to the Camino.
616 km 25 to 28 days from Lisbon
from Irún
The coastal route along the Bay of Biscay. Quieter, harder, greener.
824 km 32 to 36 days
from Oviedo
The original route. Mountainous, wild and deeply rewarding.
313 km 12 to 14 days
from Ferrol
The short one. A whole Camino feeling in a single week.
116 km 5 to 6 days
from Seville
The long, lonely trek from south to north for experienced walkers.
960 km 38 to 42 days
from Santiago de Compostela
The continuation to the end of the world, where pilgrims of old walked out to the sea.
89 km 3 to 4 days
If you want to see the routes side by side with statistics on where the pilgrims walk, you will find it all under Camino de Santiago.
There is no single answer, because the Camino is not one route. The Camino Francés is roughly 771 kilometres and typically takes 31 to 35 days, while the Camino Inglés can be walked in under a week. Most pilgrims cover 20 to 25 kilometres a day, and you decide where to start. If you want the pilgrim certificate, the Compostela, you simply need to walk at least the final 100 kilometres on foot.
Got a week?
The Camino Inglés from Ferrol is a complete Camino of 5 to 6 days with a pilgrim certificate at the end. Alternatively you can walk the final 115 kilometres or so of the Camino Francés from Sarria, which very many pilgrims do.
Read about the Camino InglésGot two weeks?
10 to 12 days from Porto to Santiago, with the choice between the central route and the coastal route along the Atlantic. The kindest route on your legs and an excellent first Camino.
Read about the Camino PortuguésGot a month?
The complete experience of roughly 771 kilometres from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port across the Pyrenees to Santiago. This is the walk most people mean when they say they want to walk the Camino.
Read about the Camino FrancésWe wrote a full guide on the length, maps and stages of the Camino, where you can see every stage of the Camino Francés.
The short answer: spring and late summer. May, June and September give you the best balance of good walking weather, open albergues and a trail that is not overcrowded. Those are the months we choose ourselves when we can.
April to June and September to mid-October are high season for a reason. The temperatures are made for walking, the landscape is green in spring and golden in autumn, and everything along the route is open. In May and September you should book ahead or set off early, because you are far from alone.
July and August are the hottest and busiest months. It can certainly be done, and the atmosphere is lively, but on the Camino Francés the Meseta can get very hot in the middle of the day. Walk early, take a siesta and drink more water than you think you need.
From November to March the way is quiet and beautiful, but a good number of albergues close, the days are short, and the weather in the mountains can be rough. The Napoleon route across the Pyrenees is closed in winter, when pilgrims are directed via Valcarlos instead. A winter Camino is for those who have done it before.
First Camino: late May or early September. If you want more quiet, consider the Camino del Norte or the Camino Primitivo, which see fewer pilgrims all year round.
The good news first: the Camino requires no super fitness. The stages are manageable for most people with ordinary condition, and your body settles into the rhythm after the first days. The best thing you can do at home is walk. Take long walks in the shoes you plan to wear on the Camino, preferably with your backpack packed, so feet, shoulders and mind all know what is coming. Our guide to body and fitness helps you set off stronger.
If you are considering going without company, the Camino is probably one of the easiest places in the world to travel alone. You meet people the whole way, and you decide how much company you want. Read our experience of walking the Camino alone. And if your legs are not up for five weeks of walking, you can also read whether you can cycle the Camino.
Your gear needs to be neither expensive nor advanced, but it has to be well thought through. The two most important choices are the backpack and what you wear on your feet, including the right socks. Everything we have walked in, worn out and weighed you will find under gear and packing.
Interactive packing list
Tick things off as you pack. The list is saved in your browser, so you can come back and finish later. Try it here, then open the full list with one click.
Build your packing listBackpack and shoes
Less than most people think. Spain is affordable, and the Camino infrastructure is built for pilgrims on a budget. If you sleep in albergues, the special pilgrim hostels, and eat pilgrim menus, you can expect around 30 to 40 euros a day. A bed typically costs 10 to 15 euros, a three course pilgrim menu with wine around 10 to 12 euros, and the morning coffee with tostada a few euros.
If you cook in the albergue kitchens and shop in the supermarkets along the way, it can be done even cheaper. In our experience, many pilgrims manage a whole month on the Camino for well under 1,500 euros all included. The flight is often the single biggest expense. We made a full guide to what food costs on the Camino, with prices on everything from coffee to pilgrim menus.
No major airport sits right at the Camino's classic starting points, so the journey there is usually a combination. The good news is that it is easier than it sounds, because the infrastructure around the routes is built for pilgrims.
To the Camino Francés. The starting town of Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port is usually reached by flying to Biarritz or Bilbao and continuing by train or bus via Bayonne. If you start in Pamplona or Sarria instead, you can fly to Madrid and take a train or bus onwards.
To the Camino Portugués. The easiest of them all: Porto has direct flights from much of Europe, and the route starts in practice at the cathedral in the city.
Home from Santiago. Santiago de Compostela has its own airport with connections home via Madrid among others. Book your return with a couple of days of buffer, so a sore achilles does not cost you the flight.
On each route page we describe the transport to that exact starting town, for instance for the Camino Francés and the Camino Portugués.
The pilgrim passport. You pick up your credencial in the starting town, and along the way you collect stamps from albergues, churches and cafés. It is your entry ticket to the albergues and your proof when you claim the Compostela in Santiago.
Finding the way. Yellow arrows and scallop shells mark the route the whole way, and after a couple of weeks most pilgrims dream about them. If you do get lost, there is always a local or another pilgrim pointing you back onto the trail.
The language. You get far with smiles and gestures, but a few Spanish phrases open doors and get you better coffee. Practise with our Spanish phrasebook and look up the terms in the Camino glossary.
Not done in Santiago? Many pilgrims continue the final ninety kilometres or so out to the Atlantic at Cape Finisterre, the place the Romans called the end of the world. It is the most beautiful epilogue a Camino can get.
The Camino begins long before the first stage. Explore the routes, the guides and everything we have learned on the way since 2016.