Camino de Santiago Route Planner
It can take anywhere from 31 to 45 days to walk the entire Camino de Santiago, from the French border at the Pyrenees to Santiago de Compostela, plus up to 7 days more to continue onward to the Atlantic coast. While plenty of people walk the whole thing, many often walk the trail in sections, returning a year or more later to pick up where they left off. Many others walk only that one portion. Even a three-day walk on the Camino is profound and transformative, and there are no right or wrong ways to walk it. Whatever your goals, plan your pilgrimage with this breakdown of Camino routes:
For Mountains and Huddled Hamlets:
Basque Country and Navarra: Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port to Pamplona
Total Distance: 68.4 km (42.5 miles)
Days: 3-4
The most historic route of the Camino de Santiago, the Camino Francés, officially begins at Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, a stunning threshold at the Pyrenees and the border with France and Spain. There are two historic route options: the Route Napoleon, an ancient Roman route, or the Route Valcarlos, taken by Charlemagne in the 8th century, today used as the trail in winter and during bad weather. Both ascend green-gray mountain peaks capped with snow and speckled with grazing sheep and horses and breathtaking views before descending to Roncesvalles.
This initial stretch is one of the most challenging on the Camino, ascending the second-highest peak of the Camino. From late autumn through spring, the weather can be prohibitive, and the Route Napoleon is closed while the Route Valcarlos remains open.
For Stunning Churches (and a Wine Fountain!):
Navarra: Pamplona to Logroño
Total Distance: 97.6 km (60.6 miles)
Days: 4-5
From Pamplona, the Camino climbs between open plains, high ridges, and steep ravines into wild and dynamic landscapes where early humans built dolmens and medieval masons created enigmatic and beautiful churches reflecting a mix of influences (pagan, Jewish, Christian, and Muslim). The Camino also traces an ancient Roman road and takes you into wheat and wine country, including to a fountain flowing with wine at Irache.
For Peaceful Monasteries and Plentiful Poppies:
La Rioja and Castile: Logroño to Burgos
Total Distance: 124 km (77 miles)
Days: 6-9
Through radiating vineyards and billowing wheat fields, the Camino treads along dark red earth into gold-toned Castile, crossing remote pine forests rich with songbirds and passing some of the path’s most spiritual monasteries (Nájera, San Millan de la Cogolla, and San Juan de Ortega). Before Burgos, it time travels through Europe’s earliest human presence at Atapuerca, inhabited for the past 1.4 million years.
For Ancient Architecture and Medieval Lore:
Castile and León: Burgos to León
Total Distance: 181 km (112 miles)
Days: 7-9
Deep into Spain’s breadbasket, the Camino climbs to the famous meseta—high plateau—of north-central Spain where shepherds have tended their flocks for millennia. Traverse a landscape of hilltop castles and frontier towns and walk amid vast, swaying wheat and sunflower fields and endless sky.
Burgos is home to the world-class human evolution museum, which highlights fossil finds from Atapuerca Archaeological Site. In Rabé de las Calzadas, the sisters of Centro La Milagrosa, and in Carrión de los Condes, the nuns of Albergue de Santa María, invite you to join them in prayer, sacred song, and potent pilgrim blessing.
By clicking 'Sign Up,' I acknowledge that I have read and agree to Hachette Book Group’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Use
To Participate in the Iron Cross Ritual (and For a Challenge!):
León and Galicia: León to Sarría
Total Distance: 193.5 km (120 miles)
Days: 8-10
Mountainous terrain makes this one of the more challenging sections of the Camino. After summiting Monte Irago, the Camino’s highest point, pilgrims can leave a ritual stone at the foot of the Cruz de Ferro iron cross—for many, it’s a top and transformative experience. Next, trek into a vast valley and garden paradise of fruit orchards, vegetable gardens, unique El Bierzo wines, and the huge Templar castle. The trail then passes narrow mountain valleys, riverside villages, and life-sustaining chestnut forests before the steep climb into Galicia and the ancient mountaintop village of O Cebreiro.
To Taste the Bounty of the Land and the Sea:
Galicia: Sarría to Santiago de Compostela
Total Distance: 115.5 km (72 miles)
Days: 5-6
As one of the most convenient places from which to walk the 100 kilometers (62 miles) required for the Compostela, Sarria is the Camino Francés’s most popular starting point. From here, the Camino passes through a green and mysterious realm of intimate river valleys and mountains covered in ancient oak and chestnut forests, some of the oldest in Iberia, a land of meigas (white witches) who cast healing cures, queimada (a ritual and elixir of well-being), and creamy, herby cheeses from local cows that are often as present on the trail as humans. You also begin to taste the nearby ocean in cafés that serve local catch, including spicy Galician octopus, pulpo á feira.
You Made It: Santiago de Compostela
The Camino ends in this mythic, medieval city at the Catedral de Santiago de Compostela that holds the purported remains of Saint James. Pilgrims head straight to the cathedral to hug the statue of Santiago on the high altar and visit his silver-encased remains below. They celebrate and explore along arcaded cobblestone streets lined with granite churches, monasteries, museums, shops, and galleries, and colorful cafés surrounding the cathedral, which serve Galicia’s most tantalizing dishes from land and ocean. One in particular, Casa Manolo, has been a popular pilgrim meeting spot for more than three decades.
If You Want to Keep Going:
Camino Finisterre: Finisterre and Muxía
To Finisterre: 89.3 Km (55.5 miles), 4 days
To Muxía: 86.9 Km (54 miles), 4 days
Finisterre to Muxía: 29.3 Km (18.2 miles), 2 days
More and more pilgrims are taking the land road as far west as it can go to the Atlantic Ocean and fishing towns of Finisterre and Muxía, a journey through dense forest, undulating hills, and challenging small mountains that opens at the last moment to the ocean and first sighting of finis terrae, earth’s end—a narrow finger of land with endless sky above, crashing waves below, and infinite watery horizon ahead. Once there, pilgrims engage in end-of-journey rituals like watching the sunset over the ocean, gathering a scallop shell from the beach, and enjoying festive fresh-caught seafood on the harbor.
By clicking 'Sign Up,' I acknowledge that I have read and agree to Hachette Book Group’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Use
Pin It for Later
