Which Camino de Santiago route is right for you?

25.03.2024 - 19:53 / lonelyplanet.com

Upwards of 400,000 travelers a year journey the yellow arrows and scallop-shell markers along the Camino de Santiago.

The historic pilgrimage routes lead to the city of Santiago de Compostela, Spain, home to one of Christendom’s holiest sites: the tomb believed to hold the remains of St James the Apostle (called Santiago in Spanish) inside the city’s magnificent cathedral.

Numbers on the caminos have multiplied tenfold since the late 1990s and many walkers will be seeking out less frequented alternatives to the classic Camino Francés. There are options long and short, hard and easy, to suit every pair of feet. Take note that the paths will likely be more crowded than ever and plan ahead with this handy guide to the most popular Camino de Santiago routes, making sure you're able to choose the right one for you.

The classic: long and extremely popular

The Camino Francés (French Way) is the route with the richest tradition, still followed by more people than all other caminos combined. It starts at St-Jean-Pied-de-Port on the French side of the Pyrenees and crosses about 770km/478 miles (around five weeks on foot) of northern Spain en route to Santiago de Compostela.

To many people, this is the Camino de Santiago, a time-honored penitential route and a demanding challenge requiring both mental and physical stamina. It passes through the vineyards of La Rioja, across the sparsely populated croplands of the meseta (Spain’s central plateau) and over 1300m-high (4265ft) hills into the rural greens of Galicia (Spain’s northwestern region, of which Santiago de Compostela is capital).

You traverse isolated stone-built villages and sizeable cities like Pamplona, Burgos and León, many of them full of camino history, from ancient stone bridges to huge medieval cathedrals. The way can be blisteringly hot in summer and freezing cold in winter. Some stretches are rural tracks, others run alongside busy paved roads.

But only one person in five does the full distance from St-Jean-Pied-de-Port, so the bulk of this camino is less busy than you might imagine. In fact, nearly half of Camino Francés travelers begin at Sarria, just 114km (71 miles) before Santiago – a modest Galician town that just happens to be the last starting point that meets the minimum 100km (62 mile) requirement for obtaining the official Camino de Santiago certificate, the Compostela.

A route for everyone

The Portuguese Way, second-busiest of the Caminos de Santiago, runs more than 600km (373 miles) from Lisbon in Portugal to Santiago (about 3½ weeks), but the most popular starting points are the enticing city of Porto in northern Portugal (some 240km/149 miles from Santiago, about 10 days) and Tui, where the route enters Spain (115km/71 miles). It’s