The best time to walk the Camino de Santiago

The best time to walk the Camino de Santiago is usually May or September, but that answer hides more than it reveals. Here is what each month actually asks of you.

Quinton Wall Updated July 2026

Morning light over the path on the Camino Frances

Quinton Wall has walked over a dozen Caminos, including the Camino Frances six times, the Via Podiensis from Le Puy twice, the Camino del Norte, both the coastal and inland Camino Portugues from Lisbon, and the walk out to Finisterre five times.

The best time to walk the Camino de Santiago, in short

If you want one sentence: the best time to walk the Camino de Santiago is May or September. Long days, manageable temperatures, everything open, and crowds that are busy rather than oppressive.

The reason that answer is incomplete is that it optimises for comfort, and comfort is not why most people walk. I have had my best days in a wet October and my worst in a perfect June. The month shapes the walk more than it determines whether it is any good.

What genuinely changes by season is four things: temperature, daylight, how many albergues are open, and how many people you share them with. Everything below is organised around those.

Locked into specific dates? Plan around them.Ask the guide

Month by month on the Camino Frances

Month	Conditions	Crowds	The catch
January	Cold, wet, short days	Almost nobody	Many albergues closed, mountain routes risky
February	Cold, wet, lengthening days	Almost nobody	Same closures, slightly more daylight
March	Cool, variable, snow possible high up	Quiet	Napoleon route often still closed
April	Mild, green, showery	Building	Easter week fills beds suddenly
May	Warm days, wildflowers, long light	Busy	Rain still likely, especially in Galicia
June	Warm to hot, longest days	Busy	Meseta heat starts to bite
July	Hot, over 35C on the Meseta	Very busy	Beds gone by early afternoon
August	Hot, and Spanish holiday month	Busiest	Book ahead or start very early
September	Warm days, cool nights, harvest	Busy, thinning late	Still warm on the Meseta early in the month
October	Mild, damp, shortening days	Quiet by mid month	Daylight goes quickly late in the month
November	Cold, wet, short days	Very quiet	Closures begin in earnest
December	Cold, wet, shortest days	Almost nobody	Christmas closures on top of winter ones

Generalisations for the Camino Frances. Galicia is wetter than this suggests in every month, and the Meseta is more extreme in both directions.

Spring, if you can accept the rain

Spring is my favourite, with asterisks. April and May give you a landscape that is actively green rather than merely present, days long enough that you are never rushing, and temperatures that let you walk through the middle of the day.

The asterisk is water. It rains, sometimes for days, and the Pyrenees can still hold snow into April. The Napoleon route over the mountains from Saint-Jean is frequently closed early in the season, and the lower Valcarlos alternative exists for exactly that reason.

Easter is the one date to watch. Beds that were half empty fill within a day, and the whole route briefly feels like August.

Summer, and how to survive the Meseta

July and August are the months I would most like to talk people out of, and also the months when most people can actually take leave, so here is how to make it work rather than a lecture.

Start walking at first light, which in high summer means leaving around six
Aim to be finished by one or two in the afternoon, before the worst of it
Carry more water than feels necessary, because the Meseta has long stretches with nothing
Book a day ahead, since beds go early when the whole route is walking the same short mornings
Take the siesta seriously, because everyone else does and nothing is open anyway

The Meseta is the specific problem. Roughly 200 kilometres of high plateau with minimal shade, where the temperature regularly passes 35 degrees. It is also, for me, the best part of the Frances. Both things are true, and the second only stays true if you respect the first.

If you are heat-sensitive and can only travel in summer, consider the north coast instead. The Norte and the coastal Portuguese route are meaningfully cooler in July than central Spain, at the cost of more rain and more climbing.

Autumn, the quiet favourite

September is the month I recommend most often. The heat has broken but not disappeared, the harvest is happening around you, the light gets long and low in the afternoons, and the crowds thin steadily as the month goes on.

October is better still if you want quiet and you do not mind damp. By the middle of the month the Frances feels like a different route, and there is a particular camaraderie among the smaller number of people still walking.

The thing to plan for is daylight. By late October you are losing light noticeably earlier, which shortens how far you can comfortably walk. A headlamp stops being optional.

Autumn also changes how the walk feels socially. In May you are one of many and the albergues run on something close to a timetable. By mid October there are few enough pilgrims that you recognise almost everyone at dinner, and the same handful of faces reappear night after night for a week. Some people find that claustrophobic. I find it is when the conversations get past where are you from and how far did you walk today, which is usually where the walk starts becoming the thing people remember.

Winter, for a specific kind of pilgrim

I am not going to pretend winter is for everyone. Many albergues close from November to March, the days are short, and the mountain sections can be genuinely dangerous rather than merely unpleasant.

What you get in exchange is a Camino almost nobody else is walking. If solitude is the point, and you are an experienced walker who will plan accommodation properly and carry real winter gear, it is the most singular version of the route.

Plan shorter days than you would in summer, verify which albergues are open rather than assuming, and accept that your pack will be heavier than the usual ten percent guidance allows. The packing list has the winter modifications.

Where you walk changes what the season means

Almost every article about Camino weather treats Spain as one place, and it is not. The Frances alone crosses three quite different climates, and the month that suits one section may not suit another.

The Pyrenees and Navarre

Cooler and wetter than the rest of the Frances, and high enough that snow is a genuine consideration from November through to April. The Napoleon route over the mountains is frequently closed in that window, and the closure is enforced for good reason rather than out of caution. If you are walking early or late in the year, plan on the Valcarlos alternative.

The Meseta

The high central plateau is the most extreme part of the route in both directions. Baking in July and August with almost no shade, and genuinely cold in winter with a wind that comes across the plain unobstructed. Spring and autumn are when it is at its best, and that is also when the light across it is worth the whole walk.

Galicia and the north coast

Green for a reason. It rains here in every month of the year, and the final week of the Frances is the stretch most likely to be wet regardless of when you set off. Pilgrims who have walked three sunny weeks are often caught out by this, having posted their rain gear home somewhere around Leon.

The practical consequence is that a single packing decision has to cover all three. You cannot pack for the Meseta in August and arrive in Galicia unprepared, which is why the packing list keeps a rain layer in every season.

The Portuguese routes

Milder for longer at both ends of the year, which is what makes the Portugues a reasonable choice in months when the Frances is harder work. The coastal variant gets Atlantic wind, which is welcome in July and less so in March.

Choosing your month

Work backwards from what you most want to protect.

You want the best all-round conditions: May or September
You want quiet without winter: the second half of October
You want the social side at its fullest: June or September
You are stuck with summer: walk the north coast, or start before dawn
You want to be genuinely alone: November through February, with real preparation
You are heat-sensitive: avoid the Meseta from late June to early September

There is a good argument, which I mostly agree with, that there is no wrong time to walk. Every season takes something and gives something back. The pilgrims who have the hardest time are not the ones who chose the wrong month, they are the ones who planned for a month other than the one they got.

Once you have your dates, the planning guide takes it from there, and the route chooser covers which routes suit which seasons.

Common questions about when to walk the Camino

What is the best month to walk the Camino de Santiago?

May and September are the two months that balance weather, daylight and crowds most successfully. May gives you long days and wildflowers with some rain risk. September gives you warm days, cooler nights and a steady thinning of pilgrims as the month goes on.

Is it too hot to walk the Camino in summer?

It is walkable but demanding, particularly across the Meseta where temperatures regularly pass 35 degrees and there is very little shade. Summer works if you start walking at first light and finish by early afternoon. Pilgrims who set off at nine in the morning in July struggle.

Can you walk the Camino de Santiago in winter?

Yes, with real caveats. Many albergues close from November to March, daylight is short, and mountain sections including the Napoleon route over the Pyrenees can be genuinely dangerous or closed. Winter suits experienced walkers who want solitude and are prepared to book ahead and take shorter days.

When is the Camino de Santiago least crowded?

November through February by a wide margin, and late October is quiet while most albergues are still open. If you want low crowds without winter conditions, the second half of October is the best compromise on the Camino Frances.

Does it rain a lot on the Camino de Santiago?

It depends heavily on where you are. Galicia and the north coast are wet in every month of the year, so expect rain on the final stretch whenever you walk. Central Spain including the Meseta is much drier, and can go weeks without rain in summer.

How busy is the Camino in a Holy Year?

Considerably busier. A Holy Year, when the feast of Saint James falls on a Sunday, draws far more pilgrims than a normal year, and accommodation on the Frances gets tight well beyond the usual peak weeks. Check whether your year is one before assuming normal booking patterns apply.

Still deciding something?

Ask the guide about your dates, your fitness and how long you have. It answers with real stages and real accommodation, not generic advice.

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