Camino de Santiago itineraries

How to use these Camino de Santiago itineraries

Every itinerary below is the closing section of a real route, because that is how a shorter Camino is actually walked. You join partway along and finish in Santiago, rather than walking the first two weeks and stopping in a field somewhere outside Burgos.

The distances are pulled from the stage data behind this site rather than typed out by hand, so they match what the route pages and the chat guide will tell you. What they cannot tell you is how your feet will feel on day nine. Treat the day numbers as a shape, not a schedule.

One number worth knowing before you choose: to receive the Compostela in Santiago you need to have walked the final 100 kilometres. That single rule is why the last stretch of the Frances is far busier than anything before it, and it shapes most short itineraries.

The shortest itinerary that earns the Compostela

This is the classic Sarria start, and it is the most walked stretch of the entire Camino network. Five walking days, a little over 100 kilometres, and you arrive with the certificate.

It runs from Sarria to Santiago de Compostela, and you should add at least one day either side for getting there and getting home.

A 7 day Camino itinerary

Adding two days to the Sarria start buys you the descent from the high country instead of beginning on the flat, and it is a noticeably better week for it. You get one genuinely beautiful mountain morning before settling into the Galician rhythm.

From O Cebreiro to Santiago de Compostela, 152.6 kilometres across seven walking days.

If a week is what you have and you would rather avoid the crowds entirely, the Camino Inglés is the other honest answer. It is short enough to complete in full, which feels different from walking the end of something longer.

The alternative: walk a whole route instead of the end of one

5 stages, 111.5 kilometres, from Ferrol to Santiago de Compostela. Note that the shorter English route has its own rule for the Compostela, so check the current requirement before you count on it.

A 10 day Camino itinerary

Ten days is where the walk starts to feel like a walk rather than a trip. You cross into Galicia properly, the landscape changes underneath you, and by the second week you are moving differently than you did on day one.

From Foncebadón to Santiago de Compostela, 230.4 kilometres.

The other strong ten day option is the Portuguese route from Porto, which is flatter, warmer and has the coastal variant if you want the Atlantic. It suits people who want the Camino experience without the climbing.

A 2 week Camino itinerary

Two weeks is the sweet spot for most working adults, and it is enough time for the thing people actually come for. Somewhere around day ten the planning brain goes quiet and you stop counting kilometres.

On the Frances, the closing fortnight runs from Mansilla de las Mulas to Santiago de Compostela, covering 323 kilometres.

Or walk the Portuguese route instead

The closing 12 stages of the Camino Portugués run 274.5 kilometres from São João da Madeira to Santiago de Compostela. Flatter than the Frances, quieter until the last few days, and it finishes at the same cathedral.

A 4 week Camino itinerary

Four weeks gets you most of the Frances at a firm pace, or all of it if you are walking long days and taking no rest. I would rather see someone walk four weeks of it well than squeeze the full route into the same time and arrive broken.

The closing four weeks run from Estella to Santiago de Compostela, 652.8 kilometres across 28 walking days. That is an average just under 23.3 kilometres a day before any rest days.

For the full route from Saint-Jean, 37 stages and around 865 kilometres, budget five weeks so you have room for two rest days and a bad weather day without it becoming a crisis.

Building your own itinerary

The published stages are a convention, not a rule. They exist because that is where the albergues are, but nothing stops you stopping short or pushing on, and most pilgrims end up doing both within the first week.

• Plan your first three days shorter than you think you need, because that is when injuries happen
• Build in a rest day roughly every seven to ten days, and take it in a town you actually want to spend a day in
• Leave the last two days loose so arriving in Santiago is not a race against a flight
• Count travel days separately, since getting to the start is often most of a day

Every route on this site has its full stage list with distances and difficulty on the routes page, and if you want an itinerary built around your dates and your pace, the guide will do that in a conversation rather than making you fill in a form.