As you well know, the development of new technologies in recent years has been at breakneck speed. Every day, new technological utilities emerge for many aspects of daily life. Today, our mobile phones are like computers and offer many features, such as mobile applications or apps, very practical for day-to-day use. They are also useful for pilgrims, and in this article, we want to talk to you about that, about the applications for the Camino de Santiago.
What information do these applications provide? What is the best Camino de Santiago app? And even, what is the best free app to enjoy the Camino de Santiago? Here are the best applications you can download for the Camino de Santiago: with some, you can even make personal memories like this…
Cool, huh? We made this video of the last stage of the French Way with one of the best free apps for the Camino de Santiago. Keep reading, and you’ll discover how to create these videos yourself if you’re going to do a Jacobean route.
Camino Tool
So, just like that, we present to you the best application for the Camino de Santiago. Camino Tool is a complete and simple mobile application with a very intuitive use that is also free.
For us, it’s the best because it works very well and offers regular updates. When you open it, it shows the map of the Iberian Peninsula with all the Jacobean routes and their different variants. This map indicates the Camino’s path with a dark blue line, and in lighter blue, the variants and Complementary Ways. With the GPS activated on your device, you just have to follow the blue dot on the line.
Map of the Camino Tool application on the Jacobean routes within Galicia
You can move around the map and consult information about the localities and services that can be found in the section where you are: hostels, accommodations, bars, restaurants, etc. It even has direct links to consult and book accommodations.
In large and important cities, such as Santiago de Compostela, for example, it indicates places of interest, monuments, tourist offices, shops, tourism agencies, etc. At many of these points, it also gives you the possibility to contact them, either by WhatsApp or other means. In addition, it has a stage planner that you can customize to your liking.
Editorial Buen Camino
Editorial Buen Camino has been providing help to pilgrims since 1999. Its website, created by journalist and pilgrim Carlos Mencos, winner of the Aymeric Picaud Award 2015 for the dissemination of the Camino de Santiago, is a Jacobean encyclopedia. Its application, created in 2011, works very well and offers regular updates, and provides pilgrims with comprehensive informational support about the Camino de Santiago.
On a map, it shows the different existing routes, even the lesser-known ones, although, unlike Camino Tool, one by one, not all together. In the main menu, you can choose the Camino and download it to enjoy the complete information it offers. Once on the map, you will see the Camino’s layout with a yellow line, showing the variants and Complementary Ways in orange or blue. Activate your GPS, and you can guide yourself with this application.
Map of the French Way from the Editorial Buen Camino website
Besides providing information about hostels, accommodations, bars, restaurants, services, etc., it describes the route in detail and even warns of peculiarities you may encounter. In this sense, it’s like a modern Codex Calixtinus.
The stage planner is very useful, offering a standard division of stages that you can edit and personalize to your liking. You will find route information, an index of localities, stage profiles, etc. All this, and much more, is given to you by this application, to which you can make a donation through it if you wish.
Gronze Maps
The Gronze guide, another reference in the Camino de Santiago, has also developed its own application. Upon execution, a map appears with all the Caminos in Spain and even in Europe with different colors.
Clicking on each route, you can consult general information about it, although there is a link that redirects to the website and completes the information. And if you zoom in, you can even consult each stage in greater depth without going to the website. If you are on the Camino, you can activate the GPS and you will be able to follow the route’s itinerary.
Map of the Gronze Maps website of a pilgrim who is going to do the Via de la Plata from Seville
Other applications
We can mention other applications that, unlike the previous ones, are not exactly guides but, as they offer other facilities, can be very useful to you. These are hiking track recording applications, which users use to record their routes and share them with others. Many times, Caminos de Santiago registered by users appear, and they can be useful for guiding you. Some examples are:
- Wikiloc, very useful and accurate, with mileage and elevation gain registration;
- Gaia GPS, similar to the previous one;
- Relive, which offers the possibility of turning your journeys into spectacular videos. Did you see the video above? ;)
AlertCops
In addition, it’s important to highlight the Alertcops application, a technological support that gives you security on the Camino de Santiago, as it is connected with the Police. You can give alerts if you or any pilgrim find yourselves in difficulties, and having the GPS active, you can be located.
The AlertCops app assists you on any Camino
Google Arts & Culture
Within the Google Arts & Culture application, you can consult the Camino de Santiago theme called ¡Buen Camino! This application is free and is the great novelty of the American giant regarding the Camino de Santiago. Created in collaboration with the Xunta de Galicia in 2021, it offers all kinds of information about the Jacobean routes, photographs, videos, and more.
The Google Arts & Culture app is a kind of magazine on cultural topics, like the Camino de Santiago
The Jacobean Authorities recommend that you use the Camino de Santiago apps in moderation
Indeed, dear pilgrim: you can use the applications for the Camino as support, but remember, it is very well signposted and you cannot get lost. The Camino is to be enjoyed for nature and to disconnect, so we recommend not being glued to your mobile all the time. Consult the stage of the day in the application, and then put away your phone.
Many more applications can be found in the app stores, where you can consult the ratings given by other pilgrims and thus decide which application to use. We want to make the Camino de Santiago easier for you, and with these applications, you will be more than prepared for your next pilgrim adventure.
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