Camino Francés: Stages, Map and Where to Start

The most demanding day of the whole route: you cross the Pyrenees over the Lepoeder pass (1,430 m) on the so-called Napoleon Route, with almost no services between Orisson and the collegiate church. From November 1 to March 31 that variant is closed and you must take the Valcarlos valley, which climbs via Ibañeta. In Roncesvalles you’ll find the Gothic Royal Collegiate Church, the historic albergue (pilgrim hostel) and the pilgrims’ blessing.

How to Get to RoncesvallesThe toughest hills on the Camino

A long descent through beech woods and Navarra meadows. Burguete and Espinal keep the rural feel that Hemingway described; the Robledal de las Brujas (Witches’ Oak Grove) recalls the witches’ sabbaths tried in the 16th century. After the Mezkiritz and Erro passes, the descent to Zubiri is slippery in the rain. You enter the village over the 12th-century Puente de la Rabia.

The Arga River guides you the whole way. Medieval bridges at Larrasoaña, Irotz and Trinidad de Arre; Villava, birthplace of Miguel Induráin. You enter Pamplona over the Magdalena bridge and through the Renaissance walls, up to the old town and the cathedral of Santa María la Real.

A climb to the Alto del Perdón (about 770 m), topped by its line of cut-out metal pilgrims. From the top, a detour leads to Santa María de Eunate, the octagonal Romanesque chapel. In Puente la Reina the branch from Roncesvalles meets the Camino Aragonés coming down from Somport; its 11th-century bridge gives the town its name.

The Mystery of Obanos

The landscape changes from beech woods to vineyards and olive groves. Cirauqui keeps its Roman road and bridge; the Salado River is the one the Codex Calixtinus describes as deadly for horses. Estella, “the beautiful,” has the finest group of Romanesque civil buildings in Navarra: San Pedro de la Rúa and the Palace of the Kings of Navarra.

Three kilometers from Estella, next to the monastery of Irache, the Wine Fountain offers one tap of wine and another of water. Then comes Villamayor de Monjardín, with its castle up on the hill, and a long, shadeless stretch to Los Arcos, where the church of Santa María, with its Baroque interior, stands out.

Torres del Río is home to the octagonal church of the Holy Sepulchre; Viana, with its walls, was founded by Sancho the Strong. You cross the Ebro into Logroño, where Calle Laurel and the co-cathedral of La Redonda mark your arrival in La Rioja.

You leave through the park and reservoir of La Grajera. Navarrete, a town of potters and winemakers, and the Poyo de Roldán, where legend places the duel between the paladin Roland and the giant Ferragut. You reach Nájera following the Najerilla River.

Santa María la Real in Nájera, burial place of the kings of Navarra, opens the day. Azofra is the last place to stock up before Cirueña. A recommended detour leads to San Millán de la Cogolla (Suso and Yuso, a World Heritage Site). Santo Domingo owes its name to the saint who built a bridge, a hospital and a road for pilgrims.

Grañón is the last village in La Rioja; Redecilla del Camino, already in Castilla y León, appears in the Codex Calixtinus and keeps a Romanesque baptismal font. Viloria de Rioja is the birthplace of Santo Domingo. Belorado held the first documented fair in Spain, in 1116.

The crossing of the Montes de Oca, feared in the Middle Ages for their bandits: 200 meters of climbing in three kilometers up to the Alto de la Pedraja, then a track through oaks and pines. San Juan de Ortega, a disciple of Santo Domingo, left a monastery here where, at every equinox, the light falls on the capital of the Annunciation.

Agés and the Sierra de Atapuerca, with the sites that document the first Europeans. The way into Burgos has a variant via Castañares and the banks of the Arlanzón that avoids the industrial parks. At the end, the Gothic cathedral, begun in 1221, where El Cid is buried.

Atapuerca on the CaminoThe cathedrals of the Camino

The Meseta begins. After the monastery of Las Huelgas, Tardajos and Rabé de las Calzadas, nine kilometers of shadeless upland lead to Hornillos, a one-street village born to serve the Camino.

Hontanas stays hidden in a hollow until the last moment. The Camino literally passes through the ruins of the convent of San Antón, under its Gothic arches. Castrojeriz spreads out below a castle of Visigothic origin and the collegiate church of Santa María del Manzano.

The Alto de Mostelares (145 m of climbing in two kilometers) is the only hill of the day. Then the Itero bridge over the Pisuerga, the historic border between Castile and León, and the Canal de Castilla all the way to Frómista, home of San Martín, the most textbook Romanesque church on the Camino.

Tierra de Campos at its purest, alongside the road. Villalcázar de Sirga, with the Templar church of Santa María la Blanca, is a must-stop. Carrión de los Condes brings together the Pantocrator of Santiago, Santa María del Camino and the monastery of San Zoilo.

The longest stage of the route and the section with the fewest services: 17 km of old Roman road to Calzadilla de la Cueza without a single village. Ledigos, Terradillos de los Templarios (adobe houses and dovecotes) and, now in the province of León, Sahagún, capital of Mudéjar architecture. Many people split it in two.

Sahagún is the halfway point of the Camino Francés: if you can prove you’ve walked here, you can ask for the Carta Peregrina, a halfway certificate. San Lorenzo and San Tirso sum up the brick Romanesque. From Calzada del Coto there’s the alternative via Calzadilla de los Hermanillos, quieter, which doesn’t rejoin the main route until Mansilla.

An endless straight with a row of poplars as the only shade. Reliegos keeps cellars dug into the ground and the best stretch of Roman road in the area. Walled Mansilla looks out over the Esla River.

Puente Villarente and the Alto del Portillo come before the walk into the city. León has three major sights: the Gothic cathedral with its 1,800 m² of stained glass, San Isidoro, the “Sistine Chapel of Romanesque art,” and Gaudí’s Casa Botines. In the Barrio Húmedo, tapas come with your wine.

You leave past the Parador de San Marcos, a former hospital of the Order of Santiago, and the sanctuary of La Virgen del Camino. Soon after, the route splits: the original follows the N-120 to Villadangos; the alternative via Villar de Mazarife is quieter and rejoins at Hospital de Órbigo.

The bridge at Hospital de Órbigo recalls the Paso Honroso of 1434, when the knight Suero de Quiñones challenged anyone who wanted to cross it. Astorga, capital of the Maragatería and the meeting point with the Vía de la Plata, has a cathedral, Gaudí’s Episcopal Palace and Roman walls.

A steady climb through the Maragatería. Castrillo de los Polvazares, a kilometer off the route, is the museum-village of cocido maragato (a hearty meat-and-chickpea stew). Santa Catalina de Somoza, El Ganso and Rabanal, where the Codex Calixtinus ended its ninth stage and where a Benedictine community sings Vespers every evening.

Foncebadón, a hamlet brought back to life by the pilgrimage, and right after it the Cruz de Ferro (1,504 m), the highest point on the whole Camino Francés, where every pilgrim leaves a stone brought from home. Manjarín, and then one of the hardest descents of the route, via El Acebo and Riego de Ambrós, to the medieval bridge of Molinaseca.

The highest points on the Camino

Ponferrada, with its Templar castle, is the last big city before Santiago and a common starting point for cyclists. Then come Mencía vineyards through Camponaraya and Cacabelos. Villafranca has the Puerta del Perdón of the church of Santiago: pilgrims who fell ill here received the same indulgence as in Compostela.

The signature climb of the Camino. You head up the Valcarce valley to Las Herrerías and, from there, twelve kilometers of climbing via La Faba and Laguna de Castilla, gaining 600 meters in the last eight. When you cross into Galicia, 152 km remain. O Cebreiro, at 1,300 m, keeps its pallozas (round stone huts with thatched roofs) and the pre-Romanesque church of Santa María la Real, the oldest one still intact on the Camino.

How to Get to O Cebreiro

A ridge walk through the Os Ancares range: the Alto de San Roque, with the statue of the pilgrim battling the wind, and the Alto do Poio (1,335 m), the highest point of the route in Galicia. Then a long descent among chestnut trees to Triacastela, the first Galician town, next to the Eirós cave.

Two routes: the short variant via San Xil, along corredoiras (old sunken lanes), or the Samos route (25.1 km), which drops down to the Benedictine monastery founded in the 6th century, with one of the largest cloisters in Spain. Both reach Sarria, the town where more pilgrims start than anywhere else.

How to get to Sarria

You leave along Rúa Maior and over the Áspera bridge. Barbadelo has one of the most notable Romanesque churches in Lugo. In Morgade stands the 100 km marker, the threshold that qualifies you for the Compostela. Then Ferreiros, followed by the great bridge over the Belesar reservoir and the stairway into Portomarín, a village moved stone by stone in 1962.

What to see from Sarria, stage by stage

A climb via Gonzar to the hill fort of Castromaior, an Iron Age settlement right by the Camino. The Sierra de Ligonde, the Os Lameiros wayside cross (1679) and the detour to Vilar de Donas, church of the Knights of Santiago with 15th-century paintings. Palas de Rei was where the last stage of the Codex Calixtinus ended.

The longest day of the Galician section, with constant ups and downs. Melide is where the Camino Primitivo joins the Camino Francés and where you eat pulpo á feira (Galician-style octopus). The medieval bridge of Furelos, Ribadiso de Abaixo and its Iso River, and the final leg-breaker from Boente to Arzúa, capital of the Arzúa-Ulloa D.O. cheese.

Melide and its octopus

A gentle stage among pines and eucalyptus. Salceda marks the halfway point; in Santa Irene, there’s a fountain said to have healing powers. O Pedrouzo, the main town of the municipality of O Pino, is the last classic overnight stop before Santiago.

You skirt Lavacolla airport, next to the stream where medieval pilgrims washed before entering the city. From Monte do Gozo (380 m) you see the cathedral towers for the first time. Five more kilometers to the Praza do Obradoiro, the Pilgrim’s Reception Office and the Compostela.