Your first pilgrimage in 10 steps

In short: First be clear about your reason, your time and your route. Then come your budget, pilgrim passport, shoes, backpack and a test walk. With six months' lead time you have plenty of room.

From the outside, a first pilgrimage looks like a huge project. Look more closely and you will see it comes down to ten manageable decisions. Most problems on the way come from small things that weren't sorted out beforehand.

Our guide puts these steps in a sensible order and gives you a timetable for the last six months. You need no experience for this, only a little lead time.

Who this guide is for

The guide is for people who want to spend more than a weekend on foot for the first time. It doesn't matter whether you are going out of faith, looking for distance from everyday life or simply curious. You are welcome on the pilgrimage routes without any religious motive too.

The most important decisions

At the start there are three questions that decide everything else: why are you going, how much time do you have, and which route fits?

The route doesn't have to be perfect. Many people walk further routes later, and nobody has the idea only once.

The timetable: what to do when

The biggest benefit of good planning is peace of mind. With six months' lead time there is room for everything, and you don't have to rush.

Six months before, fix your route and dates and arrange your time off. Four months before, buy shoes and a backpack so you can start breaking them in. Three months before, start training and look at flights or trains. Two months before, order your pilgrim passport. One month before comes the test walk. In the last few weeks, book the first night, download maps and pack.

The first week on the way

The first few days are the hardest, as your body is still getting used to the strain. At the start, walk 15 kilometres rather than 25. Find your own pace, even if others overtake you.

Take your shoes off at every break and deal with sore spots as soon as they appear. A blister on day two can shape your whole trip. Our article on avoiding blisters on a pilgrimage can help.

What the trip costs

On the Way of St James, allow 40 to 50 euros a day, plus travel and gear. If you sleep in public albergues and cook for yourself, you can manage on much less. The exact figures are on the costs page, and the matching budget planner is also available as a PDF.

When is the best time to go

April to June, plus September and October, are the most pleasant months for most routes in Spain and Portugal. In high summer it gets hot and crowded. 2027 is also a Holy Year in Santiago, when the last stages in particular will be busier.

The ten steps at a glance

The PDF describes all ten steps in detail. Here is the order:

1. Be clear about your reason
2. Set your time
3. Choose your route
4. Choose when to go
5. Work out your budget
6. Get your pilgrim passport
7. Break in your shoes
8. Pack and weigh your backpack
9. Do a test walk
10. Set off

The order is deliberate. If you buy gear first and choose the route later, you often buy the wrong thing. You need different things for Norway than for Spain in May.

Alone, as a couple or in a group?

All of these work, and each has its appeal. Alone, you set your own pace and breaks and find it easier to get talking on the way. On the major routes you are rarely without company for long anyway.

As a couple you share the joy and the planning, but you have to agree on pace and breaks. Talk beforehand about why each of you is going, and feel free to walk some sections apart. There are tips under pilgrimage as a couple. Families will find ideas under pilgrimage with children.

Where you sleep on the way

On the Spanish Camino routes most people sleep in pilgrim hostels, called albergues. They offer bunk beds in dormitories, showers and often a kitchen. Public ones are the cheapest but usually don't take reservations. Private albergues, on the other hand, can be booked.

Book at least the first night. In summer and on the last 100 kilometres it's worth booking a day ahead. How to do this and what is usual in dormitories is covered under booking accommodation and in our albergue etiquette guide.

Pilgrim passport and Compostela

The pilgrim passport is your ID for the albergues and also a souvenir. You collect stamps on the way, two a day on the last 100 kilometres. In Santiago you receive the Compostela for this, if you have covered at least 100 kilometres on foot or 200 kilometres by bicycle. The detailed rules are under Compostela: requirements.

Getting there and back

For the Camino Francés many people fly to Biarritz or Bordeaux and then travel by train or bus to Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port. Porto has good connections, and you can reach Sarria via Santiago or Madrid. Leave some buffer for your return, as the Camino rarely goes exactly to plan. There's more on this under getting to the Way of St James.

If something goes wrong on the way

Something almost always goes wrong. An albergue is full, the weather turns, a knee starts to complain. That is part of the trip. What matters is having insurance, cash for two to three days and a willingness to change your plan.

If you are in pain, take a rest day and don't push through it. How often that makes sense is covered under rest days on a pilgrimage. If you have an accident, the European emergency number 112 will help.

After the trip

Many people underestimate coming home. After weeks of simple days, everyday life can be hard. Give yourself two free days after you arrive before going back to work. Our article on life after the pilgrimage shows how to make the return easier.

What's in the PDF

• Ten steps in a sensible order
• Timetable for the six months before you leave
• The typical mistakes of the first week

For anyone who wants to go on a pilgrimage and doesn't yet know where to start. The PDF has 4 pages and prints well.

How to get the PDF

Enter your email address and confirm your sign-up using the link in the first email. We will then send you the link to the PDF by email. You can unsubscribe from the newsletter at any time.