How We Plan Our Camino Hikes
In this article we, two time Camino pilgrims, describe how we plan our Camino hikes.
What is A Camino?
Camino is the Spanish word for the way, the path, or the road. Humans have been walking on these paths for centuries. The Camino routes have been Christain pilgrimages for about 1000 years, and pre-Christian pilgrimages before that.
In this blog, the Camino routes we will be discussing are those that end in Santiago de Compostela, Spain. Spain, France, Portugal, and Italy are the most heavily traveled Camino routes.
Today, about 25% of Camino walkers identify with doing the trek for religious reasons. Most walkers walk it to disconnect from the modern world and connect to themselves. Others walk The Way for adventure, for fun, to meet like-minded searching people, and for a physical challenge.
Who We Are
Darren and I are early retirees who left corporate careers in our late 40s. We are nomadic except for three months a year when we spend time in our tiny home in the Great Plains of the United States.
We spend 40 - 120 days per year thru-hiking in the EU and about 90 days per year in the Caribbean and Central America. This blog documents our journey to nomadic living and financial independence and the adjustments we’ve made to make the lifestyle work.
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Why Do We Enjoy Camino Hikes?
So far, we have hiked the Camino de Santiago Frances and Portuguese routes. In the fall of 2023, we will hike our third Camino, the Camino de Santiago - Via Podiensis, from Le Puy en Valais, France, to Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, France. Each hiked route has been about 500 miles (800 km).
Our reasons for hiking Caminos include the following:
Rewarding physical challenge
Enjoyment of long hikes in primarily rural areas, passing through small villages and occasionally larger cities with accommodations and food at regular intervals
The camaraderie of fellow walkers
Beautiful natural scenery and diverse geography along the way
New understandings of the human, political, and religious history of an area
Delicious local foods and drinks (including many wonderful wines) without guilt since we burn many calories every day
While we enjoy hiking, we don’t like “roughing it.” We have little interest in carrying the extra gear and food required for most wilderness hikes, bathing in streams, and sleeping on the ground. At the end of a day’s hike, we want a shower, an evening meal, and a comfortable-enough place to stay. Some consider what we do “slack-packing." It still involves plenty of physical activity but in a much more comfortable way.
What Do We Plan?
It is possible to do a long thru-hike with little planning or preparation, especially one of the Camino routes. Many people do so every year with very little planning. Often someone will have something significant happen in their life and suddenly decide to go on a Camino the following week without any preplanning.
On the other hand, it is common for people to outsource the planning to a travel agency that will arrange travel, accommodations, and even daily luggage transfers. And, of course, hikers can make all the arrangements themselves ahead of time. The DIY approach has been what we have done.
When we plan a thru-hike, here’s what we plan before departing:
Route and Overall Distance
Time of Year and Number of Days
Accommodations
Flights and Ground Transportation
Costs
Clothing and Gear
Pros And Cons of Planning
We are planners. We were scientists and leaders in our previous lives and were able to plan our lives to retire in our late 40s. Those skills and habits are hard to kick. As with other travel, we also find better flight prices and more accommodation options by booking early. We don’t mind leaving some things to chance but prefer knowing we have a comfortable room waiting for us at the end of a day of hiking.
The Pros of Planning
You know with a high degree of confidence that you have a bed in a specific town “x” kilometers away without concern about room availability and needing to arrive sooner than other hikers.
You can anticipate the grocery, cafe, and restaurant situation at your evening destination, avoiding a hangry partner.
If using luggage transport, you have a place to send your bag from the previous night’s stay.
Your host knows you are coming and does not need to scramble to accommodate you.
You can choose the type of lodging you want (bunk bed in a single-gender dormitory or private room) and access hard-to-get accommodations in specific hostels on monasteries that book up months or a year in advance.
The Cons of Planning
For singles or those walking alone, having a rigid plan can reduce the likelihood of building a “Camino family”—familial relationships that form on the trail.
For free spirits, planning is frustrating and limiting.
Some days the weather is nice, and you have the energy to walk further than you planned.
If you get hurt or there is heavy snow or a thunderstorm, you need to find a way to get to the accommodation you’ve prebooked and likely already paid for.
Where To Go on Camino (Which Camino Route And Distance)?
There are many wonderful hiking routes worldwide, and each has its own appeal. We have several in mind, including more Camino routes.
So, how does one choose which Camino route to take?
Start by considering what you are interested in getting out of the experience:
Are you most interested in meeting other pilgrims?
Are there specific religious sites or aspects you want to include?
Are there certain geographies and natural landscapes you want to visit? You’ll want to consider the terrain and difficulty of each route (or section), as some are more physically demanding than others.
Remember that you may choose to hike the entire length of a given route or only do part(s) of it.
Once you have a route in mind, you need to decide how far you want to go each day and how many days you want to hike. This will determine your overall distance. Some people only hike about 10 miles (17 km) per day. Others will cover 18 miles (30 km) or more every day. Many people only have a limited time and want to cover as much of the route as possible.
We are not in a hurry and find it much more enjoyable to take a slower pace so we can stop and see sites along the route. We have found that covering 12-16 miles (20-26 km) per day is comfortable for us. We also include a rest day every 7-10 days to do some relaxed sightseeing, catch up with people, and enjoy regional foods. We are not looking to set any personal record or bragging rights; we simply want to gain a Camino experience and return home a little fitter than we left.
We don’t stick with the recommended stages in any guidebook, website, or forum to plan our stops. We more or less look at the route and try to break out the Camino into 20 to 26 km sections and look to see what is available. 26 km is about 6.5 hours of walking for us—that gives us enough time to eat lunch, see a couple of sights or two, and get to our night’s lodging in time to wash our clothes by hand and get them up to dry before dinner.
See the Resources section below to help narrow your choices.
When To Go on Camino (Timing?)
Once we’ve narrowed in on a route, our next consideration is the time of year to go. Depending on your route, you may be limited to certain times of the year as some routes are closed during winter or have very few available accommodations. Conversely, some sections can get very hot during the summer. Therefore, consider the likely weather conditions when and where you are considering hiking. One great thing about walking Caminos or any of the long European routes is that many are three-season trails and a few are all-season trails.
We enjoy hiking in Europe in the spring and fall as the weather is much more comfortable than in summer or winter. Typically the weather is crisp and cool and not yet so cold that we need to wear heavy winter clothing or multiple layers.
From experience, we know we hate hiking in hot weather and dislike getting rained on for multiple days. Continental and southern Europe can be quite hot in the summer, well into September. Come November, consecutive days of rain can be the norm.
Many people do enjoy hiking during the summer months, though. Many hikers are out of school during that time and so trails are busiest that time of year. We suspect that the summer of 2023 will be a big travel summer, as there’s still a lot of pent-up travel demand, especially for European destinations.
Since we enjoy the cooler fall weather and prefer to hike with fewer people on the trails, we will spend the summer of 2023 in the US, continuing to renovate our small home base in Kansas, then returning to France in September to hike the Via Podiensis.
While in the US this summer (pre-Camino), we look forward to attending CampFi Rocky Mountains and connecting with others in the FIRE community.
Planning Flights
From the US Great Plains to Europe, we find it more economical to fly on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, or Thursdays. Since we are early-retired, we now have the flexibility in our schedules to choose which days to fly most economically. We've also found that by flying during the week, we can often get seats with extra legroom, like Economy Comfort or Premium Select, for the same price that folks flying on the weekend pay for Basic or Economy. We typically book flights nine months or a year in advance to get the extra legroom seats, as these seats rarely go on sale.
We prefer flights from our departure city (typically Kansas City, Missouri) to be in the morning but not too early. This allows us to arrive at an airline hub like JFK, Detroit, or Atlanta with plenty of time to spare. Also, try to avoid short connections with international flights.
We use Google Flights and Scott’s Cheap Flights to get an idea of the costs but then book the flight directly with the airline.
Planning Ground Transportation
We plan less for ground transportation on our Caminos than we do for lodging or flights. Due to the availability of trains, buses, and taxis in Europe, we generally find whatever local transport is available at the airport and use that to get to our first lodging.
One tip for booking flights is to check the local holiday schedule. Many businesses and transportation services shut down or have minimal services on holidays. If you are traveling on a bank holiday, transportation options will likely be limited, so you will want to book in advance if you are traveling on a holiday day.
We always check to see if trains and buses are running to and from our arrival airport on the day of our flight. We’ve found the apps Rome2Rio and Omio to be the most helpful in gauging train and bus transportation.
We purchase train and bus tickets from online apps (country dependant), as many transportation services have gone contactless thanks to Covid.
Planning Costs
We aim for $100 to $150 per day on the Camino, including lodging, all meals, and entertainment. Costs vary depending on a few factors. As you might expect, accommodation and food are more expensive in larger cities than in rural areas. Similarly, some regions and Camino routes cost more than others, primarily due to the availability of hostels and albergues.
We do not purchase travel insurance. Our existing healthcare plan is an international healthcare plan which would cover our medical needs overseas.
Some ways we economize are as follows:
We carry our things in a backpack. We don’t use a daily luggage transfer service except to send a small checked bag to our halfway point.
We book our accommodations and don’t use a third party to plan our trek.
We hike the transition seasons (spring and autumn) and avoid peak summer season.
We use the same gear time and again instead of buying new gear for each trek.
Clothing and Gear
The clothing and gear that you take will depend primarily on which route you choose and what time of year you go. For more specific details, check out our Camino Packing article.
While there are several items you’ll want to pack, here’s a list of initial essentials:
Shoes. Choose some that fit perfectly and are suited for the trail you will hike. Shoes are the most critical item to get right. If your shoes don’t fit right, you will be miserable or could get injured.
Backpack. Make sure you choose one that fits you well and be VERY deliberate in what you pack (i.e., the lighter, the better).
Clothing. 2-3 sets of appropriate clothes for the weather conditions.
Poncho or Raincoat. We like ponchos since they allow for more ventilation.
Planning Day-To-Day While On The Trail
Each evening, we look at the next couple of days and ask ourselves some questions:
Are there food options for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks for the next 48 hours?
Do we need to provision at a grocery store or market?
Is there inclement weather coming that we need to prepare for?
Is our hand-washed laundry getting smelly/not drying/needs a robust cleaning? If so, is a laundromat or hostel with a washing machine coming up?
Are there places we want to stop along the way?
We may make minor adjustments based on what we find is coming up. This could mean departing earlier or later to avoid inclement weather. Or it could mean picking up snacks since we won’t pass through a town around lunchtime. Or it may mean planning a little extra time to stop and see the beautiful old chapel. Regardless, this is where we leave some room to enjoy what comes up along the way.
Resources We Use For Planning
In planning for our Caminos, we purchase Guidebooks. We typically purchase the Kindle version.
Here are some examples of books we are using now and have used in the past for planning Caminos.
For our upcoming Via Podiensis walk, we purchased this book from Cicerone.
And when we walked the Camino Portugues, we purchased this book:
Consider joining American Pilgrims on the Camino and check out their resources. In addition to guidebooks, they have events and local meetups for Camino enthusiasts. You can even order your Credential from them in advance!
Last, we use Camino Facebook groups like American Pilgrims on the Camino and Apps (i.e., Wise Pilgrim) for questions on unclear portions of the route and accommodation recommendations.
Summary
While it is possible to have a travel planner or a company plan much of the details for a Camino hike, we prefer to do this ourselves. If you want to hike a Camino and don’t have the time, interest, or confidence to make your arrangements, then by all means, use one of the travel services like Camino Ways to make your arrangements.
We can tell you from experience, though, that it is not difficult to plan! If you want total flexibility to customize your trip, then we recommend doing the planning yourself. Regardless of how you plan your Camino, we hope you enjoyed reading about our planning process. We encourage you to start planning your first (or next) Camino.
Hope to see you on the trail someday!
