Prior to setting out on the Camino de Santiago, I had a lot of questions. Which route should I take? What time of year I should go? What should I carry? Would there be adequate food choices?

My questions went on and on. Thus, I did a LOT of internet research.  I read blogs and forums. Then I purchased guidebooks and downloaded apps.  And I did a fair amount of worrying and fretting that maybe this adventure was more than I could handle by myself.

Obviously, thru-hiking the Camino de Santiago is a different than thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail or any other wilderness trail. I didn’t have to deal with filtering water. I didn’t have to set up my tent each night. And resupplying was 100 times easier because I was walking through several towns a day.

But there were also a lot of different challenges on this hike that I normally wouldn’t encounter on a long trail in the US.  First, there was the language barrier (and my admittedly rusty Spanish). Without a tent for shelter, I also had to spend time carefully calculating distances between towns so I didn’t end up stopping somewhere without an albergue. And I spent a considerable amount of effort finding vegetarian food options in a country where pairing things with ham seems to be a national pastime.

So, in hopes of assisting others who want to thru-hike the Camino de Santiago, here’s a few answers to my biggest questions from the trail.

#1 – What time of year is best to hike the Camino?

I chose to do the Camino in September. I was hoping to avoid the busiest time of the year, but still get the benefit of good weather. Over the past few decades, most people hiking the Camino Frances set out during the summer months. I deliberately picked the shoulder season with hopes of avoiding the peak period.

Unfortunately, I ended up right in the thick of the crowds I was hoping to avoid! In talking to numerous albergue owners, I learned July and August were far slower than normal in 2018 because of the intense heat (thanks global warming!) and September seemed to be the busiest month that year.

I definitely felt the effects of the crowds on various parts of the Camino, and I encountered full albergues many times during my trip.  So, perhaps the new trend is walking in the shoulder seasons.  The weather was ideal this time of year, so I feel early autumn was definitely the right choice for me.

#2 – Where did you start and how did you get there?

I started my Camino in St. Jean Pied de Port, France. I purchased a round trip ticket on United Airlines from Newark to Madrid. I also bought a one-way ticket on Iberian Airlines from Madrid to San Sebastián (a small coastal city on the northern Spanish-French border) and traveled the remainder of the way by train, since there are no flights to St. Jean Pied de Port.

The Madrid airport can be a little tricky for the uninitiated. I arrived in Terminal 1, where I quickly went through immigration, customs, and picked up my checked baggage. (Note: Be prepared to check your trekking poles if you are departing from the US. TSA usually won’t let you bring them as carry-on luggage.)

Since my next flight was on Iberian Airlines, I had to take a shuttle over to Terminal 4 because it’s not connected to the other three main terminals. Thank goodness I found a helpful airport employee who pointed me in the right direction.

Once I landed in San Sebastián, I needed to cross the border into France and find my way to the train station in Hendaye, as the remainder of my trip would be via the SNCF (the French rail system). It’s only about two miles between the airport to the train station, so I opted to walk.

In Hendaye, I easily purchased a train ticket to St. Jean Pied de Port. The trip requires two train rides: (1) Hendaye to Bayonne; and (2) Bayonne to St. Jean Pied de Port. Although you’ll have to change trains in Bayonne, you can purchase a single ticket for the entire trip in at the ticket kiosk in the Hendaye station.

When I finally arrived in St. Jean Pied de Port, I walked to the Pilgrim’s Office to get my credencial. Just follow the crowd off the train – everyone else is headed there too (or you can get the address and hours for the office HERE). After signing in and paying 2 Euros for my credential, I simply walked over to the albergue I’d pre-booked for my first night before the Camino.

So all told, it took me 20 hours from when my flight departed from Newark, NJ to get to my first albergue in St. Jean Pied de Port, France. Based on my research, it would have taken less time if I’d opted to fly into Paris instead – but, I’d gotten a great deal on a round trip ticket to Madrid, so that was that.

#3 – How long did it take you to walk the Camino?

I started the Camino on September 6th and finished on October 1st, 2018. It took me 23 days to walk from St. Jean Pied de Port to Santiago de Compestela. Then I spent another 3 days walking the additional 90 km to Finisterre. So, all told, I was walking for 26 days.

However, this is NOT the number of days you should use for your own planning for several reasons.

First, I really like to walk long distances every day. So, I averaged about 34 km each day. Most people walked closer to 20 km per day.

Second, I didn’t take any days off. I was fortunate I didn’t need extra days to rest my feet, back, etc. I also didn’t get sick or injured during my Camino, and I only spent a half-day sightseeing in each of the big cities, like Pamplona, Burgos, León, and Santiago.

This method is not how most people do the Camino. In fact, I’d strongly recommend you plan for 35 days or more. That will allow you to take a more manageable pace and would give you time to explore Spain in depth.

#4 – What is the hardest part of the Camino?

If you ask most people, the vast majority would probably say the meseta was the hardest part of the Camino. I can’t lie, it was certainly a physical challenge. The meseta is Spain’s heartland, and it’s the equivalent of the Great Plains in the U.S. It’s mostly a flat plateau and vast agricultural fields.  The sun is extremely intense, there’s little shade, and you’ll walk numerous long stretches (12-17 km) without water stops or towns. It’s similar to trekking through the middle of Nebraska in the late summer.

Despite this general opinion, I found the two different parts of the Camino more difficult mentally than the meseta.

First, I disliked any stretch where I was roadwalking (i.e., literally walking on the shoulder of a paved road or on a sidewalk). I’m not really into urban hiking or dodging cars. And my feet don’t like the hot asphalt. I like hiking on dirt trails, preferably in a forest or up in the mountains.

I also had a very hard time appreciating the last 115 km betweem Sarria to Santiago de Compestela. The challenge for me there was dealing with all the new pilgrims who joined the Camino for that final stretch. I went from being very “in the zone” and relaxed with my quiet thoughts, to suddenly having to dodge large groups who were walking the last leg of the Camino just to get their souvenir compestela. (You only have to walk 100 km to Santiago to qualify for one).

All these extra people changed the entire feel of the Camino for me. It was like running an ultramarathon, only to encounter a giant 5k family fun run/walk on your route right before the finish line. There’s nothing wrong with either experience. They just aren’t always very compatible.

#5 – What was your favorite place?

I loved each of the mountain stretches, from the initial hike over the Pyrenees to the very last day on the Camino Finisterre. Throughout my Camino, if there was a choice between a low route and a mountain alternate, I always chose the mountain route – even when it meant walking extra kilometers. Each time I’d get up on a ridgeline and had a view, my heart would sing.

I also really enjoyed walking through the wine regions, both in Rioja and Briezo. Part of this may have been due to the time of year I walked. The grapes are harvested at the end of September, so each time I passed a vineyard, the vines were full and at their peak beauty.

Finally, I loved the last 15km stretch along the ocean from San Roque to Faro de Finisterre. The water was beautiful and I stopped at two of the white sand beaches to rest or get a beer before it was all over.

#6 – What was the weather like?

Overall, I’d say the weather was ideal. I hiked in shorts for 80% of the trip, and in 3/4 length capri pants the remainder of the days. I brought a warm jacket, hat and gloves, but I never had to break them out. Wearing my rain jacket over my short sleeve shirt was a warm enough layer on the cooler mornings.

Most days started out on the in 60s in the morning and got up to the mid-80s in the afternoon. I only had light rain two mornings, but it cleared up quickly. I also had several days with some morning fog that burned off before noon.

As I neared Santiago de Compestela in late September, the temperatures were definitely turning toward fall though. It was dropping down into the upper 40s overnight and I wasn’t taking my rain jacket off until about 11 am most mornings.

# 7 – Did you walk with anyone?

No one walks the Camino truly alone. There’s always other people around.

That said, I deliberately opted to walk between the crowds or by myself for much of the Camino. Part of this was due to my pace. I do not consider myself a particularly fast walker, but my pace was faster than about 90% of the people I encountered. Thus, I didn’t want to make anyone feel like they were struggling to keep up with me.

I would sometimes slow down and walk with people to have a conversation for about a half hour before returning to my pace. And I’d talk with other pilgrims in town during coffee breaks or in the evenings. But I also enjoyed my alone time and walked solitary for most of each day.

#8 – Where did you sleep?

Most of the time I slept in albergues. These are hostels set up specifically for pilgrims on the Camino. Most albergues have communal rooms filled with bunk beds. Some are run by local bars, restaurants or private citizens. Others are run by municipalities. They generally cost around 10 Euros per night. There are other sleeping options though, ranging from private rooms in a casa rural (small B&B) or hotel rural, hostels open to non-pilgrims, and traditional hotels.

I slept in albergues for 21 of my 26 nights on the Camino. I stayed in hotels for the remaining five nights, and those stays coincided with when I visited the cities of Pamplona, Burgos, León, Santiago de Compostela, and Fisterra.

With the exception of these five bigger cities where I was expressly interested in sightseeing, I generally tried to stay in the very small villages where there were fewer pilgrims. For example, one day I took the mountain alternate out of Villafranca de Briezo. Instead of ending my day where the route reconnected with the main trail down in the town of Trabadelo, I decided to spend the night in the mountains. Thus, it was just me and a married couple from Belgium up there, and we shared a lovely Sunday dinner with the family who ran the sole albergue in that remote village.

#9 – What was the food like? Are there vegetarian options on the Camino?

In a word, the food was bland. Spanish food is nothing like Mexican, Central American or South American food despite the Spanish sharing some cultural heritage and their language with those countries.

I’ve been to several tapas restaurants in the US, but I’m not sure they were an accurate representation of the food I found in Northern Spain. And forget about paella until you get to Galicia or close to the coast.

In fairness, I follow a mostly vegetarian diet due to my high cholesterol. So, Spainish delicacies like Iberian ham, chorizo, and pulpo (octopus) were off the list for me. Maybe adding those ingredients would have upped the flavor quotient.

I was able to find plenty of vegetarian options though. I frequently ordered my meals ala carte rather than from the fixed price pilgrim’s menu. You can always find a salad in restaurants, though it will often come with canned tuna on it unless you expressly ask them to exclude it.

I also frequently stopped at grocery stores, bakeries, and fruit stands to mix it up too. You can’t even begin to know the happiness I felt when I found a package of tortillas mexicanas in the grocery store (A tortilla in Spain is a baked omelette similar to a quiche.  It’s not the item we use in the US to make a burrito or a wrap). Once I had “real” tortillas, I could get a little more creative with my meals.

#10 – What was your worst day on the Camino?

My hardest day was when I unexpectedly had to walk 53 kilometers in the meseta.

I normally walked between 30-35 kilometers most days. This particular day, the terrain was pretty easy and I was making good time. I got to the town I’d originally planned to stop (33 km from my starting point) shortly before 2 pm. While sitting in a restaurant eating my sandwich, I started looking at my map. I could see that the next town was about 7.5 km away. At that point, I was feeling pretty good physically and didn’t want to stop too early, so I decided, “what the heck, I’ll push on to the next town.”

I arrived in that second town around 3:15 pm and the sun was now roasting in the mid-afternoon sky. I’d just completed a 40 km day and I was ready to rest. There were two albergues in the town, but I soon learned both were full! Unfortunately, the next town wasn’t for another 13 km down the road.

So, there were only three options:

1. Walk back to the prior town I’d just come from (ok, that was NEVER going to happen);
2. Push on for another 13 km to the next town; or
3. Call a taxi to take me to an albergue down the road (and then bring me back the next morning so I could continue my Camino without skipping any parts).

I chose to put on my *big girl pants* and just walk to the next town in the miserable, hot sun. On the way out of town, I looked over at the water fountain and considered topping off my water. But I still had about .75L, and I told myself there was bound to be more water along the route, so I kept moving.

This was a major blunder!!

As it turns out, there were seven picnic areas during that 13 km stretch and NONE of them had water! By the time I reached the 53 km point and the town of Reliegos, I was not in a good place mentally or physically. I stopped at the very first albergue I came to and was literally shivering and suffering from muscle cramps. But, at least they had a bed available and lots of water to rehydrate me.

I took it easy the next day, since I only had 25 km left to get into Léon. And once I got there, I rewarded myself with a comfy hotel room and even ate at a fancy restaurant.

#11 – How did you know where to go on the Camino?

The Camino is extremely well marked in most places. There’s a combination of concrete monuments, yellow arrows painted on sign posts or curbs, and scallop shell symbols marking the route.

Getting in and out of some of the major cities was probably the hardest part though because there are so many other symbols competing for your attention and you can easily miss a small arrow pointing you where to go. Some cities were really easy to get through (Pamplona), while others had me scratching my head (Logroño). If you are near other pilgrims, you can often just follow someone too.

I didn’t carry a guidebook during my Camino. However, I did download the Camino Frances app (from Wise Pilgrim) to my phone and I really liked it. It showed the various towns I needed to go through and the elevation changes along the route. It also had a list of where to stay in each town and an online map function.

#12 – Did you get a Spainish SIM card for your phone?

No, I didn’t end up buying one because I didn’t need it. Virtually every restaurant and albergue you’re in will have WiFi. Using this free WiFi on my cell phone met all my communication needs, from checking email, to using the internet or calling home.

Prior to starting the Camino I also downloaded WhatsApp to our phones. This allowed my husband, son, and I to text each other internationally without any additional charges. We also used it to talk on the phone for free, since it uses VoIP with the WiFi signal just like Skype.

#13 – Would you do it again (or recommend it to others)?

Absolutely! The Camino de Santiago was one of the best experiences I’ve had in the outdoors. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend people do it that same way I did the Camino. This is a hike or walk that you need to do on your own terms. But, it’s a truly incredible way to see Spain, and there are so many beautiful things about the Camino.