Monday & Tuesday – May 12-13, 2025
Start: Santiago de Compostela, Spain
End: Eugene, Oregon (USA)
Distance by train: 600 km
Distance flown: 8,855 km (5,500 miles)
After each Camino, I usually have time for a bit of sightseeing before boarding my flight back to the USA. I often take the train to Madrid, and then build in a few days to explore the city and walk around one of the great European capitals.
In the past, I’ve visited the Prado Museum to see The Garden of Earthly Delights (Bosch) and to enjoy the Spanish Masters like Goya and El Greco. I’ve also spent the day at the Reina Sofia Museum to see Guernica (Picasso) and the modern Cubist and Surrealist masterpieces by Dali and Miró.
I’ve stopped for an extra day to visit the healing thermal pools in Ourense. And I’ve taken a guided bike tour through Madrid to see El Retiro Park, the Royal Palace, the Temple of Debod, and some of the capital city’s vibrant neighborhoods.
But this trip was different than those others. Between my 10-day trip to Scotland with my sister, my trek on the Via Francigena in Italy, and the walking Camino Primativo in Spain, I’ve been away from home for six whole weeks. So, I was more than ready just to take the train to Madrid and fly back to the US to see my husband, kid, and dog.
On the high-speed train ride back to Madrid, I had time to reflect on how this Camino compared to my prior walks in Spain. Here’s a quick overview of some of the metrics:
Camino Francés
- Year walked: 2018
- Time of year: Early autumn (September)
- Starting Point:
- Distance: 780 km
- Duration: 23 days
- Mileage/day: 33.9 km (21 miles)
- Regions: Navarra, La Rioja, Castilla y León, Galicia
- Major towns: Pamplona, Logroño, Burgos, León, Ponferrado, Sarria
- Favorite memories: Fields of sunflowers, the wine fountain, Somos Monastery
- Least favorite: The day I walked 53 km in the Meseta and got heat exhaustion
Camino Finisterre
- Year walked: 2018
- Time of year: Autumn (late September)
- Distance: 89 km
- Duration: 3 days
- Mileage/day: 29.7 km (18.4 miles)
- Regions: Galicia
- Major towns: Santiago de Compostela, Finisterre
- Favorite memories: Faro de Finisterre (lighthouse)
- Least favorite: The rash I got on my back after cleaning my backpack
Camino del Norte
- Year walked: 2022
- Time of year: Autumn (mid-September to mid-October)
- Distance: 842 km
- Duration: 29 days
- Mileage/day: 29 km (18 miles)
- Regions: Basque Country, Cantabria, Astrurias, Galicia
- Major towns: San Sebastián, Bilbao, Santander, Gijón, Ribadeo
- Favorite memories: Guernica, Vizcaya bridge gondola, Ferry boats, sidrerias, Sobrado de Monxes monastery
- Least favorite: 8 days of consecutive rain
Camino Portugués
- Year walked: 2024
- Time of year: Spring (early May)
- Distance: 271 km
- Duration: 8 days
- Mileage/day: 33.9 km (21 miles)
- Regions: Porto, Braga, Viana do Castelo (Portugal) and Galicia (Spain)
- Major towns: Porto, Viana do Castelo, Caminha, Vigo
- Favorite memories: Ocean views, St. Luzia Cathedral & funicular, pimientos de Padrón
- Least favorite: Long walk over a bridge in Fão while it was under construction
Camino Primitivo
- Year walked: 2025
- Time of year: Spring (early May)
- Distance: 320 km
- Duration: 12 days
- Mileage/day: 26.7 km (16.5 miles)
- Regions: Astrurias, Galicia
- Major towns: Oviedo, Lugo
- Favorite memories: Hospitales route, walking over the dam, walled city of Lugo
- Least favorite: Cold, rainy mornings
Final Thoughts
It’s amazing how much of Spain I’ve seen on foot now, but almost all of my time has been concentrated in Madrid or in the northern third of the country. So what’s next? Should I walk the Via de la Plata from Seville to Santiago? Or should I try something far away from the Camino, like the GR11 (Senda Pirenaica) along the entire Spanish length of the Pyrenees? Only time will tell.
I already know that my next European adventure will be the Tour du Mont Blanc in France, Italy, and Switzerland. And I also hope to hike a newly developed high-elevation route in the Sangre de Cristo mountains called the Santa Fe to Taos Hike (SF2T) in early October to see the peak fall colors before I put my pack away for 2025.
If you’d like to see what gear I packed for the Camino Primitivo, click the button below. And if you’d like to know how the Camino de Santiago compares to the Via Francigena in Italy, follow the other button.