The best map for Camino Frances.

[mina]

I would like to know which is the best map for Camino Frances? I'll start from St Jean Pied de port and I hope that I'll manage to Santiago de Compostela by walking. I would like to have a map which isn't heavy but still has enough information to be on the path. Gracias.

 

[lanval]

Pila Pala Press has a nice one that I picked up:

Camino de Santiago Map

It is easy to read, spiral bound, and very lightweight.

 

[William Marques]

It has been said before but contact your local Spanish Tourist Office for information about the Camino and you may be pleasantly surprised by what they send you.

Map wise the daily strip maps provided loose with guide books like "The Practical Guide for Pilgrims" are much more useful than the large maps of the route as a whole.

Buen Camino
William

 

[mina]

Thanks. The CJS bookshop has "The Camino Francés, 2008". I think I'll order it. I have read much about the Camino from internet, so I don't know do I need "The Practical Guide for Pilgrims".
I'll start my Camino in the end of May. My biggest problem seems to be that I have many good boots and shoes but I don't know which would be the best for the Camino. I am going to walk the whole June and I think that there will be very hot, but also rain.

 

[sillydoll]

Hello Mina,
Ediciones Way publishes a set of three pocket maps of the Camino. They fold into a 3 ½" by 3 ½" square and are chock-full of information: distances, altitudes, albergues (with their telephone numbers) and even bicycle shops.
There is one that covers the Camino from St Jean to Burgos, and Somport to Burgos; another from Burgos to O Cebreiro and another from O Cebreiro to Santiago. The name of the map series is "El Camino Jacobeo en tu Bolsillo” (The Way of St. James in your Pocket); ISBN 84-930395-2-7 they are printed in Spanish, French, English and German. They cost about $2-3 and may be ordered from the publisher: Ediciones Way, S. L. c/ San Anselmo No. 1 2818 Madrid Spain
I sent them a 10 euro note in an envelope and they sent me all three.

This is what the pages look like when you open them up:

PS: My mother's name was Mina (short for Jacomina).

 

[spursfan]

No contest - either Camino Frances guide by John Brierley or just his book of maps; you'll get an overview of roads and paths, locations of accomodations and distances and daily altitudes plus, with the full guide, mucnh more detail - and even the guide is pretty light

 

[kubapigora]

Let me just ask- do we really need a map? To be honest- I was not planning to take one with me!

 

[sillydoll]

You don't need a map to walk the camino. If you'd like to have an idea of where you are walking from A to B each day, then a few strip maps will suffice.
I carried relvant pages of the the CSj guide and a few pages with photocopies of the strip maps in the Breirley Guide Book. On the back of those pages I made notes from Linda Davidson's book on what to see in the places on those maps.

 

[thomryng]

Resurrecting the dead thread, here.

No, nobody needs a map for the Camino, strictly speaking, but I for one like maps.

I found the one by Pili Pala Press to be extremely useful on my first two Caminos. It showed the geography at a glance and gave me a good visual idea of how and where alternate routes played out.

Unfortunately, mine is pretty well toast at this point, and we're already in the beginning stages of planning for a third Camino. The publisher appears to be out of business, so there's no way to get a new one.

Can anybody recommend a map?

And before somebody suggests Brierley - I don't much care for his maps. They're far too abstract and they don't visually convey distances very well. To each their own.

Thanks in advance!

 

[dizzy]

Thank you for resurrecting this thread. I, for one, would just like a map to alleviate a little fear since I will be traveling alone and having paper is comforting. Who knows why I feel that way and why an app on my phone doesn't give me, I would feel more secure with a map.

 

[thomryng]

Thank you for resurrecting this thread. I, for one, would just like a map to alleviate a little fear since I will be traveling alone and having paper is comforting. Who knows why I feel that way and why an app on my phone doesn't give me, I would feel more secure with a map.

I agree. There's just something about paper. Particularly when you have zero reception on your phone...

 

[Anniesantiago]

You really don't need a map.
Just stay on the track, follow the other pilgrims and the waymarks.

 

[thomryng]

You really don't need a map.
Just stay on the track, follow the other pilgrims and the waymarks.

As I said above, I’ve walked the Camino Frances twice now, and I know you don’t need a map.

But I like a map. I particularly like to know what’s near, but not directly on, the route. I also enjoy knowing what the local geography is like. It helps me make decisions about stopping places.

Surely I am not the only one?

 

[William Marques]

You are not the only one.

 

[Anniesantiago]

As I said above, I’ve walked the Camino Frances twice now, and I know you don’t need a map.

But I like a map. I particularly like to know what’s near, but not directly on, the route. I also enjoy knowing what the local geography is like. It helps me make decisions about stopping places.

Surely I am not the only one?

I was talking to MINA, the OP.

 

[JabbaPapa]

I love my old 1990s IGN map of the European Caminos, as it shows the traditional routes rather than the more codified contemporary commercial & waymarked ones -- but it's probably become impossible to purchase.

There's probably still some version of it though still in existence.

But for the Francès, my favourite pseudo- "map" (don't have one now, I've lost or seen destroyed about 6 copies of it, curses !!!), is one produced by IIRC the Castilla tourist board, which has a geometrically accurate depiction of the Camino (including the Somport/Aragonès variant) with useful estimates of distance to Santiago from each town and pueblo and special Camino location.

No strictly geographic information on it as such, but a combination of its information with some more general maps and some other sources, including comparing distances walked from here to there with the date stamps on your Credencial, can be terribly helpful.

There's a nice one here though : http://www.chemins-compostelle.com/sites/all/modules/itineraire/carte.php?id=43

 

[RJM]

 

[aname4me]

Brierley's book.
I find the maps “cartoonish”. The scale can be “adjusted”. Curves can be straightened to fit the page.

I do agree with sillydoll #8... You don't need a map to walk the camino.

(but the maps give me comfort) So, I buy Brierley's book every time.... for the maps.

What I really don't like is the Brierley book's topographic maps. They round the landscape (maybe so as to not frighten the NewBees).

What I did last time was to print out all the Elevation Map on... https://stevemichelleinspain.wordpress.com/camino-map-and-elevations/

They are very true. I could often figure out were I was (how far to the next pee stop) just from the hills.