To start in St. Jean Pied de Port or Roncesvalles?

Posted on February 3, 2013 by Ivar Rekve — 5 Comments ↓

The question was:

I notice on the Camino Forum that some people prefer to start their Camino walk from Roncesvalles, as opposed to starting from St. Jean Pied de Port. What is the main reason for this? The pilgrim’s guidebook I am reading recommends starting from St. Jean Pied de Port.

Read this conversation on Starting in St. Jean Pied de Port or Roncesvalles in our Camino forum.

Tagged with: Roncesvalles, Saint Jean de Pied de Port, SJPP
Posted in From the Camino de Santiago forum

Riccardo

I started in Roncesvalles. Why? I don’t know…… In my mind, my Camino starts in Roncesvalles and so I did. I know that in all the guides the Camino starts in SJPDP….. but I love the Idea of starting in a such important Medieval town, while SJPDP meens nothing to me.
http://www.facebook.com/verbekemickael Mickael Verbeke

for me i started at Bayonne, and went by the pas de roland to SJPDP and then the traditional camino. I would recommend to everybody to start at SJPDP because you have a magnificent part of Camino between SJPDP and Roncesvalles. but at the same time it is a verry difficult part, so you can afterwards say allready, it’s smooth sailing from now on, the hardest part is over. It works motivating. Furthermore we have to look at tradition. It is the traditional starting point for the modern pilgrim, aculmination point for pilgrims.a place where all the roads of life of these pilgrims comes together, and travel together for a short time to Santiago. off course it also depends on the time you have, and your own choice; next time if i have the time i want to start in Bruges, my home town, and then continue to Rome and possibly Jeruzalem. But that’s the retirement plan.
tgapcg

I think some people want to avoid crossing the Pyrenees which is a
difficult first day (or two if you split it up and stay in Orisson). I
started in Le Puy so by the time I got to SJPP I was very ready to cross
the Pyrenees. It’s a beautiful walk but it’s also a difficult walk if
you’re not accustomed to hiking with a backpack.
Severin

Es ist schon ein Stück Arbeit über die Pyrenäen. Untrainiert oder mit keiner Erfahrung nicht zu empfehlen.
new2this

I am most definitely not a hiker. But started in sjpdp. So glad I did although we took the easier route via valcarlos. It was amazing and a real challange to set up for the Camino

To start in St. Jean Pied de Port or Roncesvalles?

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