First time on Camino, limited time where to start

[Norman W]

Hi all you experts. My wife and I are planning to walk the Camino as celebration of her 60th birthday. We plan to leave the states around the 24th or 25th of August. We must be back in the states by October 11th or 12th. We would also like to spend 1 - 2 weeks seeing other sights in Spain. That will leave us about 4 weeks on the camino. My questions are:

1. Where should we start our walk?
2. Is the Frances the best option for our first walk
3. What is the best way to get to this starting point in terms of travel arrangements?

Thank you, all of you experienced pilgrims. We feel this will be a wonderfully experience especially given the significance of the right of passage into elderhood.

 

[Jo Jo]

You have enough time to start at SJPP and walk to Santiago. If you later need to bus or taxi to make miles, do it (except the last 100km). My personal preference, having walked it last summer, would be to take buses/taxis around (or into and back out of) all the major urban areas (Pamplona, Burgos, Leon, and especially Ponferrada). The concrete and asphalt killed my feet, and I did not find walking in urban areas to be enjoyable, pretty, or spiritually enlightening (and all of the gang-tags in Ponferrada were a bit frightening). Your mileage may vary.

I choose the Frances for our first Camino because it has the best infrastructure to support you (albuergues every 5km or so it seemed). And lots of pilgrims/friends I had not met yet.

We flew into Madrid and took a bus to Pamplona, stayed overnight in the Jesus and Maria albuergue, and took a bus next morning to SJPP and walked to Orrisson. The public transport system in Spain is far better than the U.S. You could also fly to Barcelona, Paris, or where ever is cheapest and take public transport.

Buen Camino,
Jo Jo

 

[lettinggo]

Hola and welcome to the forum.

Pamplona would be a nice place to start and it is easy to get to from other places in Spain.
It do depend on how your physical condition is, but 4 weeks to get to Santiago is within many pilgrims reach.

Frances is a very good Camino to begin with as it is popular and there are many options to alternative lodging and such.

Busses are often very good and cheap in Spain, but nowadays air travels could provide even cheaper fares if you order in good time.
I still would suggest bus or train, as it also gives one the opportunity to see the landscapes and you can buy it on site depending on how your other travel plans looks like.

I hope this helps.
Buen Camino
Lettinggo

 

[Castilian]

Where should we start our walk?

It depends someway on how much time you want to spend exploring other parts of Spain and where in Spain you want to spend that time. If it's just 1 week for exploring other parts of Spain, you could start the walk in Saint Jean Pied de Port, on the South of France. If it's 2 weeks exploring other parts of Spain, to start in Pamplona could be a good idea although you might have time to start in SJPP too depending what areas of Spain you plan to visit and whether the 2 weeks are exactly 2 weeks or roughly 2 weeks... OTOH, if you aren't too fit and/or if you want to have a slower pace along the route and/or to make rest days to visit some of the cities/towns along the route, it could make sense to start closer to Santiago (than Pamplona); for example, in Logroño.

Is the Frances the best option for our first walk

It's the most popular one (the one with most pilgrims), very well signed and, IMHO, a good option for a first walk. Of course, depending on your walking and hiking experience as well as on the aim of your walk (and, maybe, on your level of Spanish), it might be better alternatives.

What is the best way to get to this starting point in terms of travel arrangements?

From/to the USA? From/to other places in Spain (if yes, which ones?)?

 

[mspath]

Norman W,

Welcome to the Forum to you and your wife!

Both of you will find a wealth of information here for planning your camino.
Be sure to ask lots of questions since most members of all ages enjoy sharing advice and tips .

Many of us are well over 60 but still very eager to walk. Two special threads cover the topic of our age group 60 and over on the camino and advice to others 60 years.

Happy planning and Carpe Diem,

Margaret Meredith

 

[Norman W]

WOW, such quick responses and all so very helpful. Thank you mspath for the link to the over 60 forums. I will read through those.

Looking forward to hearing from other experience pilgrims as well.

 

[C clearly]

Personally, I prefer not to plan to break up the journey with buses, as I prefer the continuity if it is possible. However, a decision can easily be made on the ground to make up distance if you need to. Pamplona would be a great place to start but it would still require an average of 26 km/day to get to Santiago in 28 days. That might be ambitious. However, you have some flexibility at the end and could decide to cut into the 1-2 weeks of planned sightseeing elsewhere, if you wanted.

You could arrive in Pamplona, stay an extra night or two to recover from jet lag, see the sights, and watch the pilgrims passing through. Hang around the store at http://caminoteca.com/en/ to see what they are buying, often after a few days walking. If you have extra luggage for the post-camino vacation, get it sent to Santiago. Be ruthless with what you carry. You will be glad. Go stay at one of the big albergues for your last night in Pamplona so you can have that experience, even if you intend to use mainly private accommodation along the way. Set off in the morning with the horde. By the time you get to Sahagun you might have an idea of how the timing and distances are going. If necessary, get a train from there to Leon to save a couple of days.

Flying into Madrid would provide all the connections you need to get to any place along the camino. There is lots of specific information about airport transfers, etc., on the forum.

So, my suggestion would be to fly to Madrid, take a train to Pamplona, rest there and start the Camino. You have plenty of options from then on, and having some flex time at the end is a very good idea.

 

[PANO]

Welcome and congrats for your plan. Not knowing your budget, here some thoughts:
• Local flights, trains and car rentals (rentalcars.com, etc) are very affordable
• Look into the possibility of flying from home directly into Madrid and back from Barcelona.
• After seeing the sights in Madrid, take a train to Pamplona or Logroño, start the camino and and reach SdC in about 3-4 weeks
• In SdC, buy some summer clothes, rent a car and take a leisurely drive: Finisterre > Muxia > A Coruñia > Gijon > Santander > Bilbao, about 4-5 days. (Leave the highway after Gijon to see places like Llastres, Ribadesella, Llanes, and furter down the lovely village of Santillana del mar!) Book accomodations on the go (Booking.com, etc)
• Take a flight from Bilbao to fabulous Barcelona* before leaving back home.
(*) As you will have enough time, you might look at the option of flying first to Palma de Mallorca for a couple of days, (Air Europa at less than 80 Euros)
You'll have an unforgetable Spanish experience without rushing!
Buen camino

 

[waveprof]

I'd start in Pamplona to make it less likely to have to bus.

And I wouldn't avoid the cities. The urban spaces are just as much a part of the Camino as the rural.

 

[waveprof]

Welcome and congrats for your plan. Not knowing your budget, here some thoughts:
• Local flights, trains and car rentals (rentalcars.com, etc) are very affordable
• Look into the possibility of flying from home directly into Madrid and back from Barcelona.
• After seeing the sights in Madrid, take a train to Pamplona or Logroño, start the camino and and reach SdC in about 3-4 weeks
• In SdC, buy some summer clothes, rent a car and take a leisurely drive: Finisterre > Muxia > A Coruñia > Gijon > Santander > Bilbao, about 4-5 days. (Leave the highway after Gijon to see places like Llastres, Ribadesella, Llanes, and furter down the lovely village of Santillana del mar!) Book accomodations on the go (Booking.com, etc)
• Take a flight from Bilbao to fabulous Barcelona* before leaving back home.
(*) As you will have enough time, you might look at the option of flying first to Palma de Mallorca for a couple of days, (Air Europa at less than 80 Euros)
You'll have an unforgetable Spanish experience without rushing!
Buen camino

Good advice but don't miss the best of all: San Sebastián (Donostia)

 

[naplesdon]

There is another option, the Camino Portuguese is a lovely walk from Porto to Santiago. You can walk it in less than 2 weeks and will have time to explore Santiago, Fisterre and Muxia afterwards. It is not a difficult walk and the weather and crowds that time of year are very agreeable. Don't miss San Sebastian, Bilbao and a wine tour of the Rioja Valley if you have the time.
Of course, I have to add a shameless plug for my hometown of Biarritz and nearby Bordeaux as highly recommended stops. You can visit Rioja and Bordeaux, two of the world's top wine producing regions, in one week and still live to talk about it. Believe it or not they put any wine producing region in California and Australia in the minor leagues.

 

[Adhemar78]

Hi all you experts. My wife and I are planning to walk the Camino as celebration of her 60th birthday. We plan to leave the states around the 24th or 25th of August. We must be back in the states by October 11th or 12th. We would also like to spend 1 - 2 weeks seeing other sights in Spain. That will leave us about 4 weeks on the camino. My questions are:

1. Where should we start our walk?
2. Is the Frances the best option for our first walk
3. What is the best way to get to this starting point in terms of travel arrangements?

Thank you, all of you experienced pilgrims. We feel this will be a wonderfully experience especially given the significance of the right of passage into elderhood.

1. It depends on what sort of pace you want to walk at. I walked from Saint Jean Pied de Port to Santiago in 34 days, and that involved walking an average of 20 to 25km a day. If you were going to walk at that pace, you could start in Logrono and make it to Santiago in four weeks. If you wanted to take things at a more leisurely pace, you could perhaps start somewhere like Burgos.
2. It's the only route I've walked so I cannot compare it with the other routes. What I can say though is that I loved walking the Camino Frances. On a personal level, I studied medieval history at university and I know that the Camino Frances was the most popular route in medieval times, so for that reason alone I wanted to walk that particular route. I hope to go back sometime and walk another route, most likely the Camino Portugues. It will be interesting to see how it compares.
3. If you're going to start in a major city like Logrono or Burgos then you should be able to fly into Madrid and then get a train from there to your starting point. You've mentioned that you're going to see other places in Spain first before starting the Camino - it will depend on where you are in terms of how you get to your starting point, but I would have thought that you would be able to get trains between major cities.

Buen Camino to you both!