Do you have a method or list of towns and distances?

[NerdGjerd]

Hello,
My question is: For those of you who do a little bit of planning, do you use some sort of list of all towns and distances to have a general idea what towns you will pass through? (More than a guide book) I have a list, and it's OK, but I'm guessing there's a better method.

I am hoping to walk most of my April Camino Francés without reservations (except the usual bottlenecks and maybe a few special albergues). I got a list (I think here on the forum) of All towns and distances along the Francés, and I've been jotting down notes on the list. It's been handy to figure out how many days it might take to get to certain areas. Or for example, it's how I figured out which towns I might be near when on Easter and other holidays.

I suppose one could use a guide book for this, since it shows distances, but i like having the towns all displayed on one long list, instead of flipping through pages. I'll use the guide book and apps as well, but they don't seem to be great for adding notes and getting an idea of my overall plan.

Here's another example of where my list might come in handy: If I have heard so many wonderful things about Albergue XYZ, I may want to reserve that one, so my list can help me figure out my arrival date.

So my main question is, do you use something similar or have any advice? Thanks!

 

[trecile]

The Godesalco stage planner has all the towns in one long list:

Planificador - Camino de Santiago - Godesalco.com

Perfiles altitudinales, planificación de etapas y archivos GPS para el Camino de Santiago.

godesalco.com

I use it along with the Wise Pilgrim and Buen Camino apps, and the Gronze website.

A Complete Guide to the Caminos to Santiago de Compostela

A complete guide to the Camino de Santiago, including accommodation on the Camino Francés, Camino del Norte, Camino Portugués, Camino Primtivo, Vía de la Plata, Camino de Invierno, Finisterre & Muxía, San Salvador, Camino Olvidado, Caminho Nascente, Camino da Geira, Camino Inglés, Vía Podiensis...

wisepilgrim.com

APP del Camino de Santiago Buen Camino 2014 - 2024

Aplicación del Camino de Santiago profesional, con mapas, perfiles, alojamientos, planificador de etapas, a pie o en bici (Btt), en idiomas y actualizada.

www.editorialbuencamino.com

Camino Francés | Gronze.com

El Camino Francés es el Camino de Santiago en el que confluyen la mayoría de las vías medievales de peregrinación europeas, siendo por tanto el camino de mayor relevancia histórica y el más seguido por los peregrinos. Su punto de inicio, hoy en día, tanto puede considerarse Roncesvalles como...

www.gronze.com

 

[donalomahony]

These are worth exploring

Planificador - Godesalco.com

Perfil altitudinal, lista de albergues, planificación de etapas, itinerario y archivos GPS para tu Camino.

godesalco.com

And

Camino Francés | Gronze.com

El Camino Francés es el Camino de Santiago en el que confluyen la mayoría de las vías medievales de peregrinación europeas, siendo por tanto el camino de mayor relevancia histórica y el más seguido por los peregrinos. Su punto de inicio, hoy en día, tanto puede considerarse Roncesvalles como...

www.gronze.com

Many of us use the latter for planning

Easter Sunday 2025 is April 20th. The week before and after will be particularly busy.

Google Chrome and other browsers will machine translate these into English (and indeed many other languages).

 

[CWBuff]

What @trecile said - Godesalco is awesome for planning because it gives you immediate options on how far you want\can walk and calculates the distances and days (you can even plug in rest days if so desire)
as per @donalomahony - Gronze will give you a more comprehensive list of accommodations open "currently". Its in Spanish so have to use GoogleTranslate if not proficient in that language
Combined (and with other sources mentioned) you can easily do your homework to your heart's desire
Good luck and Buen Camino!

 

[NerdGjerd]

Ah yes, that Planificador is cool! thanks to you all! Wow following through the Godesalco steps really provides some nice info in excel or pdf format in the end. If only I had used "stage planner" in my forum search. I was using other terms that were not getting me good results.

 

[GaTeach]

I printed the godescalco and cut into small sheets that I stuck in my journal. Every evening we would sit down with tinto de verano and figure out where we wanted to head the next day. Invaluable. I just threw each page away when I was done with it.

 

[David Tallan]

I will often use Gronze, apps, guidebooks, etc. and figure out what I think my probable stages are. Then I create a Google Doc with those stages. I fill that with information from all those sources, from Forum posts, etc. and that's how I do my planning.

 

[Anhalter]

The godelsaco planner is aweseome, but there is one downside: it does only provide one "main" path to plan and doesnt offer any alternative routes. Buen camino app is a bit better in that regard, at least in daily usage on the trail. I find planning multiple days in it a bit tiresome.
Then there is the almighty www.gronze.com which has propably the most information in it, but you can only extract distances between towns from the maps and not every distance is in there.

Imho there is no single best option. For rough planning at home i like to use godelsaco. For more in depth planning i use gronze. For use on trail i use buen camino or ninja.

 

[Roland49]

So my main question is, do you use something similar or have any advice? Thanks!

I had made a list in google maps with all the as "best option" marked Albergues of this forum. The map is then saved as file on my phone to access it without having a decent connection.
On top of this in the map are all POI and viewpoints I wanted to see myself.
At each evening I opened maps and try to memorize the points and Albergues of the next day.

Worked pretty well for me on the CF and CP.

 

[henrythedog]

I will often use Gronze, apps, guidebooks, etc. and figure out what I think my probable stages are. Then I create a Google Doc with those stages. I fill that with information from all those sources, from Forum posts, etc. and that's how I do my planning.

I’m similar, but more analogue.

I literally draw the route to scale on the left page of my journals, listing the places I’ll pass en-route. I know I’ll cover roughly a page and a half in a day’s walking so it helps me visualise where I should be looking to stay. I use the usual sources as @David Tallan and others to add notes and then en-route add sellos or other ephemera or notes as I pass.

 

[wisepilgrim]

A while back I made a website for planning, called caminoapp.com. It allows you to print a pdf at the end and includes much of the full content from the Wise Pilgrim guides.

It has not been updated in the last year, but will be soon. In the meantime it does work well for planning stages.

 

[Rmarkob]

Another vote for Godesalco and Gronze. I used Godesalco to plan out 3 or 4 days into the future based on what distances I felt comfortable with, and gronze.com to explore lodging options at the potential stopping points. The caminoapp.com website Wisepilgrim mentioned sounds interesting and I'll definitely check it out!

 

[CarisB]

Hello,
My question is: For those of you who do a little bit of planning, do you use some sort of list of all towns and distances to have a general idea what towns you will pass through? (More than a guide book) I have a list, and it's OK, but I'm guessing there's a better method.

I am hoping to walk most of my April Camino Francés without reservations (except the usual bottlenecks and maybe a few special albergues). I got a list (I think here on the forum) of All towns and distances along the Francés, and I've been jotting down notes on the list. It's been handy to figure out how many days it might take to get to certain areas. Or for example, it's how I figured out which towns I might be near when on Easter and other holidays.

I suppose one could use a guide book for this, since it shows distances, but i like having the towns all displayed on one long list, instead of flipping through pages. I'll use the guide book and apps as well, but they don't seem to be great for adding notes and getting an idea of my overall plan.

Here's another example of where my list might come in handy: If I have heard so many wonderful things about Albergue XYZ, I may want to reserve that one, so my list can help me figure out my arrival date.

So my main question is, do you use something similar or have any advice? Thanks!

I like 2 apps that give you not only the main stages but every town between: CaminoTool and CaminoNinja. I think Camino Ninja is especially good because it shows where bars restaurants and albergues and hotels/hostals are along the route. Both apps are good to keep you on the right track too….the main trails and any complimentary routes available.

 

[NerdGjerd]

I’m similar, but more analogue.

I literally draw the route to scale on the left page of my journals, listing the places I’ll pass en-route. I know I’ll cover roughly a page and a half in a day’s walking so it helps me visualise where I should be looking to stay. I use the usual sources as @David Tallan and others to add notes and then en-route add sellos or other ephemera or notes as I pass.

That sounds like something fun to look back at when you’re done. Kind of a pilgrims passport but more. Share a picture of a page if you care to.

 

[trecile]

I think Camino Ninja is especially good because it shows where bars restaurants and albergues and hotels/hostals are along the route.

Both the Wise Pilgrim and Buen Camino apps show where these places are.

 

[Donna Sch]

Hello,
My question is: For those of you who do a little bit of planning, do you use some sort of list of all towns and distances to have a general idea what towns you will pass through? (More than a guide book) I have a list, and it's OK, but I'm guessing there's a better method.

I am hoping to walk most of my April Camino Francés without reservations (except the usual bottlenecks and maybe a few special albergues). I got a list (I think here on the forum) of All towns and distances along the Francés, and I've been jotting down notes on the list. It's been handy to figure out how many days it might take to get to certain areas. Or for example, it's how I figured out which towns I might be near when on Easter and other holidays.

I suppose one could use a guide book for this, since it shows distances, but i like having the towns all displayed on one long list, instead of flipping through pages. I'll use the guide book and apps as well, but they don't seem to be great for adding notes and getting an idea of my overall plan.

Here's another example of where my list might come in handy: If I have heard so many wonderful things about Albergue XYZ, I may want to reserve that one, so my list can help me figure out my arrival date.

So my main question is, do you use something similar or have any advice? Thanks!

Trello. I love this app/website for Camino planning. You can add anything to it. I create lists for each town including distances between then. Cards for each accommodation option, shops, bars, must-do attractions, maps/elevations, interesting bits of history etc you can add labels as well. And it is all easy to shift around. I'm currently planning a Camino Mixto of Madrid/Salvador/Primitivo. It's a DIY guidebook.

 

[trecile]

Trello. I love this app/website for Camino planning

What's the name of the app/website?

 

[NerdGjerd]

What's the name of the app/website?

I had the same question. I think it's trello.com. It appears to be a tool to help organize any information you already have.

 

[trecile]

I had the same question. I think it's trello.com. It appears to be a tool to help organize any information you already have.

Thanks. I didn't know if trello was a typo.

 

[NerdGjerd]

Thanks. I didn't know if trello was a typo.

same here, I thought it was referring to a user named Trello I had missed, or a typo of Trecile. I googled, and there are a couple videos about trello being used for Camino.

 

[JamesX]

Camino Ninja app does it live

 

[Camo]

I had made a list in google maps with all the as "best option" marked Albergues of this forum.

Yes indeed the LIST function is most useful and can be made public for other people, but the extension is the DIRECTIONS function (sat nav) where you simply add the places in the LIST to the DIRECTIONS for your daily plan then press SAVE TO PHONE and it guides you every meter of YOUR Camino, even updating your arrival time at each STEP along the way (maximum of 10).

 

[Camo]

add the places in the LIST

I hasten to add that this is not INSTEAD OF gronze and Brierley etc but AS WELL AS.

Horses for courses and gronze, Brierley etc are the experts on the particular accommodation etc pilgrims need and it is only after that has been established for a particular daily leg that google takes over on the NAVIGATION side.

Google simply defers to the so called Gatekeepers like booking.com, travago etc

 

[David Tallan]

I like 2 apps that give you not only the main stages but every town between: CaminoTool and CaminoNinja. I think Camino Ninja is especially good because it shows where bars restaurants and albergues and hotels/hostals are along the route. Both apps are good to keep you on the right track too….the main trails and any complimentary routes available.

Buen Camino and Wise Pilgrim also provide these.