First camino, Norte o frances?

Beetlebee said:

hello! I'd like to walk the camino starting sometime in the end of June or beginning of July. I'm unsure of which route to take. I would like to avoid large crowds that I've heard about on the camino Frances, but I don't want to walk on Tarmac so much & I've heard there is more on the north route. I love the sea and think it would be great to walk along the coast...but would also love wine & have heard the frances is through wine country. I live in Madrid and this would be my first time in the north of spain so anyone who has walked both or has advice I'd love to hear!! Gracias

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I walked the Francis in October and the Norte in June. If you live in Spain, you should know July/august is the busiest time of the year, not to mention the heat.
I found the amount of Tarmac is about the same. Number of pilgrims will be considerably less on the Norte. But accommodation gets filled faster non the less because of it is a popular tourist destination in the summer.
Norte will be like a country/mountain walk with lots of ups and downs with stunning ocean/mountain scenery.
It will be a completely different experience to that of Frances. Since this is your first time, why not walk the Frances first.
This is recurring question, why not search this forum for past discussions on this topic and read what others have to say.

Hola @Beetlebee and welcome.
IMO - The Francés is likely to be very crowded at that time of year. We have walked the northern routes, the Norte/Primitivo combination works well and you can choose where to start especially if trying to avoid too much tarmac at the start. Maybe Santander to Oviedo, then back up to the Norte or onto the Primitivo would be good at that time of year. From Santander it might be worth taking the FEVE cercania out to Barreda to avoid the tarmac and industrial zone there and actually walk from Barreda. The Camino passes the FEVE station.

Buen Camino

Hola Bettlebee,

I have the same thoughts about the Camino than you, but am actually planning on starting a bit earlier (mid-June the latest) - mainly to avoid the biggest crowds. While I still haven't entirely made up my mind (mainly due to the recent messages regarding women safety on remote paths), I'm strongly inclined towards Camino del Norte not only because of the coastline and green landscapes, but also because of the food, wine (País Vasco will have amazing wine throughout and so does Galicia, not to mention Asturia's Sidra!), and extra challenge (I know the days are longer and have a bit more ups and downs to it).

As Tia Valeria suggests, you could skip the parts that are heavy on tarmac taking a train or bus - that's perfectly fine! For instance, I've been advised that from Bilbao to Portugalete you would mainly walk through industrial area, so this you might want to skip (there's a tube from Bilbao to Portugalete that takes 20min instead).

The one thing I love so much about the Camino is that you can really tailor the pilgrimage to your preferences and needs.

Buen Camino