Planning My Camino on the French Way: May 2025

[santhi]

Hi Everyone. I am planning on going on my Camino in May 2025. I am a single woman in her 40s. I intend to do the entire 800 km. My question is this: Is May a good time to travel on the Camino? Also, will I meet a lot of fellow travellers at that time of the year?

 

[Damien Reynolds]

Hi Everyone. I am planning on going on my Camino in May 2025. I am a single woman in her 40s. I intend to do the entire 800 km. My question is this: Is May a good time to travel on the Camino? Also, will I meet a lot of fellow travellers at that time of the year?

That is a great time of year. It's green not brown. Might be a little cold on occasion. You'll meet people.

 

[trecile]

May and September are the two most popular months to start from St Jean Pied de Port - you will have plenty of company. And as @Damien Reynolds said, it's beautiful and green that time of year.

 

[santhi]

That is a great time of year. It's green not brown. Might be a little cold on occasion. You'll meet people.

Another question? Where do I get guidebooks to plan the route and to help me navigate? I would love to get a book to help me with this. I intend to spend 60 days so that I have enough time to explore the route and not walk with just the end in mind.

 

[santhi]

I am wondering is there a website, a book or a pdf document that will help me in planning the Camino? Something that I can rely on as a day to day guide on my walk. Any suggestion will be helpful. TIA

 

[Anniesantiago]

You're welcome to join my Camino Planning Page on Facebook.
It's not a day by day but will give you a lot of good information for planning:
Camino Planning Group

 

[Anniesantiago]

It's a beautiful but super busy time.
I like Brierley's book, myself.

 

[CaminoDebrita]

HI. I am doing the Camino for the first time in May 2025. I am wondering is there a website, a book or a pdf document that will help me in planning the Camino? Something that I can rely on as a day to day guide on my walk. Any suggestion will be helpful. TIA

Why not use the book most use? Here's a link to it.
Camino de Santiago French Way

 

[CaminoDebrita]

HI. I am doing the Camino for the first time in May 2025. I am wondering is there a website, a book or a pdf document that will help me in planning the Camino? Something that I can rely on as a day to day guide on my walk. Any suggestion will be helpful. TIA

Also, you will find everything you need to know in this website! you've found your way to the source of nearly everything you need to know.

 

[dick bird]

HI. I am doing the Camino for the first time in May 2025. I am wondering is there a website, a book or a pdf document that will help me in planning the Camino? Something that I can rely on as a day to day guide on my walk. Any suggestion will be helpful. TIA

Lots of both. The John Brierley guide is the granddaddy of them all and it is on sale in bookstores and online. The best website is probably Gronze which is in Spanish but you can Google translate into English. Plus where you are now, this forum.

 

[trecile]

There are a number of books - @ivar stocks them in the forum store.

https://www.santiagodecompostela.me/en-us/collections/camino-frances-guides

The Gronze website is great for planning. It's only in Spanish, but if you use the Chrome browser it will automatically translate to English.

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

You can check to see if there is a chapter of the Canadian Company of Pilgrims in your area.

Canadian Company of Pilgrims | The Way of Saint James

www.santiago.ca

There are also a number of apps that are great to use, especially when you are on the Camino. Wise Pilgrim and Buen Camino are my favorites.

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

 

[Damien Reynolds]

Another question? Where do I get guidebooks to plan the route and to help me navigate? I would love to get a book to help me with this. I intend to spend 60 days so that I have enough time to explore the route and not walk with just the end in mind.

I don't use books. Apps + websites only.. As others have noted already, Gronze.com is awesome (probably my #1 planning source). Camino Ways & Buen Camino (apps) for navigating. For general guidance, or opinions and reactions to questions, definitely caminodesantiago.me.

 

[trecile]

Here's another good site for planning

Planificador - Camino de Santiago - Godesalco.com

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

godesalco.com

 

[woody66]

Hi!
I use Gronze it is great website and easy to use and plan your stages (and variants) and shows all types of accommodation along the route with links to them and Booking.com ! (there is now an App but not used it)
Wise Pilgrim on my phone! (loads of info, easy to use. Whatsapp links where available for booking direct, reviews etc.)
Sandy Browns guide to the Frances audio book on my phone!
None of these add any weight which is a bonus!
Buen Camino
Woody

 

[CarolamS]

There are a lot of guides to the Camino Frances and some very good apps. (My preference is the Village to Village Guide and the Wise Pilgrim app). The important point is that you can decide your own stages depending on how far you want to walk. The stages in the guides are there and many people use them but if you look you will find many options to stay in places along the route, not just the guide end stages. Often these places are quieter and can be excellent places to get to know other pilgrims. 60 days is a very generous amount of time so you'll be able to take time to explore the cities along the way. I particularly recommend Leon.
Buen Camino

 

[Scott Fraser]

Hi Everyone. I am planning on going on my Camino in May 2025. I am a single woman in her 40s. I intend to do the entire 800 km. My question is this: Is May a good time to travel on the Camino? Also, will I meet a lot of fellow travellers at that time of the year?

Hi, in 2018 I left SJPdP on May 1st and had a cold wind with light snow and freezing rain near the top of the Napoleon route. The rest of the walk was mostly in shorts and tee shirts. No special gear was needed, except wool glove liners and a watch cap to cover the ears. Just make sure you carry layers to stay warm and a jacket to keep dry.

 

[simoncooper99]

I did it May 17th to 30th June last year and a great time to do it. Some hot days, only one really wet day, but most of the time dry and pleasant. The camino is often bordered by wild flowers at that time of year You will meet plenty of people and if you are on your own can walk at a speed you are comfortable with. The guide I used was by Sandy Brown and included separate guide and map book. The maps were really useful. For a guide you can get plenty of info on the internet. Plenty of places to see on the way. In Burgos I would recommend the The Huelgas Monastery and the Museum of human evolution.

 

[David Tallan]

Hi Everyone. I am planning on going on my Camino in May 2025. I am a single woman in her 40s. I intend to do the entire 800 km. My question is this: Is May a good time to travel on the Camino? Also, will I meet a lot of fellow travellers at that time of the year?

Many consider May one of the best times to walk the Camino Frances. For that reason, the beginning of May is one of the busiest times of year for departures from St. Jean Pied de Port (the other busy time is early September). So you can be very confident that you will meet plenty of fellow travelers at that time of year! You may want to book the first few days of accommodations in advance, up to Pamplona, where people start to spread out.

 

[DocJeff]

Hi Everyone. I am planning on going on my Camino in May 2025. I am a single woman in her 40s. I intend to do the entire 800 km. My question is this: Is May a good time to travel on the Camino? Also, will I meet a lot of fellow travellers at that time of the year?

I'm sure Ivar can hook you up with guide books!

 

[David Tallan]

Another question? Where do I get guidebooks to plan the route and to help me navigate? I would love to get a book to help me with this. I intend to spend 60 days so that I have enough time to explore the route and not walk with just the end in mind.

There are a number of guide books you can get to help you plan and navigate. The Brierley guide is probably the most popular one in English, but I also liked the Village to Village guide and the Moon guide. Wise Pilgrim also publishes a paper guide. All of these can be purchased from the Forum Store, and I believe that Ivar will throw in a free credencial if you purchase from there.

I also love to recommend Gitlitz and Davidson's The Pilgrimage Road to Santiago: The Complete Cultural Handbook. It won't give you maps of the route, accommodations listings, information about available infrastructure (where to find banks, grocery stores, pharmacies, restaurants and bars, etc.). Its focus is on the more enduring: the history, art and architecture, flora and fauna, etc. It is a very worthwhile complement to the books above. I own it in both paper and ebook versions so I can enjoy the paper book at home and take the ebook (which takes no space in my backpack and weighs nothing) with me on Camino. I deeply wish there was a similar book for other routes.

I know you asked about books, but I would be doing you a great disservice if I didn't mention apps. Personally, while I love books and keep far too many at home (I was educated as a librarian), I prefer not to take paper books on Camino. I find apps much more useful. They show where you are on the map so if you haven't seen a yellow arrow for a little while you can instantly confirm whether or not you've wandered off-trail and get yourself back on-trail if you have. They also have up to date comments or ratings of albergues from fellow pilgrims which can help in planning where to stay. Buen Camino and Wise Pilgrim (the same folk who print the paper books) are probably the two most common apps used. These can also be very useful in planning. And, in the same vein, I should mention Gronze.com (which now also has an app as well as the website). It is in Spanish only, but the website will be translated by the Chrome browser if you like. It is a great tool for planning, as well, with up-to-date albergue listings (accompanied by a wealth of comments), descriptions of the trail, and a "To the parrot" tab (don't ask) giving handy tips about the day's stage.

 

[Rmarkob]

Here's another good site for planning

Planificador - Camino de Santiago - Godesalco.com

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

godesalco.com

I really liked the godesalco planificador, which I've used on the CF and CP in planning my stages. Once I knew the range of distances I was comfortable with, this app allowed me to choose multiple starting and stopping points and to see the distance between any two points. Once I had 2 or 3 options, I would use gronze.com to see what accommodations each ending point offered. On my first Camino (CF Sep-Oct 2021), I found I needed to plan two or three days out for the last 100km as it got more crowded and some accommodations were "completo".

Note: Godesalco.com refers to the Camino Frances simply as the "Camino de Santiago".

 

[CaminoMatt73]

Hi Everyone. I am planning on going on my Camino in May 2025. I am a single woman in her 40s. I intend to do the entire 800 km. My question is this: Is May a good time to travel on the Camino? Also, will I meet a lot of fellow travellers at that time of the year?

If you are looking for early part of the year, I think end April is the perfect time as walking through Spain in May is awesome, June starts to get hot and of course July and august is Soo hot. My favourite time is September to November though.

 

[JBerg]

Another question? Where do I get guidebooks to plan the route and to help me navigate? I would love to get a book to help me with this. I intend to spend 60 days so that I have enough time to explore the route and not walk with just the end in mind.

camino de santiago. by john brierley. amazon

 

[chooleekr]

Hi Everyone. I am planning on going on my Camino in May 2025. I am a single woman in her 40s. I intend to do the entire 800 km. My question is this: Is May a good time to travel on the Camino? Also, will I meet a lot of fellow travellers at that time of the year?

May is the best time of the year. The months with the most pilgrims to Saint Jean Pied de Port are May and September. Therefore, you may need to reserve accommodation for a few days. After a few days, the pilgrims will disperse and the accommodation problem will likely be resolved.

 

[DwainS]

I walked May 18th to June30th this year. Only 3 days of rain and its light out early in the morning and later at night which I liked. Only walked one morning in the dark (it was the last day into Santiago and everyone wanted to get there for the noon mass) but I did not enjoy walking in the dark. I like to see the surrounding when I walk.

 

[Damien Reynolds]

I walked May 18th to June30th this year. Only 3 days of rain and its light out early in the morning and later at night which I liked. Only walked one morning in the dark (it was the last day into Santiago and everyone wanted to get there for the noon mass) but I did not enjoy walking in the dark. I like to see the surrounding when I walk.

Ok, that is a great point. One thing I love about walking in the Spring vs Fall is everyday the days get longer, not shorter. Well, I love them both... but... it is an added bonus to Spring.

 

[Ken & Liz]

John Brierleys book is the best and the new 2023 released in October is smaller than the original I used in 2016. Ivar has them but DHL freight to New Zealand was to much. I got my new version from the printers posted, took two weeks but cheap freight. Plus free down load Camino Ninja. Put in your start point, then scroll down looking at the villages with accom and the distance and elevation and click I will stop here. Then you can see the accom available and price options.
60 days is what we allow and it works well for site seeing and a two day stop once a week. We turn 80 this year and will start on the 9th April

 

[howardd5]

Hi Everyone. I am planning on going on my Camino in May 2025. I am a single woman in her 40s. I intend to do the entire 800 km. My question is this: Is May a good time to travel on the Camino? Also, will I meet a lot of fellow travellers at that time of the year?

I have walked the CF in may and walked well and would advise the Pyrenees can be cold and confusing. My first walk to Roncevalles it sleeted twice on the way. I have never stayed at Orisson in five crossings but some do . It makes for a short first day, maybe 7 km. If you are friendly , don’t complain until a beer at the end of the day, and are helpful you will meet lots of pilgrims. I like the Brierly book but don’t always stay at the advise stop overs. Some of the really crowded albergues but fun .I am not young and have walked a dozen times and will walk again in the spring. It habit forming-

 

[syug]

I am wondering is there a website, a book or a pdf document that will help me in planning the Camino? Something that I can rely on as a day to day guide on my walk. Any suggestion will be helpful. TIA

May is a great time to walk and you will find plenty of company. The French Way it's easy and well signed, Saint Jean Pied de Port /Santiago normally takes around 30/35 days (around 13/15 ml per day). It really depends on how much you are able to walk in a day and be comfortable. I suggest you Forwalk. It is a great resource with maps, information about the different stages and a list of accommodation along the Way. It will tell you how far off the Camino an accommodation is. You can also check reviews and book your accommodation in advance comfortably using this guide, https://app.forwalk.org/2/1/en-us/19/ I hope it works for you, buen camino!

 

[Jarrad]

I've got to tell you that May is my absolute favorite. You will be pretty much out of the cold weather. If you don't mind a little crowding in some places, you'll be OK -- you're still outside the window of European holiday walkers. You will rarely be hiking out of sight of other pilgrims. Want some 'alone time'? No problem, take some alternative routes (I think the Eunate church is worth the side trip). The evenings are warm. long and (hopefully!) sunny enough that your freshly washed clothes will dry nicely while you are enjoying time in the plaza with your fellow pilgrims. And May 2025? Yep, I'll be there!

It's been said, but check out Brierley to start. And of course check out the Resources page right here. The planning and anticipation can be a super-fun part of the journey. Wear your Tilley hat if you want to be recognized as a Canadian.

 

[trecile]

One thing I love about walking in the Spring vs Fall is everyday the days get longer, not shorter.

 

[DwainS]

I mentioned that I started May 18/2023. I know May is busy as some stages had quite a few people but other stages didn't seem that busy. Three come to mind. First, Puente la Reina to Estella and if wasn't for toilet paper I might have thought I was on the wrong trai because I seen no one for a long timel. (That was the only section that I noticed had a lot of toilet paper). Second, Belorado to Ages, but just the last part from San Juan de Ortega to Ages. Only seen one person and that was after walking for a while, was happy to see someone.Thrid was Bercianos to Puente to Villarente. Same here just the last part Mansilla de las Mulas to Puente Villarente. I was really worried here because I walked a long time without seeing anyone then seen a German couple and they assured me I was on the right path so I walked with them. So even in the so called busier months you can find some alone time.

 

[Kasee]

I’ve done both May/June and Sept/Oct on the Frances. Spring is gorgeous! But it can also be rainy. I highly suggest buying an Altus raincoat/poncho at the gear store across from the Pilgrim’s Office in SJPP.

 

[santhi]

Why not use the book most use? Here's a link to it.
Camino de Santiago French Way

Thank you! I just bought the book. I am glad I did. It is so compact and light. I am certainly bringing it along on my trip!