Weather on Camino Frances May/June

[ellispraggon]

Need advice on the weather. I want to start the journey 7 days of walking or so before SJPDP around mid May and I plan to end in Finisterre probably early July.

 

[C clearly]

Welcome to the forum! You are welcome to ask any questions, and will usually get good answers. However, this is a tough one! A week in May/June seems likely to have decent weather but very well might rain too. Anything more precise than that will need to wait until the day before you are leaving, when there might be a better long term (i.e. 7-10 day forecast). At this point, you should plan for a big range of weather conditions, and maybe before departure you can make a guess and modify what you take.

 

[Anhalter]

Walked the Frances twice in May/June.
I had days with 35°C. I had mornings with single digits. I had a bit of snow one day in June. I had a little rain.
I pack for "mostly fair" weather. I can walk comfortably at 0-5°C and in the rain, but that should be the exception, not the rule. For fouler weather I'd pack a tiny bit different.
I always went for the approach to go expecting mostly pleasant weather. If i was to run into something more serious or longer lasting, i can sit in a cafe for half a day, take a rest day until clears up or buy something more appropriate in one of the many shops along the way.

Worked pretty well so far.

 

[ellispraggon]

Walked the Frances twice in May/June.
I had days with 35°C. I had mornings with single digits. I had a bit of snow one day in June. I had a little rain.
I pack for "mostly fair" weather. I can walk comfortably at 0-5°C and in the rain, but that should be the exception, not the rule. For fouler weather I'd pack a tiny bit different.
I always went for the approach to go expecting mostly pleasant weather. If i was to run into something more serious or longer lasting, i can sit in a cafe for half a day, take a rest day until clears up or buy something more appropriate in one of the many shops along the way.

Worked pretty well so far.

Hey thanks for your reply. Being from London i assumed southern France/ northern Spain would be consistently warm in late spring so knowing that it's temperamental and that I'll need to have some cold weather gear is great.

 

[Anhalter]

Hey thanks for your reply. Being from London i assumed southern France/ northern Spain would be consistently warm in late spring so knowing that it's temperamental and that I'll need to have some cold weather gear is great.

Generally, meaning statistically, it will be warmer than, say, London. But the Camino Frances is kind of a long walk, not that far from the Atlantic, with parts at some noticable elevation. So there is a not so small chance that some days will have less than pleasant weather. Of course there is also the chance that your whole camino will be in perfect weather.
Not entirely sure how long you plan on walking, if its only for a week or so you can get a pretty good forcast and pack accordingly. If longer, I'd say pack for a range of weather conditions from cold to wet to hot. With good layering this can be achieved with little added weight. (If you need an idea, there is a link to my packing list in my signature)

 

[musicman]

Overall,be optimistic but have rainwear in your kit. Last two years the weather was mainly benign and often hot.
el meteo ES is a good forecast site.

buen Camino

 

[Hans-Georg Goebel]

Need advice on the weather. I want to start the journey 7 days of walking or so before SJPDP around mid May and I plan to end in Finisterre probably early July.

do you know the numbers of the weekend lottery??

 

[DBC]

Need advice on the weather. I want to start the journey 7 days of walking or so before SJPDP around mid May and I plan to end in Finisterre probably early July.

Walked from 2nd May 2022 from SJPP for 5.5 weeks. Merino long sleeved shirts, light padded down jacket (242g), lightweight waterproof jacket, zip-off trousers, merino underwear, wool socks. Had a set of light gloves and a beanie buried in my rucksack.
Had the odd cool morning when I started in the padded jacket with gloves. They were normally off by 09:00.
The catch can be the first 1-2 days over the Pyrenees. 2-3 days before I started local mountain rescue teams had to rescue a walker due to cold and snow (apparently their plan of walking in shorts and sandals did not match the weather!). In some places snow was ankle deep. Snow was gone 2 days later when I started, I had very muddy or icy ground instead. Checked the weather the day before I flew from Stansted. Packed an old pair of long-johns just in case. Didn’t need them, discarded on day 3.
Did have 3-4 rainy days but never for the whole day.
I had 3 long sleeved merino shirts packed as my normal walking attire to keep the sun off my arms (damn skin cancer). My plan B was if it got very cold I could also layer up the shirts under the jackets.

 

[trecile]

This is a good site for Camino weather info

Camino de Santiago - forecast and historical weather

Get a personal daily weather forecast for the Camino de Santiago for the exact dates you're planning to go. Or browse to pick the best time of year.

caminoweather.com

 

[Damien Reynolds]

This is a good site for Camino weather info

Camino de Santiago - forecast and historical weather

Get a personal daily weather forecast for the Camino de Santiago for the exact dates you're planning to go. Or browse to pick the best time of year.

caminoweather.com

Ooooh. Good resource. But no Mozarabe from Almeria. . I checked it out from Malaga tho.

 

[debigetsout]

Ooooh. Good resource. But no Mozarabe from Almeria. . I checked it out from Malaga tho.

Well, that's annoying.

 

[Damien Reynolds]

Well, that's annoying.

Better than nothing!

 

[trecile]

Ooooh. Good resource. But no Mozarabe from Almeria. . I checked it out from Malaga tho.

At the bottom of the page there is a button to Leave feedback/request a feature.

 

[GPeachy]

May, Spring, is pretty variable everywhere. in 2016 on the CF May was cold in the mornings and the evenings, and a jacket was required almost all the time. In July and August, once summer hits, it is likely to be hot, but you will still be doing some pretty good climbing, so layers are a good idea regardless of the season. I had a short sleeve technical T-shirt, a long sleeve technical tee shirt, (I often wore both), a fleece jacket, a rain jacket for the wind, and a poncho for heavier rain. I had a fleece top for sleeping. I wore it every single night. I would also recommend at least a light sleeping bag or lightweight cover, some folks bring small down blankets. Unless you are in private accommodations, you can't count on having blankets, and you may or may not want to use them.

 

[Yoyo]

I walked the Camino Francés in 2017, starting in SJPP on May 16 and arriving in SdC on June 24.
I had one day of continuous rain, and one more with some drizzle, a few windy, overcast, coolish (but never really cold) days, but mostly I had sunny days, ranging from warm to extremely hot during a two week heat wave.
My best piece of equipment was my hands-free hiking umbrella that provided my own personal shade.

 

[ellispraggon]

Generally, meaning statistically, it will be warmer than, say, London. But the Camino Frances is kind of a long walk, not that far from the Atlantic, with parts at some noticable elevation. So there is a not so small chance that some days will have less than pleasant weather. Of course there is also the chance that your whole camino will be in perfect weather.
Not entirely sure how long you plan on walking, if its only for a week or so you can get a pretty good forcast and pack accordingly. If longer, I'd say pack for a range of weather conditions from cold to wet to hot. With good layering this can be achieved with little added weight. (If you need an idea, there is a link to my packing list in my signature)

great I'll check out your list. I'm thinking 5ish weeks of walking

 

[krystianw]

Ooooh. Good resource. But no Mozarabe from Almeria. . I checked it out from Malaga tho.

Looks like they've added Almeria.

 

[CA_Pilgrim]

Need advice on the weather. I want to start the journey 7 days of walking or so before SJPDP around mid May and I plan to end in Finisterre probably early July.

The advice you get regarding this question will be as dependable as weather forecast.

When I did the French Way in 2022, I had very little rain except for drizzle the last two days into Santiago. I was told that going through the Pyrenees from SJPDP to Roncesvalles can get cold, foggy, and windy but I had absolutely beautiful weather. I spoke with some pilgrims that started a few days later than me and it was the complete opposite for them. Oh, and the Napoleon route was actually closed about a week ahead of me due to snow! It's really the luck of the draw in May. I started out of SJPDP on May 10, 2022.

My suggestion is that you explore some web sites that have historic weather records for various cities in Spain. I can't remember the one I used, but I'm sure a good one will be just a few clicks away on Google. I was mostly concerned about rain because I dislike getting cold and wet and was wondering what type of rain gear to carry. I pulled the historic rain records for the various cities I was lodging in beginning on May 10 in SJPDP and depending in Finisterre on June 24. I then put it together as a graph with the historic % chance of rain on that articular day across many decades of records. The attached graph was the result.

Interestingly, the only time I got rained on was when the % chance of rain was at about the lowest on the graph! I did not do the same for temperature, but my experience was that it ran the gamut between cold and windy (mid 40's F) to very hot (mid 90's F) going through the Meseta.

 

[pressnupu]

Hi, I walked the CP in early May to early June 2022, and again from end May to mid July 2023 (up to Muxia and Finisterre). Both times, I got mild rain (and largely in Galicia). Nothing that stopped me. I was surprised by the cold, though. For the first few weeks, even in early June, I needed a fleece under a rain jacket layer for the early mornings. By late June/early July, this was no longer needed. I'm walking again this June, and I think a light fleece and a packable rain jacket should cover my needs. Good luck!