When and where

easygoing · Oct 23, 2019

After walking the Camino Francis 9 times I am planning to walk the Camino Norte. 2 questions:
1. Are there any must stay another day cities like Burgos and Leon on this route?.
2. The guide book suggests summer or fall but I might need to go in Spring, May and June. Has any experience with walking at that time?
Thanks Sharon

Antonius Vaessen · Oct 23, 2019

I would say Bilbao, San Sebastian, Santander ( perhaps not for the city, but to take the alternative route along the coast, which is beautifull) Oviedo and Ribadeo ( to visit the Playa de catedrales at low tide and walk the coastal path back to Ribadeo, very beautifull and you can walk without backpack)

Rick M · Oct 23, 2019

I walked the first half of the Norte in mid-late April this year, and I do not know why a guide book would tell you its not a good time to walk. All I can think of is weather. The Norte is only a few hours drive from the Francis at all points, but the weather is different.

1) You start and end most days at sea level versus 800m on the Frances, so on average it is warmer in the cooler months
2) You are next to the ocean, so on average it is cooler in the warm months
3) You have the Pyrenees on your left at all times, so that makes for much greater rainfall levels due to orographic effects

All of this played out for us as we walked. It was definitely warmer and wetter than the same time of year on the Frances, but not to any enormous effect. I see no reason not to walk the Norte in Spring, unless swimming at the beaches that you cruise by daily is in the plans. Definitely too cold to swim. As the beaches are the main draw in what is really a tourist area, the number of tourists was negligible, and you could see it in the beach towns. To me, that's a plus for a pilgrim as you are not competing with tourists for beds.

Buen Camino

easygoing · Oct 23, 2019

Rick M said:
I walked the first half of the Norte in mid-late April this year, and I do not know why a guide book would tell you its not a good time to walk. All I can think of is weather. The Norte is only a few hours drive from the Francis at all points, but the weather is different.

1) You start and end most days at sea level versus 800m on the Frances, so on average it is warmer in the cooler months
2) You are next to the ocean, so on average it is cooler in the warm months
3) You have the Pyrenees on your left at all times, so that makes for much greater rainfall levels due to orographic effects

All of this played out for us as we walked. It was definitely warmer and wetter than the same time of year on the Frances, but not to any enormous effect. I see no reason not to walk the Norte in Spring, unless swimming at the beaches that you cruise by daily is in the plans. Definitely too cold to swim. As the beaches are the main draw in what is really a tourist area, the number of tourists was negligible, and you could see it in the beach towns. To me, that's a plus for a pilgrim as you are not competing with tourists for beds.

Buen Camino

Thanks so much for the information. The guide book stated the weather as the reason that it wasn't a good time. However, I don't swim and don't want to compete with tourists. So May June it is.

lt56ny · Oct 24, 2019

I walked in Late September and October. The weather was really nice. Never had a problem finding beds and the whole vibe is different as the further you go there are fewer and fewer pilgrims. It is tougher, at least for me than The Camino Francis and scenery wise very different. The coast is spectacular to say the least. The only place you may have a problem if you want muni albergues is in San Sebastian as I believe the municipal albergue is still closed but I may be wrong. I stayed in the hostel called A Room In The City. It was about 24US and really nice in an excellent location. If you want the best ice cream on earth don't miss Gelateria Boulevard. WOW!

easygoing · Oct 24, 2019

lt56ny said:
I walked in Late September and October. The weather was really nice. Never had a problem finding beds and the whole vibe is different as the further you go there are fewer and fewer pilgrims. It is tougher, at least for me than The Camino Francis and scenery wise very different. The coast is spectacular to say the least. The only place you may have a problem if you want muni albergues is in San Sebastian as I believe the municipal albergue is still closed but I may be wrong. I stayed in the hostel called A Room In The City. It was about 24US and really nice in an excellent location. If you want the best ice cream on earth don't miss Gelateria Boulevard. WOW!

Thanks I love ice cream. And now I am thinking of walking in late September. My problem is (if you call it a problem) that I am walking both the Camino Francis with a girlfriend and then the Norte with my husband in 2020. So which one to do first?

Tia Valeria · Oct 24, 2019

Which towns to spend time in depends on your interests. Santander has a good museum of pre-history by the market and Santillana del Mar has the town itself and also the museum at Altamira. This museum needs a ticket best bought beforehand to avoid the first queue and probably a day stop over to allow time to do that. LLanes too has some fascinating old buildings.....
May is good but Mothers Day weekend is busy usually and the May Day weekend so later May is better than early.

blueskywa · Oct 24, 2019

May and June last year was great...some rain, added mud but a joy to do. Altus poncho and gortex shoes kept me totally dry....buen camino

lt56ny · Oct 25, 2019

easygoing said:
Thanks I love ice cream. ♥ And now I am thinking of walking in late September. My problem is (if you call it a problem) that I am walking both the Camino Francis with a girlfriend and then the Norte with my husband in 2020. So which one to do first?

If you are walking one after the other? If you are I would do the Norte first as it will be beautiful and aot fewer Pilgrims than what you will see on the CF during that time period. It will get really quiet on the Norte after you head southwest towards Santiago. I start the Frances on Monday. It is a great camino and miss doing it. For me it is way too crowded in peak season. Looking forward to the experience of walking this time of year.

Silvermomma · Tuesday at 7:32 PM

I use Alltrails a lot here in the US, in Iceland, on the Via Podiensis and a bit on the CF. Will it be useful on the Norte? For example, people here say the "warm up" from Biarritz to Irun (or...

Umwandert · Monday at 11:35 AM

Last May I walked the first part of the Norte in the opposite direction, from Santander to Irun. Since I only had two weeks and couldn't reach Santiago anyway, I wanted to swim against the tide...

MilenaS · Tuesday at 5:47 PM

Tomorrow I fly to Bilbao to start my 5th stint on the Camino. I did the Frances in three parts (2016, 2017 and 2022). Last year I did the Portuguese from Porto. I did the first 200 km of the...

ChrisMayou · Friday at 5:08 PM

Are supermercados or other grocery stores open on Sundays on del Norte? Are restaurants open? Specifically, I will likely find myself in these towns on Sundays: Castro-Urdiales, Comillas...

Silvermomma · Tuesday at 9:28 PM

I thought I had this all figured out, but I have ended up with 2 train tickets from San Sebastian (I don't even know if it's the airport or the town) to Irun, instead of ONE that goes all the way...

Bippo · Thursday at 3:30 PM

Hi! I’m a Camino newbie planning on walking Camino del Norte this May-June. I have previous hiking experience and do well on longer distances and so on, but not any super recent multi day long...

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