Camino de Santiago: Routes and Tracks

There are many different routes that can be taken in The Camino de Santiago, and many variations depending on the person’s preferences. The most popular routes are the French Way, the Portuguese Way, and the Northern Way. Here are the main ones so you can follow them directly on Wikiloc or download their tracks in high resolution. This way, you can follow them without having to adjust to the more “classic” stages.

If you want to see all the routes as you have never seen them before, take a look and explore them in 3D while I include all the variants, information of the stages, or albergues of each one of them.

You can also access the Camino de Santiago’s statistics since 2004 and the daily arrivals to Santiago de Compostela since January 1, 2022.

Camino de Santiago Francés (French Way)

Let’s start with the most popular: The French Way of Saint James. The main starting points, if you want to do it complete, would be Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port (France) or Roncesvalles (Spain).

The total distance would be 763 km to Santiago de Compostela. It is the most popular route: in 2021 it was traveled by more than 97,000 pilgrims out of a total of 175,000.

Camino Francés por Aragón (French Way through Aragón)

I also include the variant of its route through Aragón. In this case, the distance will be a total of 831 km to Santiago de Compostela. The starting point can be Somport pass or Jaca in the province of Huesca (ES).

Camino Portugués Central (Portuguese Central Way)

This is the second most popular option in 2021 with more than 33,000 pilgrims. If we start in Lisbon (PT), the total distance will be about 613 km. Another departure point closer to Santiago is Porto (PT). The first city in Spain is Tui where more than 14,000 pilgrims started in 2021.

Camino Inglés (English Way)

Of the five top routes in 2021, the English Way is the shortest with 118 km as we will have to start in Ferrol to be able to certify more than 100 km and be able to get the Compostela. In 2021, more than 10,000 pilgrims chose this route.

Camino Primitivo (Primitive or Original Way)

The Primitive Way is known as the one traveled by the first pilgrim, King Alfonso II El Casto, at the end of the VIII century. It starts from the city of Oviedo in Asturias. With a total length of 313 km, it is perhaps one of the most physically demanding but also one of the most beautiful because of the nature it crosses. In 2021, more than 10,000 pilgrims chose it, almost the same as the English one.

Camino del Norte (Nothern Way)

The Camino del Norte is one of the longest routes in Spain from Irun, on the border with France, to Santiago making a total of 872 km in its variant that passes through Oviedo. Despite its 16,000 meters of positive difference in altitude, in 2021, more than 9,000 pilgrims chose it.

Vía de la Plata

Although behind the coastal variant of the Portuguese Way, La Vía de la Plata, originating in Seville, was chosen by almost 4,000 pilgrims during 2021. The total length of this route is 956 km.

Other Caminos

Camino de Madrid

Camino de Invierno

Camino de San Salvador

Summary

Here is a summary of the main figures of the routes. Gradually I will include the rest of the routes both to follow them directly on Wikiloc where you can also download them in high resolution.

If you have any request or want me to share a complete route, just ask me in the comments.