Walking the Camino de Santiago

Highlights

• Follow one of the most ancient pilgrimage routes in the world!
• Stay in converted water mills, hilltop monasteries and stylish farmhouses
• Soaring cathedrals, Roman bridges, country chapels and thatched Galician villages
• Poppy-sprinkled wheat fields, orchid-rich water meadows, pine-scented woodland

What's this trip about?

The Spanish Camino de Santiago is one of THE most ancient walking routes in the world. Ever since the 9th century, the French Way has led thousands of pilgrims on an 800km journey across northern Spain, winding from the Pyrenees across the wheat fields of old Castile to pass through Leon, the seat of Spanish Kings, full of soaring cathedrals and hushed convents, before entering Galicia. The route then builds to a spectacular finale at Santiago de Compostela's majestic Baroque cathedral, the last resting place of St James the apostle. Your walk begins in Leon and, in keeping with the pilgrimage route, you walk daily along farm tracks, paths and country lanes, enjoying sociable lunches in restaurants en route. You'll stay in an astonishingly diverse range of properties including restored parish houses, converted water mills and stylish farmhouses, all packed with period features. We've included transfers after breakfast on the first three walking days, after which you'll walk all the way to Santiago. The sense of achievement on arrival is immense, and sharing in this tradition with your fellow pilgrims en route is incredibly rewarding. Everyone on the Camino has a Pilgrim Passport that can be stamped in bars, hotels and churches along the way to qualify for a certificate from the official Pilgrim Office in Santiago. You'll notice a profound and heart-warming camaraderie with other walkers, as day by day you fall in and out of step with people from all over the world, some of whom have been walking for months, covering hundreds of miles! You'll also find complete strangers cheering you on and wishing you 'Buen Camino!' ('Enjoy your walk!').The Camino de Santiago de Compostela is one of the world's oldest pilgrimage routes, and in 1987 was declared the first European Culture Route.

What's excluded

• Travel insurance
• Single accommodation (available on request - compulsory supplement)
• Solo traveller supplement (where only one person is travelling on a departure date)
• Visas or vaccinations
• Travel to/from the start/end points
• Standard Madrid to Leon rail ticket

Accommodation