Arriving in Santiago: what to do in the first hours

You enter Praza do Obradoiro through a narrow arch, and the same thing almost always happens: the square opens up all at once, the Cathedral's baroque façade fills your entire field of vision, and no matter how many photos you've seen beforehand, the effect still lands. It's common to see pilgrims sitting on the ground, some stretched out flat, letting their bodies register that there are no more stages left. It's a good place to linger a while before dealing with logistics.

First, the Compostela

The logical next step is to head to the Pilgrim's Reception Office, at Rúa das Carretas 33, to collect the document certifying the route you've walked. It's open every day from 9:00 to 19:00. For the full detail on requirements and stamps, see our guide to the Compostela and the credencial.

The pilgrim's mass

The traditional schedule, the one that applies outside the temporary constraints of the works, runs four masses a day: 7:30, 9:30, 12:00 and 19:30. The midday mass draws the most recently arrived pilgrims and, on dates the Cathedral Chapter schedules it, is also when the Botafumeiro is most likely to swing. During the works, that 12:00 mass has been held at the Pilgrim Reception Centre's chapel, while the 19:30 mass has become the main reference inside the church itself, with limited capacity. There's usually also a mid-morning mass in English aimed specifically at international pilgrims. Worth repeating: check the day's actual schedule before building the rest of your day around it.

The Botafumeiro

For many, it's the moment that crowns the whole trip: a 53-kilogram censer, a metre and a half tall, suspended 20 metres beneath the crossing dome, which eight men — the tiraboleiros — swing from one end of the transept to the other in a spectacular arc. The Cathedral Chapter guarantees it at the High Mass of the calendar's major liturgical solemnities. Outside those dates, it can be requested privately by writing to botafumeiro@catedraldesantiago.es, at a cost of around 500 €, usually split among a group. When it swings, it happens at the end of the mass, adding around five minutes to the service. With the works underway, it's worth asking specifically whether it's being used that day and at which venue.

The embrace of the Apostle

Behind the high altar, a narrow staircase climbs to the image of the Apostle, where tradition calls for embracing the figure from behind. Access, unrestricted since 2023, has run since August 2025 through the Puerta de Abades, on Praza da Quintana, within the Cathedral's general opening hours. The same route lets you descend to the crypt and venerate the relics kept beneath the high altar — the point that gives the whole journey its meaning.

The Holy Door: only in a Holy Year

On Praza da Quintana there's a door that stays shut the vast majority of the time: the Holy Door, or Puerta del Perdón, which only opens during a Jacobean Holy Year — that is, when 25 July falls on a Sunday. 2026 isn't one. The next Holy Year, Xacobeo 2027, will begin with the solemn opening of this door on the afternoon of 31 December 2026, in a ceremony where the archbishop strikes the wall three times with a silver hammer. From there, the door stays open all 365 days of the following year, until it's sealed again on 31 December 2027.

After the Cathedral: octopus, cake and the end of the world

The most common custom among newly arrived pilgrims is to sit down and celebrate with a plate of pulpo á feira and a slice of tarta de Santiago at one of the taverns on Rúa do Franco. And for anyone not ready for the Camino to end just yet, there's the option of continuing on foot to Fisterra and Muxía: 86 to 117 km more, over 4-5 days with barely any elevation, ending at the lighthouse that medieval tradition held to be the edge of the known world. That stretch doesn't count towards the Compostela, but it does earn you the Fisterrana, a second certificate many consider the trip's real closing point.