Every Camino route, side by side

There's no single "best" route — there's the one that fits the time you have, your fitness, and what you're actually looking for. This table sums up the eight main routes using 2025 figures from the Pilgrim's Office; below, we get into the character of each one, which is where the real difference shows between ten days across the Castilian meseta and five along the Galician coast.

Camino Francés: the classic, for good reason

Nearly half of 2025's pilgrims walked this route, and it's no accident. Between 764 and 780 km from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, it crosses the Pyrenees on day one — the toughest stage of the entire route, and rightly the most feared — before easing into the Castilian meseta, where the challenge changes: it's no longer elevation but monotony and blazing summer sun. It turns serious again on the final stretch, between Villafranca del Bierzo and O Cebreiro, with a demanding climb at the gateway into Galicia. It's also the route with the most infrastructure: albergues every few kilometres, flawless waymarking, and the certainty of never quite walking alone.

Camino Portugués: flat, in two flavours

The Portugués splits into two variants that share an origin but not a landscape. The Central route runs inland from Lisbon or Porto, with gentle elevation — our source data puts the maximum climb per stage at around 400 metres — passing through Tui before entering Galicia. The Coastal route follows the shoreline from Porto, with beach stretches that make it especially popular with those after a short route without elevation surprises. Together the two variants account for more than a third of all 2025 pilgrims, and they converge before Redondela to share the final stretch into Santiago.

Camino Inglés: the short one that starts in Ferrol, not A Coruña

Here's a detail that catches out anyone who doesn't already know it: A Coruña sits just 72 km from Santiago, below the 100 km minimum required for the Compostela, so anyone wanting to walk this route and earn the certificate has to start in Ferrol, 112-118 km out. It's a short route, 4 to 5 stages, well waymarked, and with fewer people than the Francés or Portugués — ideal for anyone with little more than a week to spare.

Camino Primitivo: the oldest, and it shows

This is the original route: the path King Alfonso II followed in the 9th century from Oviedo to venerate the newly discovered tomb of the Apostle. Around 321 km, combining the 261 km between Oviedo and Melide with the final stretch shared with the Francés. It's also, by consensus among guides and pilgrims alike, the toughest of all: a relentless up-and-down through the Asturian and Galician mountains that never lets up. In exchange, it offers some of the most solitary and least "themed" scenery on the entire Camino.

Camino del Norte: the Cantabrian coast, without a break

From Irún, right against the French Basque border, to Santiago runs 815 to 825 km hugging the Cantabrian Sea. The elevation is constant — in and out of every ría, up every headland — and the stretch through the Basque Country and Cantabria demands legs already broken in. In return, it delivers sea views no other route offers so consistently.

Vía de la Plata: the route of solitude

At nearly 1,000 km from Seville, it's the longest route and the least walked: just 1.7% of 2025's pilgrims. The stages are long, towns are scarce, and summer is ruled out outright by the extreme heat of Extremadura, which can push past 35-44 °C. Those who choose it usually do so for exactly that reason: to walk full days without crossing paths with another pilgrim.

Fisterra and Muxía: the road after the road

It doesn't count towards the Compostela because it's walked backwards, out of Santiago towards the coast. It's 86 to 117 km, depending on whether you head to one destination or combine both, spread over 4-5 days with no notable elevation. Whoever completes this stretch receives the Fisterrana, not the Compostela, but for many pilgrims standing before the lighthouse at Fisterra — the medieval "end of the world" — is the real close of the journey.