Xacobeo 2027: the complete Holy Year guide

Updated 31 July 2026.

Xacobeo is the popular name for the Compostela Holy Year: the year the Catholic Church grants a plenary indulgence to anyone who visits the tomb of the Apostle James under certain conditions. It only happens when 25 July — the feast of Saint James — falls on a Sunday, which occurs only a handful of times a century. The next one is 2027, and it brings the opening of the Cathedral's Holy Door, a city scaling up to receive more visitors and, in all likelihood, the highest number of pilgrims in recent history. This guide covers what happens when, what it means whether you're visiting or walking the Camino, and what Galicia is doing to prepare.

The dates to know

Xacobeo 2027 doesn't start on 1 January: the Holy Door opens a few hours earlier, on the last evening of 2026, and doesn't close again until a year later.

* Approximate time, reported by the press; the Archdiocese had not published an official schedule as of July 2026.

Why 2027 will be different

The starting point is already a record. In 2025, 530,987 pilgrims received a Compostela in Santiago, the highest figure on record — the full breakdown is in the Camino de Santiago guide. Far from slowing down, 2026, an ordinary year with the Holy Door still closed, is growing even faster: 239,499 Compostelas were issued in the first half of the year, up 5% on the same period in 2025, with June alone accounting for 79,403. The city is on pace for another record before the Holy Year even starts.

Past Holy Years suggest the multiplier effect is real: 272,135 pilgrims arrived in 2010, a Holy Year; in the extraordinary 2021-22 cycle — extended because of the pandemic — the figure went from 178,912 in the atypical 2021 to 438,308 in its 2022 extension, almost double. Starting from an already record-breaking base, 2027 has every ingredient to beat any previous figure, though — worth stressing — neither the Xunta nor the Archdiocese has published an official visitor forecast. The Xacobeo's commissioner, Marcos Gómez Román, talks about "the most successful and crowded Holy Year in history" without committing to a number.

What Galicia is preparing

The Xunta has allocated more than €125 million to Xacobeo 2027 and tourism, over €104 million of it from its own funds: €4 million to expand accommodation capacity, €7 million for energy efficiency in lodging and restaurants, an approximately €18 million two-year trail conservation contract, and €3 million for promotion. A separate program, "O teu Xacobeo," puts another €3 million toward small businesses for 2026-27.

The public albergue network is getting €12 million over two years, aiming for 79 public albergues and 3,592 beds; among the additions is a new albergue in Dozón, on the Vía de la Plata, with around 58 beds, timed to be ready before the 2027 high season.

The Archdiocese, meanwhile, presented an anti-overcrowding plan in May 2026 — on top of ongoing restoration works inside the Cathedral that have already moved the pilgrim's mass elsewhere: decentralising pilgrim reception across several churches in the city, a sacred-music concert program, an official hymn composed by the priest Óscar Valado, and a Diocesan Commission for the Holy Year created by decree. As a prelude, summer 2026 already brings more than 3,600 cultural activities across 200 Galician municipalities, with 56 projects specifically designed "in the spirit of the Xacobeo."

Is the Pope coming to Santiago?

It's the question that comes up most, and as of July 2026 it's still unanswered. Archbishop Francisco José Prieto Fernández has personally invited Pope Leo XIV to visit Santiago during the Holy Year. The Archdiocese says "the chances are solid," but the Vatican itself leaves the Pope's presence "up in the air" — there's no official confirmation at this point. Treat it as a real possibility, not a fact, until it's announced otherwise.