It depends on your requirements and budget. If you sleep in an albergue every day, it costs 10 Euros on average. But in a hostel you can get a bed for 20-25 euros per night. If you have breakfast in an albergue it costs 3 euros somewhere else it’s 5 euros. Many places offers pilgrims’ menus for lunch and dinner for 10 euros which means three courses and it’s completely filling. You can cook for yourself which means 6-8 Euros per person. On top of this you will need coffee, drinks, other snacks for 5-10 euros per day. Make your short calculation for Camino Francés with our Cost Calculator But you don’t need to bring a lot of cash with you, you can use your card in the shops and you can withdraw cash easily from many ATMs in towns.

Basically you can walk the camino the whole year, but there are big differences between the different seasons. In Northern Spain along the way of the Camino there’s a mixture of oceanic, mediterranean and mountain climate. This means that the temperature can change drastically in a short time and there can be big differences between the different regions.

• January: cold (0-10 C) and mildly rainy /snowy – recommended only for professionals
• February: cold (0-10 C) and mildly rainy /snowy – recommended only for professionals
• March: moderately cold (10-15 C) and rainy
• April: moderately cold (10-15 C) and very rainy in the first part of the way (Navarra region), later a bit warmer and less rainy. This is the first month of the camino season
• May: still cool weather (12-20 C) with heavy rain, but sometimes with nice sunny days. You can have a beautiful view on the green flowery fields. This period is recommended with a waterproof poncho and boots.
• June: It’s ideal weather for walking, not too hot (20-30 C) and occassional light rain, and there are not so many pilgrims on the way! Strongly recommended period of the year!
• July: It’s a very hot month (30-40 C), without rain (1 or 2 days of 30), after 13 pm too hot to walk! There are many pilgrims on the way, sometimes albergues are full. Recommended only with sunhats and strong sun cream.
• August: It’s a very hot month (30-40 C), without rain (1 or 2 days of 30), after 13 pm too hot to walk! There are many pilgrims on the way, sometimes albergues are full. Recommended only with sunhats and strong sun cream.
• September: It’s not too hot (28-35 C), without rain (1 or 2 days of 30), there are not so many pilgrims on the way, you can always find accommodation in the albergues. Strongly recommended period for walking.
• October: Moderately warm month (15-25 C) with light rain, there might be some heavy rain at the end of the month.
• November: cold (5-15 C) and rainy – recommended only for professionals
• December: cold (0-10 C) and rainy /snowy – recommended only for professionals

Caminoteca’s advice for walking: June, September

The address of the Pilgrims’ office in Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port: Amies du Chemin de Saint Jacques at 39 rue de la Citadelle
In season it is open from 7:30 AM to 13:00 PM and then from 14:00 PM to 20:00 PM (on Fridays and Sundays they open again later from 21:00 PM to 22:30 PM)
The telephone number is +33 559 37 05 09.
E-mail address: caminopa@hotmail.com
You can get your credential at the office in St Jean (pilgrim’s passport) , this is required for staying in albergues and collecting your stamps (sello) along your Camino to Santiago. Additionally, the pilgrim’s office has some maps and a list of albergues, this is always the most up-to-date list.
You can also find the city map of Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port below, highlighted the pilrgim’s office on it.

If you can get some very professional, light and small size equipment for the Camino, use a 30 (woman) or 40 (man) liter backpack. But if you have ordinary stuff, 40 l (woman) or 50 l (man) will fit you much better. Avoid buying an oversized backpack, because you won’t resist packing it full…

Bear it in mind that the ideal weight of your backpack is about 10% of your bodyweight.

The bus company Conda provides a bus service from Pamplona to Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port. This service is dedicated to the pilgrims who are walking on the Camino de Santiago. The bus service operates in 2017:

• 10:00 AM (1st June – 30th September)
• 12:00 PM (20th June – 5th September)
• 14:30 PM (1st March – 2nd November)
• 17:30 PM (1st April – 2nd November)

The bus leaves from the main bus station in Pamplona and costs €22. Tickets can be ordered from Conda’s web site or can be bought at the main bus station of Pamplona. More info: http://www.conda.es/

The other option to get to SJPdP is to take a taxi in Pamplona. The whole route (75 km – 47 miles) will cost you about 110 euros and it takes one and a half hour to get to the destination.

The most important part of your body on the Camino is your foot. With choosing the right pair of socks you will help yourself to prevent the blisters, they don’t let your feet to overheat and to sweat.

Select socks that fit your foot without being too tight or too loose.
Choose soft wicking fabric such as Coolmax
Lorpen is one of the most professional and popular brands on the Camino. Guaranteed quality
Don’t believe the brands and the marketing what promise you “no blister socks”. There is no 100 percent blister protection. Just one part is your socks but your shoes (or boots) and also your body, your skin and the shape of your feet can be a risk factor of getting blisters.
Try to avoid to wear cotton socks because cotton absorbs moisture and doesn’t help to breath the feet.
Ensure that the socks don’t have bulky stitching at the toes or heels. Don’t look for seamless socks (no stitching socks) on the internet, because they are not existing. There is no sock without a toe seam. The best quality socks will provide you no relief seam (Lorpen) or flat seam socks.
Many pilgrims choose to wear two layers of socks (or a sock that is made with double layers) on the Camino to aid in blister prevention. For the first layer they use liner socks, which are pretty fine, and then normal trekking socks for a second layer. It can work. The only problem with this system is the heat during the summer which can be to hot for wearing 2 socks on one foot.
Merino wool socks are also very popular on the Camino. People who start to use them they usually fall in love in their merino socks. Bear in mind that merino wool socks are usually thicker and warmer than the normal trekking socks.
Do not wear socks that are too worn. Thin areas, holes and stitches are very likely to produce hot spots and blisters.
On the Camino always carry a spare pair of socks. Change them during your walk if your feet become sweaty or wet.

The Camino will give you the best plan! With overplanning your Camino you can lose the real flavour of the way. Planning is possible but not necessary at all. The Camino takes on a life of its own and will foil your plans anyway, many wonders come to your way when there is no plan. Organize your way to Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, and then just follow the signs along the road, and walk together with the mass of your camino-friends. You can easily walk the Camino without any plans, moreover without guidebooks, but a map of the stages can help a lot. There are albergues almost in every village, so you can sleep anywhere you want, you can make a rest day anytime, and it depends on you how long you want to walk each day. If you want to walk alone, a good guidebook can be very useful (tip: John Brierley’s Pilgrim’s Guide) because you can find all the information about the stages, albergues, distances in it. You can also walk with new friends and plan your next days together.

Take in consideration when you plan a rest day on the Camino that you can stay only one night in most of the albergues. It’s reasonable to take rest days in locations where you can check into a hostel, or hotel. The hostels and pensions will cost you about 20-25 Euros per night and the hotels are 30-40 euros for one person.
There are lot of interesting and nice medium sized cities all along the Camino like Estella, Santo Domingo de la Calzada, Astorga, Villafranca del Bierzo and Ponferrada but the larger ones like Pamplona, Logroño, Burgos, León have plenty to do during the day and also in the evening. There are so many attractions in these larger towns especially during the weekends that you can easily spend here more than one day to rest.