#Camino el norte series#

Some stretches go along the coast, with its playas (beaches) and acantilados (cliffs), while other sections take you inland through montañas (mountains), valles (valleys) and bosques (forests).īut it’s not all nature. The Camino del Norte is one of great natural beauty. This route is well signposted and there are albergues along the way, although not as many as you would find along the more popular Camino Francés. And so the Camino del Norte has seen increasing numbers of pilgrims in the last few years, making it the third most travelled Camino, after the Francés and Portugués (and still, less that 6% of pilgrims chose this route in 2017, according to the Pilgrims office statistics).* Camino del Norte today But the huge increase in the number of pilgrims in recent years has led people to look for less crowded options.

So, for centuries, the Camino del Norte was nearly forgotten. But as the Spanish Reconquista advanced and the Southern territories became safer, the Northern route lost relevance and the French one became more popular. In fact, this was the route of choice for most pilgrims in the early days, since the French route was more dangerous then. The Camino del Norte, however, is as old as the Camino Francés. Last week I wrote about the Variante Espiritual of the Camino Portugués, which was created around 6 years ago.

It covers a distance of over 800km from Irún in the País Vasco (Basque Country) to Santiago de Compostela.

#Camino el norte series#

Next on my series about the different Caminos is the Camino del Norte, the second longest route after Vía de la Plata.