Other associations providing assistance to pilgrims
Map sites
Google Earth overlays
Transportation in Spain
Weather and climate information
Routes other than the Camino francés
Bicycling the Camino
Webcams
Special interest forums
Other sites that might prove useful, interesting or amusing
Other pilgrimages around the world

Other associations providing assistance to pilgrims:

• The Canadian Company of Pilgrims: The Canadian Company of Pilgrims is the Canadian analog to American Pilgrims on the Camino. Their mission is to provide assistance to Canadian pilgrims.

• The Confraternity of Saint James, England: The British Confraternity is an association of former and current pilgrims interested in the history and culture of Spain. A very comprehensive site featuring an unusually large amount of historical information about Santiago and the Camino. The source of the almost indispensable CSJ Pilgrim Guidebooks.

• Confraternity of Saint James, Norway: The Norwegian Confraternity gathers people with interest in pilgrimage and the Camino de Santiago. The Confraternity encourages international relationships on an ecumenical as well as historical, cultural and ecological bases. In addition, they consider their most important work to be revitalisation of pilgrim roads in Norway and to focus on Norwegian cultural conetcions to St. James, St. Olav and others in the pilgrimage tradition. (Norwegian, English, Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese)

• The Confraternity of Saint James of South Africa: The mission of the Confraternity of Saint James of South Africa is to provide updated information on the Santiago pilgrimage routes - especially in the South African context. Useful FAQ page and links to other sites for the various pilgrimage routes to Santiago.

• Irish Society of Friends of Saint James: (Cumann Cáirde San Séamus i nÉirinn) The Irish association for the Camino de Santiago.

• Association Française des Pèlerins de Saint Jacques de Compostelle: The French association based in Montereau. (French)

• La Société Française des Amis de Saint Jacques de Compostelle: A site based in Paris with sections focusing on la Société and its assistance to pilgrims as well as the Centre d'Etudes, de Recherches et d'Histoire Compostellanes (The Center for Studies, Research and the History of the Camino). (French)

• Federación Española de Asociaciones de Amigos del Camino de Santiago: The Federación Española is the parent organization of the various regional associations of Amigos del Camino. In this capacity they are involved in providing information to peregrinos, in overseeing the physical state of the route, in the training and placement of volunteer hospitaleros, in promoting scholarly studies and meetings concerned with the Camino and in the publication of the journal Peregrino. The web site contains a wealth of information including practical advice on equipment and clothing, on pilgrim first aid, how the system of refugios and albergues operates, detailed descriptions of all routes within Spain including maps, refugios and albergues and other services. Also has an extremely useful list of all Camino associations in Spain with web site links to all. (Spanish)

• The site caminosantiago.org has a very good directory of Asociaciones de Amigos del Camino de Santiago. This site is in Spanish and most, if not all, of the linked-to sites are as well.

• Xacobeo: Xacobeo.es is the web site maintained by the Xunta de Galicia. The site contains a wealth of information about the various routes in Galicia as they converge on Santiago. Of particular interest will be the interactive maps found under the link Pilgrim's Guide and the histories of Galicia and the Camino found under Saint James' Galicia.

• Associação dos Amigos do Caminho Português de Santiago: The site of the Association of Friends of the Camino portugués. The site has the history of the route and a limited amount of practical information. (Some pages only in Portuguese)

• Asociación de Amigos del Camino de Santiago de Zaragoza: The site of the Association of Friends of the Camino de Santiago de Zaragoza. Somport - Jaca - Puente la Reina. (Spanish)

• Asociación de Amigos del Camino de Sevilla: The site of the Association of Friends of the Camino Seville, better known perhaps as the Vía de la Plata . Sevilla - Zafra - Salamanca - Astorga. In the Fall of 2007, the site had many pages under construction. (Spanish)

Sites devoted to maps:

General map sites

Enter a town or city name and "Spain" in the "Search Maps " field. Or just entering "Spain" will bring up the entire country from where you can maneuver graphically. Satellite images are available down to a certain resolution.

This link is to the Spain page. Enter a town or city name in the "City" field.

This link is to the Spain page. Enter a town or city name in the "A" field where you see "Spain". Satellite images are available down to a certain resolution.

Sites with good Camino maps and route planning information

• Godesalco.com: A site that that contains a great deal of route planning information, particularly the Camino Planner and the Camino Maps pages. The former allows the user to construct a customized distance, elevation and itinerary plan while the latter makes clever use of Google Maps to obtain satellite images. (These two pages are in English although the rest of the site is in Spanish. The Camino Planner page doesn't appear to function quite properly in Safari.)

• caminosantiago.com: A site that generally has a lot of information, but the link is to a page where one can download a nice set of overview maps of the Camino francés. Links to the zipped files are top center in the page.

• caminomap.com: A site that uses Google Maps with an overlay of the Camino francés route and/or albergues. They also present detailed city maps of a number of the larger cities or towns that the route passes through. Finally there are useful links to Camino associations, lists of refugios, webcams and Camino-related books.

Google Earth overlays:

Google Earth is described on the Google site as combining "the power of Google Search with satellite imagery, maps, terrain and 3D buildings to put the world's geographic information at your fingertips." This service requires downloading the Google Earth application onto your computer. Although there are more powerful versions that must be purchased, the basic version is free. Versions are available for the Mac, Windows and Linux operating systems. To download Google Earth, click on the logo.

• Google Earth Community: This is the search page for the Google Earth community. In the menu on the left select "All Forums". In "Keyword search terms" enter "camino de santiago" with the quotes. Select "In subject". These entries will produce a fairly focused list for the Camino.

• Camino de Santiago on MSN : The Google Earth Camino overlay collection or the Camino de Santiago MSN Groups site.

Transportation in Spain:

Train:
• RENFE: El Red Nacional de Ferrocarriles Españoles, the Spanish national rail system. The site is available in English. RENFE provides convenient, fast and frequent travel to numerous cities and towns on the Camino and other pilgrim routes.
• EuskoTren: Train, tram and bus services in Páis Vasco. The link to the left is for the English site but this is not complete. For the complete site in Spanish, click here.
• FEVE: Ferrocarriles de Vía Estrecha operates a system that generally runs along the northern coast of Spain from Ferrol on the western end to San Sebastián on the eastern. In addition there is a line that extends from Bilbao down to León.
• General information: The web site Spain FAQs has a page with general information on trains in Spain.

• Train travel other than Spain: These sites will be useful for getting to St. Jean Pied de Port among oher places. The RailEurope site is particularly easy to navigate for train travel all over Europe. You can also use the SNCF (Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer) site but it is not quite as straightforward. (French)

Bus:
• ALSA: ALSA is probably the most extensive bus system within Spain. They serve many of the towns of intermediate size along the Camino.
• Arriva: The Arriva bus line operates between Santiago de Compostela and Finisterre as well as between other locations in Galicia. Pilgrim-Wiki has some general information about the link to Finisterre.
• Monbus: Monbus has service in Galicia including a connection from Santiago de Compostela back to Sarría, a common starting point for those wanting to walk only the last 100 km. In addition there is service between Santiago de Compostela and Finisterre as well as between other locations in Galicia. There is service to Pedrafita de Cebreiro, only a few km from O Cebreiro, from several departure points.
• Continental Auto: On the Camino francés, Continental serves Pamplona, Burgos and León. Not many routes along the Camino, but could be of use for getting to these three cities from elsewhere in Spain.
• Estación de Autobuses, Madrid: The Web site of the central bus station in Madrid. (Spanish)
• General information: The web site Spain FAQs has a page with general information on buses in Spain as well as a long list of bus companies.

Air (inside Spain):
• Air Europa: Air Europa is a carrier that serves Santiago among other destinations in Spain, but the links tend to be unusual for North American travelers.
• Air Nostrum: Air Nostrum is Iberia Airlines' regional air carrier.
• Iberia: Iberia is Spain’s largest air transport group and as such has an extensive network of routes within the country as well as to foreign destinations. The linked page is for travel within Spain and is in Spanish. For the Iberia page for travel from and to the United States, select "USA" in the list of countries on the drop-down menu in the upper right corner. For English, click on "English" in the same corner.
• Spanair: Spanair is a subsidiary of Scandinavian Airlines and has an extensive network of routes within Spain as well as to foreign destinations.
• Want to know about the common arrival airports for flights from North America or internally for accessing the Camino. Click on the airport name:
Barcelona (BCN)
Bilbao (BIO)
Madrid Barajas (MAD)
Santander (SDR)
Santiago de Compostela (SCQ)
Valladolid (VLL)

Ferry:
• The web site AFerry.to serves as an agent for numerous ferry lines in Europe. Click on Spain in the map for lines serving Spain. In addition, the site Spain FAQs has general information and an extensive list of ferry lines.

Other transportation links:
• Madrid Metro: The Web site of the Madrid Metro system including a map (PDF). (Spanish)

Travel to some common starting points:
• To get to Roncesvalles we will assume that you can find your way by air, train or bus to Pamplona, the closest city with extensive transportation connections. To Roncesvalles you then have the choice of bus or taxi. The bus service is Autocares Artieda and there is a bus leaving the Pamplona bus station 1800 Monday-Friday, 1600 Saturday for the trip of slightly over an hour. During July and August there is a mid-morning departure also. There is NO bus service Sundays or holidays. Please confirm these departure times on the Autocares Artieda site! Cost is €5.40. City buses from the airport to the city center run frequently. There is also taxi service to Roncesvalles: Asociación TeleTaxi San Fermín (948 232 300), Asociación Radio Taxi (948 221 212) and Francisco Igoa Martinez (649 725 951). Cost is about €50, higher weekends. (Updated 4/15/08)
• To get to St. Jean-Pied-de-Port we will assume that you can find your way by air, train or bus to Bayonne, the closest city with extensive transportation connections. One possibility is the TGV (high-speed train) service from Paris. There are then several trains every day from Bayonne to St. Jean-Pied-de-Port, 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours. Consult the SNCF site. It is also possible to travel by taxi from Pamplona. See the information immediately above for Roncesvalles.
• To get to Sarria there are several options but the best all involve RENFE, the Spanish national rail system. There is service from Madrid and Barcelona, perhaps the most likely entry points into Spain for travelers arriving from North America. After you enter the RENFE site, in the drop-down menu for "Origin" select your city of origin. This list is only major stations in Spain. Then select your day of travel. Then click "Search" immediately beneath the travel year. You will then be presented with a list of every station in Spain. Click on "S" and then Sarria. A search results page will appear. If there is a direct itinerary (no transfer), this will be presented first but if this is not to your liking, see if there is the offer "Para buscar trenes con transbordo seleccione fecha de viaje" ("To search for trains with a transfer, select the date of travel"). You can select the date and click "Buscar transbordo" ("Search for a transfer") to see a list of itineraries that involve a transfer.

Weather and climate information:

• Current conditions :
Click on the block to see the multi-day forecast. (Note that current conditions update only when the respective airports are open.)

Santiago	León	Burgos	Pamplona
Sevilla	Madrid

• Instituto Nacional de Meteorología: The Spanish national weather bureau is the ultimate source for weather and climate information in Spain. Below are some selected locations along the Camino francés and a few other routes with links to current, 7-day forecasts (what you're actually going to get) as well as links to climate data (what you should expect on average). If you're asking yourself "When should I go?" the climate tables are a resource to consider.

• MSN Camino Group: A comprehensive, more exhaustive collection of current weather forecasts for about 75 cities and villages all along the Camino. These are links to the Instituto Nacional de Meteorología site above but all the places you will be interested in are collected in one list here.

Routes other than the Camino francés:

Our site is focusing initially on the Camino francés, the 'traditional' Camino. This will change over time. In the interim, we have a few links to other sites with information on alternative Caminos.

• Chemin d'Arles : Arles, France to Puente la Reina. A tidy little site in French, English and German with maps, picture galleries, a forum and numerous links to other sites that focus on the Arles route.

• El Camino fonseca: Salamanca to Zamora to Ourense to Santiago de Compostela. This is a rather comprehensive site about this lesser traveled route to Santiago. An overall map, a list of refugios, a section on bicycling the route, several photographic galleries and a few related web links. Housed at the University of Salamanca. (Spanish)

• The Confraternity of Saint James: A link to the Confraternity's page with overviews of almost two dozen routes on the Iberian Peninsula as well as in France, Switzerland and Germany. Plus the pilgrim road from Oslo to Trondheim, the Way of St. Olav.

• Federación Española de Asociaciones de Amigos del Camino de Santiago: This site contains detailed descriptions of all routes within Spain including maps, refugios and albergues and other services. (Spanish. Site may not function well with some browsers. The main drop-down menus are virtually invisible under the logo at the top of the page.)

• Mundicamino.com: While not a site devoted to any single route, Mundicamino has a comprehensive list of routes throughout Spain with both general and detailed information. (Spanish, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese)

• Peter Robbins: British walker/pilgim Peter Robbins has a very comprehensive compilation of all the roads to Santiago in Europe each with a short description.

• World Heritage Sites of the Routes of Santiago de Compostela in France: In 1998, several sites in France were added to the UNESCO World Heritage Sites under the description: Routes of Santiago de Compostela in France. They are places related to the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in Western Spain, a part of the Way of Saint James. Usually they are churches or hospitals. Wikipedia entry.

• Chemin de Compostelle: A site with much general practical advice and information on walking the Caminos but of special interest will be a comprehensive interactive map of all lodging between Le Puy and the Spanish border (GR 65) and an exhaustive list of Associations des Amis de Saint Jacques in all parts of France as well as associations in other countries. (French)

• Association Bretonne des Amis de Saint-Jacques de Compostelle: The Breton Association of Friends of Saint James has a page in English devoted to routes in Brittany with a map of routes and an invitation to e-mail for details of these routes. They suggest that the Brittany routes should be particularly inviting for peregrinos from the British Isles. The French version of the site has a great deal of information.

The Routes of St. James in Switzerland (Jakobsweg durch die Schweiz): The well-designed, easy to navigate and comprehensive site of the Projekt Europäische Jakobswege contains everything that a walker would need for the Routes of St. James in Switzerland. Maps, route descriptions, elevation profiles, types of route signage, information about lodging, transportation, churches, groceries and more. Most of this information has been consolidated into a collection of beautiful PDF-formatted brochures organized in sections. (English, German, French)

Bicycling the Camino:

Eventually American Pilgrims on the Camino intends to expand its own coverage of bicycling the Camino, particularly as between 15 and 20% of pilgrims are currently cycling rather than walking. In the interval, we offer this assortment of links to other sites which contain information that should be useful for cyclists.

• GoExploring: A useful site with a list of suggested equipment, a Spanish-English bicycling vocabulary and a representative day-by-day travel plan.

• interam.com: An essential site for the cycling peregrino with many photographs, suggested packing and equipment lists, an interactive map, a basic FAQ section and a long list of books and web site links.

• Santiago Bicicleta: The Santiago Bicicleta Yahoo! group is "geared" to those who have ridden, or who are planning to ride, the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route across northern Spain, or any of the connecting routes

* Bicigrino: A large and growing site with extensive information on bicycling the Camino francés, the Vía de la Plata and the Camino del Norte. (Spanish)

Webcams:

• Galicia Television: Surely the best collection of webcams connected with the Camino, including O Cebreiro, the interior of the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela, Finisterre and several of the plazas around the cathedral. All the sites are in Galicia. All are streaming, updated typically about every second, and some of the cameras rotate. Sign on at the proper time and watch (although not hear) the Pilgrims' Mass in the cathedral or by prior arrangement wave to friends back home from some plaza.
• Burgos: The intersection in Burgos which has the well-known statue of El Cid. Streaming updated every 5 seconds.
• León: The facade of the cathedral of León. Updated every 30 seconds.
• Madrid Man: A large collection of webcams around Spain.
• Pamplona: The Plaza de Castillo in Pamplona.
• About.com: A large collection of webcams around Spain.
• TimeAndDate: So the webcam image is completely black. Maybe it's the middle of the night in Spain.

Special interest groups and forums:

• Santiagobis: Santiagobis is a Yahoo group devoted to the Camino de Santiago in all of its aspects. In order to access its information you will have to create a Yahoo account which is free. In addition to the messaging capability, there are always a number of photo galleries and you'll find a treasure trove of internet links on every conceivable topic relating to the Camino. Moderated, very active.

• GoCamino: The GoCamino listserv, an independent, unmoderated site, is operated by volunteers on behalf of all Camino pilgrims. Although GoCamino is not an official site of American Pilgrims on the Camino, APOC encourages all pilgrim-related communication channels. Already a subscriber to GoCamino? Click here for the login page.

• Pilgrimage to Santiago: (Formerly Santiago Today) A chat group operated by a resident of Santiago de Compostela with special interest areas on various routes, traveling to and from the Camino, biking, equipment, books and more. Very active.

• Santiago Bicicleta: The Santiago Bicicleta Yahoo! group is "geared" to those who have ridden, or who are planning to ride, the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route across northern Spain, or any of the connecting routes.

• Ultreya: Ultreya is a Yahoo group composed of a network of international pilgrims exchanging information about the Camino de Santiago.

• Saint James: This forum is for ex, future and forever pilgrims. Its goal is to keep alive the spirit of Saint James's Route, helping each other.

• Forum Way of Saint James: The forum is described as a meeting point for pilgrims or future pilgrims willing to share their questions or experiences and for all those people seeking information on the Camino de Santiago. The forum is part of the pilgrim-information service of www.jacobeo.net.

• The Camino to Santiago:This Yahoo! group was primarily formed to share info and resources with South African pilgrims who have walked, cycled or ridden, or who are planning to walk, cycle or ride, the Camino de Santiago or any of the old pilgrimage routes to Santiago. However, pilgrims from anywhere in the world are invited to join.

• Camino Refugio Support: This group was created as a forum to explore the possibilities of an American supported and/or American sponsored refugio on the Camino de Santiago.

Other useful, interesting or amusing sites:

• Mundicamino: Certainly one of the most comprehensive Camino sites on the internet. A great deal of detailed information about essentially all the routes in Spain. A huge list of links to other Camino-related sites. (Spanish, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese)

• Leslie's Camino de Santiago : A personal site but with a huge (!) amount of information including planning, equipment and packing lists, books, photo galleries, refugios and much more.

• Xacowebs: The site Roncesvalles carolingio y jacobeo is a site devoted to Roncesvalles and the surrounding region. The Xacowebs link is specifically to a page on their site that lists almost 2000 (!) Camino-related sites. The sites are simply grouped by country and have no descriptive material. (Spanish)

• UCLA, Dept of Spanish & Portuguese: An interesting but rambling site with many essays on various facets of the history and lore of the Camino (Partly in Spanish)

• Centro Virtual Cervantes, El Camino de Santiago: A tiny part of a site devoted at all facets of Spanish literature, culture and art. The section on the Camino is organized around an interactive map and is a wonderful source for cultural and historical information of the entire Camino francés. (Spanish)

• Sacred Steps on the Camino Exhibition: Sacred Steps on the Camino is a traveling exhibition of the art and photography of the Camino and was created with funding from the Xunta de Galicia. The exhibition has begun to travel throughout the United States and Canada on a five-year tour under the auspices of the Embassy of Spain. Composed of photography, oils and watercolors by American and Canadian pilgrims, it will introduce a wider public to the experience of pilgrimage in our own times. The exhibition is offered without charge and may be coordinated with complementary local events. Further information about scheduling the exhibition can be found on the Sacred Steps web site.

• santiago-compostela.net: A very comprehensive site begun in 2005 with the assistance of the Spanish Tourist Office in London and by the Xunta de Galicia. Information on nine Camino routes with an extensive collection of photographic essays on the routes, flowers, waymarks and sundials (!).

• caminosantiago.com: A somewhat commercial site, but it has much interesting cultural and historical information about the Camino francés. It also offers advice on first aid, on bicycling (including repair facilities along the francés), an extensive list of (horse) riding clubs along the francés and information about bus and train travel.

• Correos de España: The Spanish postal system. For answers to all your questions about the postal system in Spain, visit their site. (this link is English but other languages are available). Interested in mailing a package ahead to yourself? See our information on the lista de correos service.

• The Transportation Security Administration's (TSA) list of prohibited and allowed items in carry-on: From the SeatGuru (part of TripAdvisor) comes this definitive list of items prohibited and allowed in carry-on luggage onboard aircraft in the U.S. We understand that individual TSA officers have the discretion to decide if a particular item is a danger or not but in our opinion, if an item is clearly on this list and is noted as being prohibited, you are taking the chance of having it confiscated if you try to carry it on. (While you're in this web site, click on the SeatGuru logo to go to their home page. An interesting site!)

• The Telegraph Online Newspaper: This somewhat dated site is a hodgepodge of information about the Camino including a brief overview of the pilgrimage to Santiago, essays on medieval relic worship and the Santiago legend, a concise distance chart and a good FAQ.

• Pilgrim Wiki: A wiki is a collaborative web site which can be directly edited by anyone with access to it. The Pilgrim Wiki is such a site that focuses specifically on the phenomenon of pilgrimage.

• Archidiócesis de Santiago de Compostela: The web site of the Archdiocese of Santiago. (Spanish) An associated site is that of the Oficina de Acogida de Peregrinos (Pilgrims' Office), which has voluminous quantities of information on the history of pilgrimage generally and the Camino particularly, the Compostela, pilgrim statistics and Holy Years.

• Los Paradores de España: You've been staying in refugios for 12 straight days now and could use a bit of pampering? You're seven days from Santiago and your friends and family are asking if they could do something nice for you to celebrate your arrival? Consider the splurge of a night in one of the luxurious and historic hotels in this system operated by the Spanish federal government. Facilities actually on the francés route are in Santo Domingo de la Calzada, León, Villafranca del Bierzo and the crown jewel of the system in Santiago itself. (English but also Spanish, French, German and Catalán)

• TimeAndDate: What is the current time in Burgos? Madrid? Barcelona? Shanghai?

• Galicia in 360°: A site with great 360° pictures of numerous sites in Santiago and around Galicia. You can control the rotation and zoom settings with the arrows under the picture. Jump to other sites by using the map or by clicking on the hotspots in the pictures.

• La Fuente del Vino: Here it is! The famous fountain of wine at the Bodegas Irache. For the web cam, click on Fuente del Vino and then Web Cam in the center of the page. Apparently operational 9:00 to 19:00 Spanish time.

• Los Sellos del Camino: A quirky but most interesting site devoted to collecting all the sellos (pilgrim's stamps) available on the Caminos. (Spanish)

• Here's something different: Camino humor. (Spanish)

• An assortment of personal essays, reflections and blogs:
     Big Fun in a Tiny Pueblo (Rebekah Scott's blog written from Moratinos, on the Camino)
     Walking through Shadows
     Deborah's blog: Written on the Road by a peregrina still underway as of mid-March 2008
     Pilgrimage to Santiago, Here We Go Again
     Andrea Kirby's pilgrimage
     The Reluctant Pilgrim: A Hopeful Unbeliever Walks the Camino de Santiago (Use the blog archive to read in sequence)
     Turly's Walk
     El Camino de Santiago en bicicleta de montaña. Fernando 2004 (Spanish)

Other pilgrimages around the world:

The web sites linked here are considered to merely be representative of the information available. You are urged to do further searching for additional information.

Norway: Oslo to Trondheim: Since the early eleventh century, St. Olaf's Way has attracted thousands of pilgrims whohave passed through forests and conquered mountainous skylines. The goal is to reach the Nidaros Catedral in Trondheim, to pay homage to St. Olaf. The site of the Confraternity of Saint James, Norway. Two good sites are
• St. Olav's Way,
• Kate & Corwen's St. Olav's Way