Camino Route Overviews: Camino del Norte

Are you considering the Camino del Norte? This route overview for the popular Camino del Norte will give you some information on where it starts (and ends), routing options, distances, key towns, when to go and some tips on how to get there.

About the Camino de Norte

The Camino del Norte (sometimes called the Coastal Route), runs 844 kilometers along some of Spain’s most dramatic coastline. The route follows the Via Agrippa, an old Roman road, and was used by pilgrims in the Middle Ages when the Muslim occupation further south made it difficult for pilgrims to take the Francés routing.

The Norte starts in Irun, which is on the French-Spanish border. It then travels through the coastal towns of San Sebastían (Donostia), Bilbao, Santander, Gijón, and Ribadeo before turning southwest away from the coast. The Norte then transits Mondoñedo to Arzúa, where it joins the Camino Francés and continues to Santiago de Compostela.

While there are a number of historic sites along the route, many pilgrims choose it for the natural beauty and coastal scenery.

norte bilbao carol guttery. — Downtown Bilbao. Photo courtesy of Carol Guttery.

Interesting Things to Do Along the Norte

The Peace Museum in Guernica offers information on Basque history and culture. Bilbao offers up the stunning Guggenheim museum and an old town with a strong pintxos scene (they’re good in San Sebastian, too). The Vizcaya Bridge just west of Bilbao is a UNESCO heritage site. It’s worth visiting the rare hexagonal San Miguel church near Markina-Xemein. And there are many lovely coastal towns . . . like Llanes and Santillana del Mar. Near Santillana del Mar you’ll also find the Altamira cave with Palaeolithic paintings.

Popular Starting Points on the Norte

The traditional starting point for the Norte is in Irún, which sits right on the border with France. Gronze places the starting point 45 kilometers further east in Bayonne. Some pilgrims choose to start in Donostia-San Sebastían, Bilbao or Santander. All of them offer good transportation access.

From Irún, the Norte is typically completed in 34-42 stages. Here are some distances and stages for the various starting points:

Bayonne: 897 kilometers, 35-44 days
Irún: 853 kilometers, 34-42 days
San Sebastían: 826 kilometers, 33-41 days
Bilbao: 699 kilometers, 28-35 days
Santander: 572 kilometers, 23-29 days

norte-basque-andy-cohn — Beaches in the Basque country. Photo courtesy of Andy Cohn.

How to Get Onto the Norte

From the US, the easiest way to get connections to Bayonne or Irún is via Paris.

To start in Bayonne, there is an airport in nearby Biarritz. It’s well-served by major Northern European cities, including Paris, but you can’t get there from Spanish airports.

If starting in Irún, there’s a quick and easy local train from Bayonne to Irún/Hendaye. You can also get there from Madrid or London by flying to San Sebastían (the airport is actually in Irún). There are also train/bus connections from Madrid or Barcelona, but it’ll take 6-9 hours.

If you want to start in Bilbao or Santander, each city has its own airport and they are both well-served from all over Europe. And, like Irún, they’re also well-served by bus and train service.

Routing Alternatives

The Camino del Norte offers a many route alternatives, making it a Camino that’s all about choices. And these choices matter a lot in terms of distance, difficulty and scenery. For instance, the official route often tracks inland and follows a main road. But some variants hew more closely to the coastline. Be sure to choose a guide or app that shows you all of the alternatives. A few notable variants include:

Irún to Pasajes de San Juan
Ruta de Flisch
A 2-day coastal variant out of Santander
Options after Soto del Luna
Mondonedo to Abadin

In addition, many pilgrims choose to mix the Norte with the Camino Primitivo. To do so, you’ll head south at Villaviciosa (which is before Gijón) to Oviedo. Use our Camino Primitivo route guide for more info.

A lesser-known option is to stay on the coast after Ribadeo and walk to Ferrol. This section is called the Ruta del Mar. After Ferrol, you can take the Inglés route south to Santiago. You can use our Camino Inglés guide for more detail. Finding info for the Ruta del Mar is more difficult, but this thread on the Camino.me community provides a good overview.

norte asturias andy cohn — Coastal Asturias. Photo courtesy of Andy Cohn.

Camino del Norte Waymarking

The main route is extremely well marked with painted yellow arrows, trail bollards with shell symbols, plaques and signposts, the latter usually with stylized scallop shell symbols. You may even see the odd bit of Camino-themed street art. As long as you’re paying attention, it’s hard to get profoundly lost on any of the major Camino routes.

That said, some of the variants on the Norte are not as well marked, so it would behoove you to have the route(s) downloaded through your preferred mapping or Camino app.

The map image at the top of this page comes from this Google Map and it includes the primary GPX tracks, but not the variants. So, it’s not designed to be your key resource. For more guidance, we recommend one of these Camino apps or guidebooks, or load in your own GPX tracks, available from the Spanish Federation.

Terrain on the Coastal Route

The Camino del Norte has many ascents and descents as it crosses the rivers that drain northward toward the northern Spanish coast. All of this makes the Norte more difficult than some of the other Camino routes, with the most strenuous section between Irún and Bilbao. The route has more sidewalk and pavement walking than some of the other routes, but you can avoid a lot of time near the main roads by taking advantage of the variants. The portion of the Camino del Norte in Galicia is very pastoral.

When to do the Camino del Norte

This region of Spain is very popular with tourists, so expect it to be busy with tourism in July and August. It will be quieter and less expensive in May or September.

Along the coast, it’s unusual to encounter the fiercely hot summer conditions you would likely find on the Meseta section of the Francés. Rather, you should expect cooler, occasionally wet weather. The low(er) season for rain is May-October.

Accommodations

Unlike on the Francés, where there can be multiple albergues in a small-ish town, on the Norte you are more likely to find one albergue and a mix of other lodging choices. There are plenty of places to stay, especially in the cute touristy beach towns. These towns have plenty of hostels, but they may not be specifically serving pilgrims.

Do your research in the guidebooks and apps before you go and plan to spend a bit more on lodging than you might on some of the other routes. And consider booking ahead in the beach towns if you are traveling during the high summer vacation season.

Camino del Norte Guidebooks

There are numerous guidebooks on the Camino del Norte, ranging from practical planning guides to personal accounts. Check out our guidebook page for an exhaustive list.

The Galician Xunta (government) has good resources for albergues in that region for the Galician sections of the Norte. The regional border is at Ribideo.

Our Northern California chapter has put together this presentation on the Norte.

Thanks to Andy Cohn for helping us put this route overview together. Andy is a chapter coordinator of our Northern California chapter. He delivered the Norte presentation noted above. He’s a very experienced pilgrim, logging many thousands of kilometers on multiple Camino routes.

More Camino Resources

Get your pilgrim credential from us in advance of your Camino.

Be sure to check out our FAQs on planning your Camino and what to expect while on the trail. Or explore other Camino routes.

If you have more questions, be sure to join a local American Pilgrims chapter or join us in the Facebook group.

Rev 2/16/26