How to Enjoy a Luxurious Holiday While Walking the Camino de Santiago
For many, the pilgrimage of walking the Camino de Santiago is something they want to tick off their bucket list. But with the trail being a whopping 500 miles long, taking even the keenest hiker around a month to complete, it’s often something that’s never completed.
However, thankfully, there are ways you can enjoy the uplifting and often spiritual experience, without roughing it underneath the stars for over a month.
Guided Tours
A number of companies, including Macs Adventure Limited, provide guided tours that take in the highlights of the walk. These are combined with quality restaurants, boutique hotels and trips to local churches and castles – but without dampening the spirit or essence of what the walk is all about.
For many, this trek is a time of reflection, where you walk in solitude, enjoying the ever-changing landscapes. And these tours make sure you’re given plenty of time to do this. However, instead of leaving you feeling tired, dejected and lonely, they’ll pick you up just when you need it. They’ll even bustle you past the less interesting aspects of the walk while transporting your luggage to each hotel you’re staying in. This provides you with all the perks and none of the downsides.
Enjoying the Highlights
Camino can be translated as ‘road’ or ‘path’, but some also refer to it as ‘a journey’. The path along this route takes you to Santiago de Compostela, where the tomb of St James is found. In 44 AD, after his martyrdom, his remains were enshrined here, which is why many people have walked to this place over the centuries, creating eight major routes.
Camino Francés is the most popular route and starts at St Jean Pied de Port in France before crossing the Pyrenees, passing through the Basque country in the north of Spain, heading across Navarre, Rioja, Castilla y Leon and Calicia before reaching the end point – Santiago de Compostela.
This particular route is 490 miles long, so if you average 15 miles a day, it’ll take approximately 32 days to complete. And, quite frankly, some of us don’t have the time (or energy) to complete this. That’s why these specialist tours allow you to do the same journey, or something very similar, in as little as one week.
People choose to walk the Camino for a whole host of different reasons, with 70% not doing it for religious purposes. Instead, the walk, for many, appears to be the perfect way to enjoy some ‘you time’ while also experiencing a variety of cultures, landscapes and cuisines along the way.
Embarking on a specialised walking tour across particular sections or across the entire pilgrimage gives you the chance to experience this awe-inspiring journey, perhaps even finding out if you want to do the full 500-mile trip on foot one day.