A Pilgrim's Guide to the Camino de Santiago (Camino Francés): St. Jean Pied de Port • Santiago de Compostela

by John Brierley

2024 edition Now updated to include newer maps and photos, this comprehensive guidebook to the Camino de Santiago and its offshoots contains all the information needed by modern-day pilgrims wishing to walk the sacred Way of St. James. Overview route planners plus daily stage maps and detailed town plans help sojourners with all the advance preparation they need. The maps feature contour guides to help distinguish the terrain that will be crossed each day, while full information on all pilgrim hostels, as well as details for alternative accommodation, allow travelers to plot adequate nightly stopping points. All reference information is accompanied by helpful spiritual guidelines to support the seeker's inner journey as well as the outer pilgrimage. Otherwise known as the Camino Francés, the main route covered in this volume is the most popular sacred route through Spain, from St. Jean Pied de Port to Santiago.

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, Spain, Walking, History, Spirituality, Guidebook

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

Reviews

[Sharon Orlopp · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Pilgrim's Guide to the Camino de Santiago: The Way of St. James is a treasure trove of advice for those planning on walking/hiking the Camino. In addition to advice about what to pack, where to stay, the specific routes, and scenic stops, John Brierley has written suggestions about finding your inner path while on the Camino.

Brierley highly recommends determining your spiritual purpose for the journey on the Camino. The book is filled with personal reflections from pilgrims who have traveled the path.

There are detailed maps, along with distances, for each route. Brierley also indicates whether there are water fonts along the way to refill water bottles. He thoroughly describes the terrain and the types of walking trails.

The size of the book, along with pages to write personal reflections makes it a great guide to pack for the Camino.....while being mindful of ensuring your backpack is only 10% of your bodyweight.

The Camino de Santiago is on my bucket list and I'm determined to make the trip a reality.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Buenos días, peregrinos!

The loudspeaker blasts this message at 6:00 am in the refugio in Burgos, waking up any pilgrims who managed to sleep through the zipping open of their neighbors’ sleeping bags. Other refugios just turn the lights on at 6. At the 12C Cistercian monastery in Santo Domingo, the den mother shooed the pilgrims out at 7 with a broom and various herding gestures.

Granted, the book is not a memoir but a guidebook, it still does not quite capture the flavor of pilgrimage. It lists the places, distances, elevations, refugios, and alternative accommodations (if and when the snoring, thievery, exposed bedsprings, bedbugs, and sweet cloying scent of 76 pairs of throbbing and festering hiking boots start getting to you), but it does not quite capture the dominant experience of the trail. Namely, the camino is full of other pilgrims. Everyone is in physical pain, and most people are in a fairly advanced state of mental anguish as well. One or two km of walking with anyone and a heartbreaking story will shake out. By Day Two, people are comparing blisters at the dinner table, and offering each other lengths of tape and dental floss. The camino breeds an instant intimacy.

This guidebook to the Camino covers the trail from St. Jean-Pied-le-Port (one of the camino’s traditional starting places) to Santiago, broken into the traditional stages of 20-30 km/day. Racing over hill and dale, the fit pilgrim can make it in 33 days. But I recommend lingering a bit. Staying an extra day at Logroño to attend the festival of San Mateo, for example, or trying some of the 4-star tapas in Pamplona. Or spending a day in Burgos to study its cathedral (where the guard let me charge my iPhone!).

My biggest gripe with this book is that the publisher seemed not to have pictured it in the hands of its users. Or rather, weighing down its users' backpacks. Frankly, it’s too heavy. Next time I’ll leave the book at home and either wing it, or just take more opportunities to ask other pilgrims where the best Menu por Peregrinos is to be found. Absence of book = increased reliance on moments of social contact.

[Lucy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this guidebook for 2 reasons. One, to fulfill a challenge prompt to read a book that reminded me of someone I love & two, to take this trip in my mind as I am now too old & no longer physically able to do it. (Even though that person I love, completed The Way at 70+ & blew out his ankle in the last few miles.) Reading this became a kind of daily devotional for me…a quiet time of reflection, dreaming, & meditation. I envy those that have even done a portion of this journey & the sense of peace they bring back with them.

[Tomislav · Rating 4 out of 5]

Second read – 11 September 2022 - ****. I walked another 331 kilometers on the Camino Francés, between Sahagún and Santiago de Compostela, in August and September of 2022. This span of distance overlaps partially with the sections I walked in April and May. I carried two physical books - this one and its companion, A Pilgrim’s Guide to the Camino Inglés & Camino Finisterre. I relied significantly on its not-to-scale walking maps of each of the daily stages the author has divided the Camino Francés into. I also used the interesting descriptions of sites along the way, and chose some of the alternate routes described. However, for accommodations, I made no reservations and relied on albergue descriptions in the Camino Ninja app, rather than this book. Upon reaching Santiago de Compostela, between my two walks, I had completed walking every meter of the Camino Francés, and received a Compostela Award from the Pilgrim Office of the Cathedralis Compostellancae. The fact that I carried this book a second time should show just how much I valued it. If you go, buy the newest edition available.

First read – 27 May 2022 - ***. I walked 507 kilometers of the Camino Francés, between St. Jean Pied de Port and Cruz De Ferro, in April and May of 2022. This was the one physical book I carried, and I relied on it primarily for the stage maps. It is a pre-pandemic 2019 edition, and there has been some change in what albergues and what cafes exist along the route, the prices are out of date, and unfortunately, so are many of the phone numbers. A newer edition might have solved some of that. But for that kind of information, there are a number of apps which can be freely downloaded onto your phone - I used Camino Ninja and Buen Camino. These attempt to be continuously current, and also feature some GPS capabilities that run even without cell phone signal or wifi. While this book is a near-essential, it does not live up to its all-encompassing reputation as the definitive pilgrim's guide.

[Laura Leaney · Rating 4 out of 5]

This seems like a helpful guide - but since I've yet to take my trip, I may have to adjust my rating post-pilgrimage. The cultural information is minimal, so I'll read up on my history before I go. The maps here seem clear, and I like how Brierley has delineated the various choices by color (main road, alternative side roads, quiet paths, et cetera). I think he's packed a ton of information into a relatively slender volume (flora/fauna/altitudes/distances/albergue locations). Still, every gram counts, and I wish the paper pages were thinner!

I also liked his short paragraphs located at the end of each stop - one is called "The Practical Path" and the other is "The Mystical Path." I'm not very mystical, but I'm certainly decent at contemplation.

Finally, the guide made me more confident about walking the 500 miles from St. Jean Pied de Port to Santiago (although I'll go through to Finisterre). The actual trek will show if this little book is worth its salt.

[Shawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I carried two guides with me initially when I embarked upon the Camino walk, but ultimately abandoned this guide along the way in favor of the Dintaman-Landis guide . I found the Dintaman-Landis guide more user friendly and the recommendations for accommodations more extensive and up to date.

I encountered several people who expressed frustration with the Brierley guide. In fact, as I was walking into Santiago on my final day, I walked with a gentlemen who told me he was going to conduct a “ceremonial burning” of the Brierley guide when he reached Santiago.

I have to say, however, that neither guide paints a totally realistic picture of conditions along the Camino so I would like to empathize a few points from my experience:

• Blisters - It is important to carry clippers to keep the toenails properly trimmed and to crème your feet each night. Blister management is a must and everyone along the Camino seems to want to operate on your blisters as soon as you get them. I grew two huge blisters on my right foot during the walk. The first one was on my heal and I just covered it with moleskin and it never ever popped so it formed a natural pad that was never a problem. I tried the same process for the second blister which formed on the side of my foot, just below the big toe. Unfortunately, that blister popped prematurely; however, I just covered it each day with Campo and it worked out fine. However, I removed the Campo each night so the blister could breathe and restored a new campo pad each morning. That worked fine. There are numerous other recommendations regarding blisters. Many people recommend popping them purposefully and then applying ointment and a bandage. Others recommend leaving a thread in them and there are all sorts of other ideas. What I would recommend is that you prepare for the Camino by doing 10 to 20-mile walks and during this process you will discover what shoes are right for you, where you are susceptible to blisters and how best to care for them. And once you get to the Camino, I would caution against allowing strangers to start messing around with your feet. You should be prepared on what to do with your blisters, if they occur, before you leave. As with everything else, an ounce of prevention is worth more than a ton of cure. I found the product “Foot Glide” to be very helpful. Stop immediately and give attention to anything that feels unusual in your shoe or on your feet before it gets worse.

• Spanish Culture – I think if there is one thing you learn during the Camino walk it is certainly patience. The sort of fast service you come to expect in the U.S. just doesn’t happen in Spain. The Spanish move at their own pace and rarely multi-task. For example, don’t be surprised to see the Spanish server stand for minutes watching the coffee drizzle out of the machine into your cup instead of going ahead and taking your money while the coffee is making to expedite the process. The same slowness tends to apply to everything the Spanish do. They seem to totally lack the American motivation to gain as many euros as possible within the workday and instead simply retain a leisurely pace regardless of how many customers may be standing in line. It is also interesting that often there is only one server at a bar with a full range of duties that include cooking, serving, checking people in/out, and clearing away tables. They always seem very appreciative when a pilgrim returns the dishes to the bar for them.

• Spanish Language – It is remarkable how similar many English and Spanish words are. There is much fun in immersing oneself in the Spanish culture for the duration of time it takes to walk across the entire country; however, this entails some level of conversational Spanish. Devote as much time to learning Spanish as you do to physical training and you will be glad you did. An excellent way to train is to use earphones to practice Spanish as you walk.

• Plan Ahead – The guidebooks seem to imply that a pilgrim can easily find a bed most anywhere along the Camino but I didn’t find this to be the case. If you aren’t going to book ahead, then you need to consider stopping around noon to 1 p.m. in order to ensure you get a place. That way, if something isn’t available, you still have some time left to make the next village, if necessary. For me, I preferred booking ahead and found booking.com the easiest way to do that; however, the Dintaman-Landis guide includes albergue numbers so you can also phone if you are fluent enough in Spanish to converse.

• Difficulty – The trek is more difficult than the guidebooks imply. There is much climbing along rocky paths and many lengthy stretches without services. I found hiking poles were essential during the climbs. It is vital to prepare. Staying in dorm style albergues is difficult and requires personal organization. Shelves or places to put your stuff near the bunks or in the bathrooms are very rare. Having separate clear bags within your backpack for organization is a necessity. Of course, if you’re the sort that will have suitcases shipped ahead to each of your destinations this is going to be much less of an issue. However, if you are backpacking then do everything you can to keep your pack organized. Many people begin their hike in the morning darkness to avoid the heat of the afternoon and a headlamp is necessary for this, especially along the rockier paths. It’s also easier to wander off the trail then the guidebooks imply, so having a trail app on your phone is very helpful. I used the “AllTrails” app and downloaded the Camino maps onto my phone. Google maps is helpful once you get into towns and need to find your accommodation. I found having cellular service for a few apps to be essential.



Buen Camino!

[Beth Foote · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love to read travel guidebooks, especially those written with a particular voice and point of view. That’s why I enjoy Rick Steves. Such accomplished travelers inspire me to pack my bag and take an adventure.

“A Pilgrim’s Guide to the Camino de Santiago” has a definite voice: it’s the voice of John Brierley, who is up front about his interest in the “Inner Path” of the Way of St. James. The guidebook’s subtitle is, “A Practical and Mystical Manual for the Modern Day Pilgrim”. Accordingly, along with a good detailed packing list, he includes a section on Inner Preparation, and a self-assessment with questions like, “How do you differentiate pilgrimage from a long distance walk? And also, “What do you see as the primary purpose of your life? Are you working consciously towards fulfilling that purpose?”

Those are very big questions for a travel guidebook, but the Camino is a very big walk. The beauty of Brierley’s guide is that he balances these big, philosophical questions with a ton of practical details. He breaks the Camino into thirty-three stages. Each stage is meticulously researched and has its own map and contour guide so you can see what kind of elevation to expect from day to day. Besides the maps, the most useful aspect of Brierley are the listings of albergues, hotels, bars and restaurants along the Way, and the notes on the availability of water. They are very accurate and up –to-date, and helpful. I found that when you know that there won’t be food, water or lodging for the next 12K, you can plan accordingly. Or not!

Each section includes a paragraph called “The Mystical Path,” a kind of daily philosophical and spiritual commentary. He also includes notes and background on the history and culture of the countryside and towns the Camino runs through. This is all in a very “Brierley-esque” voice, which is quite male, Anglo, and sometimes overbearing, and condescending. He has a definite bias against cities.

But overall, I enjoyed Brierley’s “Mystical Path” daily reflections. They had an unevenness that was somehow charming. Each section begins with a quote, and they were especially idiosyncratic. Some are familiar, like: “Be the change you want to see in the world,” Mahatma Ghandi, and “Practice random acts of loving kindness and acts of senseless beauty,” and there seemed to be too many new-agey ones from the Course in Miracles. But some were really wonderful: “worrying is praying for what you don’t want,” pg. 61, and “Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery and today a gift---that is why it is called the present,” pg 108. He also includes “Personal reflections” from anonymous pilgrims, and these were always thought-provoking. When I read some of them before being on the Camino they seemed sentimental or even surreal. But once I was a Pilgrim myself, they made much more sense, and now they remind me of the Pilgrim state of mind. You’re often bone-tired, sore, nursing an injury, full of joy and having the time of your life, all at the same time. Being a Pilgrim means entering an altered state.


That altered state can be so euphoric that you forget your own physical limitations. Even though Brierly says over and over in the first few stages to take it easy and listen to your body, the fact that he’s chopped the Camino into 33 stages makes it seem like you should be able to walk that far every day.

Beware! In your “regular life” you would never walk a half-marathon a day in a thirty day period, and even if you have trained for it, most people need more than the 2 rest days he recommends. Some of the truly awful blisters I saw along the Camino were due to overeager Pilgrims carrying too much stuff and walking too far. His stages have become normative for many Pilgrims, especially Americans. It’s easy to overdue it, injure yourself, and have to stop, or even go home. That’s what happened to me in June, 2013.

When I returned in October, I cut Brierley’s stages in half---to 12-15 kilometers a day. It was much more manageable, and I sometimes walked up to 25 kilometers a day when I felt like it. I had maybe one blister, and had much more energy and stamina. It opened up the Camino for me because I was no longer focusing on getting to a certain town at the end of the Brierley stage. I stopped whenever I wanted to. The journey became more about the journey than the destination. And that is what the Camino is all about.

Now that I’ve been home from the Camino for six months I return to my Brierley guidebook with fondness and read more about the places I barely saw because I was so tired and sore. It brings back good memories and details that I had forgotten about---and reminds me of the friendships I made that can not be predicted in any guidebook. My well-thumbed Brierley makes me want to return, and stay in a whole new set of villages, towns, and, even though Brierley thinks they are a grand distraction from the Camino, I want to revisit the cities I fell in love with, especially Pamplona, Burgos, and Leon.

[Johnna Bernard · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent all-inclusive guide to the Camino Frances. Many route options, detailed info regarding albergues, towns, any and all pilgrim needs. Worth the little extra weight in your bag along the way!

[Bill Vinhage · Rating 3 out of 5]

The maps and lists of albergues and hotels are very useful. Brierley's preachy exhortations, not so much.

[Jens Beyerholm · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Best guide regarding "el camino" I read so far.

[Carolyn]

Time to “walk the talk”!🙏

[Nolan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall, a really helpful guide. It was basically the bible for pilgrims on the Camino Frances. Note that the scale isn't always accurate (Brierley notes this himself), which can be misleading, particularly for getting a sense for uphills and downhills. For example, the post-Sarria stages show way more elevation change for each stage (over 1,000 meters per stage) than previous stages, but the hills really weren't that bad, and were much better than many of the previous stages.

[Lisal Kayati Roberts · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can’t give this 5 stars until I have used it on my pilgrimage. It seems to be be incredibly comprehensive!

[Alexandria M · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolutely essential read if you plan to travel this route.

[Mariposa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Comme dans la plupart des guides de ce genre, les premières pages sont en général consacrées à l'histoire du Camino et aux différents conseils concernant la préparation (petite différence ici : il s'agit autant de la préparation physique que mentale ou psychologique voire spirituelle), le matériel à emporter et des petites astuces. Petit clin d'oeil sympa : ces pages n'étant plus d'aucune utilité une fois en route, elles sont munies de pointillés le long de la tranche, histoire de s'en séparer et d'alléger le livre avant de se mettre en route.
Le point qui m'a convaincu de l'acheter, c'est qu'en plus des schémas d'étapes/cartes succinctes de chaque étape, il contient les plans de plusieurs villes traversées par le chemin. Après usage sur place, pour mon sens de l'orientation et de la lecture de carte, c'est clairement insuffisant. Ça ne m'a pas empêché de tourner pendant près d'une heure dans les alentours de la Cathédrale de Burgos pour retrouver le Camino et enfin commencer ma première étape.
Il propose cependant une bonne description des étapes, ce qui peut permettre, quand le parcours le permet, d'avoir une bonne idée de la distance parcourue jusque là et qu'il reste à parcourir. de même, les descriptions d'auberges sont sans doute assez succinctes à mon goût mais c'est quand même grâce à ce guide que je suis arrivée à l'auberge Ada de Reliegos del Camino, l'une des plus agréables où j'ai passé la nuit cette année.
Petite particularité aussi : pour chaque étape, il y a un bref résumé du chemin en pratique, suivie d'un encart "le chemin mystique" et de "réflexions personnelles" de l'auteur. On est donc bien au-delà d'un simple guide pratique. Par contre, je dois avouer que si ça m'a surprise et intriguée au départ, je les ai rarement lus, notamment car la partie mystique était un peu trop religieuse pour moi qui suis athée. Mais c'est très certainement un petit plus pour certains.
En bref, il s'agit donc d'un bon guide pour se lancer sur le camino francés, plutôt complet et réédité et mis à jour régulièrement, ce qui n'est pas négligeable.

[Karla Osorno · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a guide for the Camino Francés route - St. Jean Pied de Port to Santiago de Compostela - of the Camino de Santiago. Pilgrims from all over the world walk the 790+ km for spiritual, physical, emotional, and other reasons. The guidebook includes maps, planning tips, packing lists, historical references, and multitudes of information for lodging, food, and more for each stage (33 daily legs) of the trip.

The author is experienced in all things Camino from over 25 years of annual walks on the route, as well as updating the guidebook. He includes practical, mystical, and personal reflections for each stage. He offers current information and tips in addition to permission to make the journey your own.

Because of COVID-19 our trip had to be rescheduled so my reading of this book was not on the Camino day-by-day as expected. My appreciation for the guide was the significant effort extended and thought for the many pilgrims who like me will walk the camino in need of encouragement and practical help. In this reading I enjoyed noting things to look for that piqué my specific interest and the practical tips of when to load up on snacks and water. 😉 I also enjoyed the quotes and personal reflection stories. I look forward to using the updated guide (whichever year that will be) when I get the blessing of journeying to Santiago.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

The path maps, terrain maps, and other essential information like distances and town names are excellent in this book. The lists of accommodations and cafes were surprisingly accurate. I especially appreciated the price listings for the accommodations, and the street maps for the bigger towns/cities.

I agree with some other reviewers that the author's commentary and 'spiritual guide' portions were sometimes intrusive and patronizing, however well-intended.

I personally ditched every page not dealing with the route, and discarded the route pages I had completed as I went along.

I also found that by NOT following the stages as the author laid them out, I had a better chance of finding accommodation. When I followed the stages, I was often turned away at full albergues, although I am a very slow walker and finished my stages closer to 5PM.

Excellent guide, excellent resource, excellent souvenir (the covers, I mean....since I discarded as I went!)

[Fritz Nordengren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Many pilgrims describe Brierley's book as the de facto guide for the Camino and in web posts, often say they leave it at home or abandon it along the way as they try and shrink the weight of their pack. I think for the first time pilgrim -- and I am one -- its a great introduction to many of the specific details.

The guide breaks the 500 mile (780 km) trek into stages, and offers possible alternate routes and day trips along the way.

This isn't a book to sit down and read cover to cover, in my opinion. What I did was read a stage each day, simulating a camino-like experience. Combined with the more popular camino discussion boards, its a great confidence builder once you've made the decision to hike.

[Lucy Longpath · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent practical guide for walking the Camino Frances from Saint Jean Pied de Port on the French side of the Pyrenees to Santiago de Compostelle. We used this book to help us find our way and for planning distances as it included information about height gains. It also had detailed information about available accommodation. It was well written and well presented and included interesting historical and cultural information as well as the practical information required to do the walk. We used it every day while we were walking the Camino and before we went to help us plan. I used it after I got back to help remind me of where we went and some of the details of the route for a book I was writing about our camino.

[Iuri Colares · Rating 5 out of 5]

Este é o melhor guia para o Caminho de Santiago Francês. Eu o utilizei durante meu Caminho no outono de 2018. É o guia mais utilizado pelos peregrinos. Ele apresenta um roteiro de 33 etapas, que você pode tomar como referência e variar o número de etapas e as cidades de cada etapa de acordo com a sua vontade durante o próprio caminho. Ele descreve a história das cidades no caminho, destacando seus monumentos, indica as alternativas de albergues, restaurantes e cafés. A qualidade de seus mapas é excepcional e de grandíssima utilidade prática no caminho. Como companhia para esta edição em papel, recomendo a edição digital e abreviada deste guia, contendo somente os mapas e as listas de albergues, restaurantes e cafés para consultas no aplicativo Kindle de seu telefone inteligente.

[Craig M · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book describes the 33 stages to the Camino walk. It really emphasizes the walk as a pilgrimage, so there are references to churches, monasteries, and other religious institutions on the route. There are lists of places to stay (mainly hostel types of places and places associated with the church). It definitely gives a good overview of the walk. I was hoping for more details about the places en route (which ones are interesting for other than religious reasons, and which ones might be worth a closer look). The hike would take more than 33 days, so it would have been nice to get more of an indication of interesting places to stop.

[Trish · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am hiking the Camino de Santiago in September, and I will come back and update this review after I see how the guidebook does on the trail. However, this is the only guidebook I am taking - it is dense with information, tips, alternate routes, maps, and most importantly, elevation profiles for each "stage". The lightest paper guidebook for the Camino and, as a guidebook snob, for me it appears to be an excellent guide for both usability and readability. Time will tell, but in the meantime 5 stars.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read the book for the guide, not his personal reflections. This book has a ton of information that is incredibly useful, but that's about it. I feel his personal insights need to stay out of the book as I feel he's pushing people to feel a certain way on their journey. Let people decide on their own how they should feel.

[Donna]

The brand new, 14th edition of this pocket-sized comprehensive classic is the only guidebook I'll carry with me on my camino. It includes maps and routes for each city along the way, a history of Spain, sightseeing suggestions, packing lists, survival tips, etc., in a well-written (though small print) book.

[Kristie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would not normally read a guide book or review one -- they are usually tools, not books to be read. But this guide book is more than that. It includes snippets of the history and spirituality of the Camino, and I find myself reading and re-reading those parts since I finished my Camino earlier this year.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I skim read the book. It is a travel guide, and I gleaned from it what I need in preparation for when I eventually walk the walk. It is very thorough and very thoughtfully laid out. I am very much looking forward to the day when it is in my backpack and I am consulting it every night and every morning.

[Lisanigro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loving this book. I have read all kinds of books about the Camino and this one is perfect because I can take it with me when I go. Filled with maps and information and even spiritual meditations. Sweet!

[Jessica Rinker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Technically I haven't finished reading this because its meant to be taken on pilgrimage, but what I did read was a great intro to what the camino is all about and what to expect when you get there. Has helped firmed up my decision to make it happen!

[Erin Halvorsen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Used this book when I hiked the Camino last year and found it to be indispensable. Even though the maps weren't too scale they were very detailed and as accurate as could be expected. Came in handy every single day.

[Dean Johnston · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an absolutely essential part of our Camino de Santiago hike last year. The maps are as accurate as can be expected from a guidebook and the details are well thought out and perfect for pilgrims hoping to plan their day. Wouldn't hike the Camino without it.