Where does the Camino de Santiago Start?

Question: Where does the Camino de Santiago Start?

Answer: The Camino de Santiago begins from the front door of your house. This is not intended in some kind of metaphysical way (though some take it in that sense). Rather, before tourists adopted the Camino as the physical challenge it is today, pilgrims took the easiest route possible to Santiago. If you happened to live 50km away, that was all you walked. If you didn't live on one of the prescribed routes, you didn't walk all the way to the 'beginning' of one of them. You just did your best and joined the route when you could.

Of course, if you live in London or New York, walking from your doorstep would take a long time. But, in fact, plenty of people in Europe do begin from their homes, a few weeks at a time over a number of years. But that takes a huge commitment.

So where should you begin if you don't conveniently live on or near the Camino. Well, it depends on how long you have, and if you plan on reaching Santiago (not everyone does!). If you want to do 'the whole thing'. Assuming you are doing the Camino Frances, the most common start points are St Jean Pied de Port in France and Roncesvalles in Spain.

If you don't plan on doing quite such a long trek, you should start at one of the bigger towns or cities on the way. These are:

• Pamplona
• Logroño
• Burgos
• Leon
• Ponferrada
• Sarria

If you're not doing the Camino Frances, the other routes begin at these places:

• Camino del Norte: Irun
• Camino Aragones: Soport
• Via de la Plata: Seville
• Camino Ingles: A Coruña
• Camino Portugues: Porto
• Camino Primitivo: Oviedo

Camino de Santiago Routes or check out my full Camino de Santiago Guide.