The Camino del Norte, or Northern Way, starts in Irún, on the French border, and follows the Cantabrian coast through San Sebastián, Bilbao, Santander, Asturias and Ribadeo, before leaving the sea for the plateaus of inland Galicia and joining the Camino Francés at Arzúa, two days from Santiago.
The elevation profile, computed along the route from the Copernicus European terrain model, has no pass at all: it lines up short climbs, area by area.
Hover over a stage to read it, click to open it on the map.
Five weeks in a row remain rare, and the Camino del Norte is easy to split into sections: San Sebastián, Bilbao, Santander, Gijón and Avilés have a Renfe station, and ALSA coaches link Irún to Santiago.
Baamonde or Vilalba for the Compostela
Baamonde lies 100.9 km from Santiago on our track: the margin above the 100 km required comes to less than a kilometre, and the distance used by the Pilgrim’s Office may differ from ours. Start from Vilalba, at 120 km, for five days of walking and a margin nobody will question, with two stamps a day on the credencial.
Semana Grande in San Sebastián, Aste Nagusia in Bilbao
The Semana Grande fills San Sebastián in the week of 15 August, from Saturday to Saturday; Bilbao celebrates its Aste Nagusia in the second half of August. Beds run short and prices climb: on those dates, sleep before or after the city, in Pasaia or Zarautz for the first, Lezama or Portugalete for the second, or book weeks ahead.
Enter your available days and your pace; the planner suggests the starting point that gets you to Santiago in the time you have, with a day-by-day breakdown.
The most common starting points match round durations: four weeks from Bilbao, three from Santander, two from Gijón, eight days from Ribadeo, five days from Vilalba. If you want the Compostela, tick the option: any start less than 100 km from Santiago is ruled out. The selected section is highlighted on the map.
Camino del Norte stages from Irún to Santiago
The table follows a 34-stage breakdown, cross-checked between three guides, with the distance, the elevation gain, the estimated walking time, the town at the end and the number of places to stay recorded there. Distances and elevation are measured on the OpenStreetMap route; times follow the Swiss hiking method, breaks excluded. Guides count 34, 35 or 36 stages depending on where they cut.
Seven stages exceed 30 km, among them Santander to Santillana del Mar (37.5 km) and Baamonde to Sobrado dos Monxes (40.1 km). Two split points appear in the database: the San Martín albergue in Miraz, run by the Confraternity of Saint James on a donativo basis from 1 April to 31 October, 15 km from Baamonde, and the public albergue in Mondoñedo, 11 km from Lourenzá. The accommodation column shows the opposite elsewhere: a single record in Cadavedo and in Luarca, two in Soto de Luiña; in that part of western Asturias, book or adjust the stage.
The places below appear on the map and in the stage table, with the distance left to Santiago.
Photo: Iñaki LLM, CC BY-SA 3.0
Photo: Mariordo (Mario Roberto Durán Ortiz), CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Jörg Braukmann, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Mario Martí, CC BY 2.0
Photo: Jules Verne Times Two, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Mentxuwiki, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Adam Cli, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Year of the dragon, CC BY-SA 3.0
Photo: Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 3.0
Photo: Wikimedia Commons, CC0
Photo: Mentxuwiki, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Certo Xornal, CC BY 2.0
Photo: José Antonio Gil Martínez, CC BY 2.0
Photo: One2, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Simon Burchell, CC BY-SA 4.0Four monuments on the route, the church of Castro Urdiales, the collegiate church of Santillana del Mar, the cathedral of Mondoñedo and the monastery of Sobrado, are among the elements of the UNESCO property added in 2015; the Vizcaya Bridge has been listed in its own right since 2006.
The main fork comes at Casquita, a hamlet of Villaviciosa, by a chapel of San Blas: straight ahead, the coast and Gijón; to the left, the link to Oviedo, 38.7 km in two stages through Valdediós and Pola de Siero according to the Asturias tourist board, as far as the cathedral where the Camino Primitivo begins.
Boat crossings: checked on 25 October 2026
Los Reginas lists a €4 single fare for the Somo to Santander crossing and timetables in force from 26 October 2026 (losreginas.com). The Puntal boat between Laredo and Santoña sails for part of the year, from spring to autumn or thereabouts; out of season, take the Laredo to Santoña bus or the road through Colindres. The Pasaia motora is run by Itxaszerbi (turismopasaia.com). Check these services the day before: tides and weather shift them.
The two branches do not meet again before Galicia, at Melide and Arzúa: choose before you set off.
Three boat crossings are part of the route: the Pasaia motora before San Sebastián, which runs every day; the boat from Laredo to Santoña, in season, replaced in winter by the road through Colindres; and the launch from Somo to Santander.
Between Soto de Luiña and Cadavedo, the historic route climbs into the sierra de las Palancas, above 600 m without any services; most walkers take the camín real de las Ballotas along the cliffs, through Novellana and Castañeras, and the two meet again after Cadavedo.
The Camino del Norte has 562 places to stay recorded in OpenStreetMap within a kilometre of the track, against 843 on the shorter Camino Francés: density drops by more than a third and concentrates in the towns.
561 places to stay recorded along the route
Accommodation recorded in OpenStreetMap: a guide to how much there is, not a complete list. Switch on the accommodation layer on the map to see where.
Affiliate map: if you book through it, the site earns a commission at no extra cost to you.
The map of hotels, guesthouses and apartments is provided by Stay22, which sets cookies once it loads.
To book or not
In the Basque Country and Cantabria, book the cities (San Sebastián, Bilbao, Santander) and summer weekends; in the villages, you will find a bed on arrival in most cases outside July and August. In western Asturias, between Soto de Luiña and Ribadeo, call the day before: one or two albergues per stage. In Galicia, the Xunta albergues are taken on arrival; from Arzúa, the pressure of the last 100 km of the Francés applies, above all in the 2027 Holy Year. Out of season, check opening dates: some municipal albergues close from December to March.
Public albergues work differently in each region: donativo in Irún, open in August alone in Gernika, municipal in Cantabria and Asturias at modest rates, €10 in La Caridad for instance, open from 1 April to 30 November; in Galicia, from Ribadeo onwards, the Xunta network charges €10 a night, no booking, one night per stage.
Private albergues with dormitories cost between €12 and €25; in San Sebastián and Bilbao, compare youth hostels and guesthouses, and book in summer. The stage table gives the number of places to stay recorded in OpenStreetMap at each arrival town; opening dates change with the season, so call before counting on one.
Indicative times, check the timetables before you leave
The times above are indicative: they come from the operators’ pages (Euskotren, Lurraldebus, Aena, ALSA) and, in part, from secondary sources, read on 25 October 2026; confirm them with the operator before you leave. Euskotren is reorganising the Topo in 2026 with new underground stations in San Sebastián, and frequencies change with the season. Buy your tickets on sncf-connect.com, euskotren.eus, alsa.com and renfe.com.
San Sebastián airport is at Hondarribia, 2 km from the town and 22 km from San Sebastián: Lurraldebus line E28 passes through Irún, line E21 heads straight for San Sebastián. From Biarritz airport, Txik Txak buses reach Bayonne station in a quarter of an hour, then a TER to Hendaye.
Allow 34 stages for the 826.5 km (514 miles) from Irún to Santiago, that is five weeks with one or two rest days, in Bilbao or Santander for example. The breakdown averages 24.3 km a day; if you split the seven stages of more than 30 km, you reach 41 days of walking, six weeks with the rest days.
Close to 60 km longer and hillier: 14,398 m of cumulative elevation gain against 10,424 m on the Francés, without a single pass. The difficulty comes from the repetition of short climbs in the Basque Country, the long stages of Cantabria and Asturias, the rain and the mud, and albergues spaced further apart, which leave less freedom in the breakdown.
From Vilalba (120 km) or Baamonde (100.9 km on our track), with two stamps a day on the credencial. Baamonde leaves less than a kilometre of margin above the 100 km required: Vilalba, or Ribadeo for eight days of walking, leaves a safe margin at the Pilgrim’s Office. By bike, the rule rises to 200 km: Ribadeo, at 193 km, is not enough; start from La Caridad or Luarca.
In the cities and in August, yes: San Sebastián during the Semana Grande, Bilbao in late August, Santander and the Cantabrian beaches on summer weekends fill with tourists as much as with pilgrims. In western Asturias, where the stage table shows one or two places to stay at the arrival town, call the day before. In Galicia, the Xunta albergues are taken on arrival, no booking; the private ones from Arzúa to Santiago get booked up in summer.
From April to October, when the seasonal albergues are open: La Caridad from 1 April to 30 November, Miraz from 1 April to 31 October, Gernika in August alone; the Laredo boat sails in season. June and September avoid the beach crowds of August. The Cantabrian coast is wet in every season: on the 1971-2000 normals, San Sebastián receives 1,738 mm of rain a year and Santander 1,246 mm, with a peak from October to December; the waterproof jacket belongs in the pack whatever the month.
From Irún, the two share the coast as far as Villaviciosa; the question arises at Casquita. The Norte carries on through Gijón, Avilés and the Asturian coast, then inland Galicia, in some fifteen stages to Arzúa. The Primitivo, through Oviedo, Lugo and the Ruta de los Hospitales, is shorter (312 km from Oviedo), more mountainous (1,132 m at its highest) and joins the Francés at Melide.
In sections. The track follows or overlooks the shore on part of the Basque Country, Cantabria and Asturias, and elsewhere passes a valley or two inland; the way out of Bilbao towards Portugalete follows the industrial ría. From Ribadeo, it leaves the sea for good: the last 193 km cross inland Galicia.
The Camino Primitivo leaves the Norte at Casquita for Oviedo, crosses the mountains of Asturias and Lugo, and joins the Francés at Melide: the mountain alternative for the second half.
Photo: José Antonio Gil Martínez from Vigo, Spain, CC BY 2.0
Photo: MartinD, CC BY-SA 3.0
Photo: Simon Burchell, CC BY-SA 4.0The Camino Francés shares its last two stages with the Norte, from Arzúa to Santiago. The Camino Portugués, from Lisbon, Porto or Tui, is less hilly; its main track runs inland, and its Coastal Route follows the Atlantic. For the Compostela, the budget, the season and the packing list, the Camino de Santiago guide gathers the facts shared by all the routes.
