Camino Inglés

​Everything You Need to Know Before You Walk It

I walked Camino Inglés this year. Not because I'm some superhuman hiker - I hate the gym, I'm 49, and my BMI sits right on the "meh" line. I walked it because the prep was doable and the route rewards you for showing up, not for being in perfect shape.
Here's why I chose this route, how to organize yourself for it step by step, what each stage actually felt like, and everything I wish someone had told me before I went.

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Why Camino Inglés?

If you ask me what's actually hard about doing a Camino, it's not the kilometers, the effort, or the luggage. It's finding the days off - especially in summer, when you don't want to burn your entire vacation budget on one trip. Last year I did Camino Primitivo plus the Fisterra extension. This year I wanted another Camino, but I didn't have two or three weeks free in the busy season.

So I went looking for the shortest full Camino - and I mean full, a real route with a real starting point and a real end point, not something that starts in the middle of nowhere. (Maybe that's a little bit of my OCD talking. I don't know.)

Camino Inglés came out on top.
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You've got two official starting points, both give you the Compostela (certificate) at the end:

• Ferrol - about 113km on paper (I walked closer to 121km once you count the extra meters that always sneak in).
• A Coruña - about 75km. Shorter, still fully credentialed even though it's under the "official" 100km minimum most people assume you need.

Pick based on how many days you've got, not on which one sounds more legit. I chose Ferrol.

How to organize yourself - step by step
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​1. Pick your starting point. Ferrol or A Coruña, based on how many days you have, not on which sounds more impressive.
2. Decide your number of stages. The route splits into 5 or 6 stages, totally flexible depending on how far you want to walk per day.
3. Sort your flights and onward transport. Check flights into Santiago as well as A Coruña - Santiago is often the better-connected option depending on where you're flying from. From Santiago airport, bus 6A goes straight to the city center, stops right out front, €1, cash only, paid directly to the driver. From Santiago to Ferrol, Monbus covers the route (about 1.5 hours) - buy tickets directly from Monbus rather than a reseller like Omio, since direct tickets are far easier to change if your plans shift.
4. Get your pilgrim credential. Pick this up at the tourist office in your starting town before you set off - you'll need it stamped along the way to get your Compostela in Santiago.
5. Book accommodation stage by stage, in advance. Don't assume you can wing it night to night, especially outside the smallest villages - public albergues have limited capacity and aren't always open. Use an app like Gronze to scout what's available at each stage, and check Booking.com and WhatsApp/direct contact for options that aren't on the big platforms.
6. Decide on luggage transfer. Optional, but available along the route for about €5/day (September 2026 pricing), with tracking included if you'd rather walk without your full pack.
7. Train beforehand. You don't need a gym membership - bodyweight training at home, 20-30 minutes a day, is enough if you're consistent. I use the Adventure Pill program.

Traveling solo versus traveling with a group

​This changes more than you'd expect.

Solo, you have far more flexibility to decide each morning where you'll end up that night, and you can take more risks with booking - or not booking - as you go. With a group, that flexibility mostly disappears: everyone needs a bed at the end of the day, so advance reservations for every stage aren't optional, they're the only way to avoid a bad night.

Pace is also a group decision, not an individual one - you move at the pace of the group, which means building in buffer time and not assuming you'll match your usual solo rhythm. And logistics that are a non-issue solo (splitting costs, agreeing on where to eat, coordinating luggage transfer) all need actual conversations with a group. If you're organizing for other people, get clear with them in advance on accommodation style (dorm vs. apartment), food budget, and pace - so everyone's expectations match before you're three days in.

Stage by stage

Stage 1: Ferrol to Pontedeume - 24.73km Rookie mistake number one: we left later than planned, stopped for coffee and churros, picked up our pilgrim credentials at the tourist office, and didn't actually start walking until 10am. This stage is very urbanized - through Ferrol itself, the suburbs, parks, the town beach, past the port. At one point you hit a real decision: follow the official route around the bay into Neda, or take a shortcut over a genuinely lovely pedestrian bridge that cuts 5-6km and drops you straight past Neda toward Pontedeume. We took the shortcut, no regrets - and if you want to split this stage into two easier days, Neda works well as a midpoint.

We arrived in Pontedeume around 6pm - later start, later finish, lesson learned. Pontedeume itself is a cute little town by the water, and our apartment host was fantastic.

Stage 2: Pontedeume to Betanzos - 22.48km Our host warned us that the waymarking just outside Pontedeume has been inconsistent since a recent reroute - worth keeping an eye on the yellow arrows and shells here. This stage lives up to its reputation: hillier, more into the mountains, beautiful, and a wake-up call if you're not used to uphill walking. We got lucky with cloudy mornings most days, which meant we were well into the walk before the real heat kicked in - one more reason to start early. Water access continues to be excellent: frequent, clearly marked taps the whole way.

We stayed in a private albergue in Betanzos - a room just for our group, shared bathroom, full kitchen, laundry, and drying area, three minutes from the town center. Tried to find pizza for dinner, found it closed, ended up in a decent Italian place instead.

Stage 3: Betanzos to O Castro (Ordes) - 29.06km, the longest day Hospital de Bruma turned out to be tiny with very limited beds, so I'd booked three kilometers further, in O Castro. We were warned in advance about a long stretch with zero cafeterias - just tap water - and it held true: the cafeteria we were counting on for a break around the 12-15km mark was closed that day for no clear reason.
We passed through Hospital de Bruma itself - a tiny, cute village - and stopped at the public albergue there just to refill water. The last few kilometers into O Castro were a genuine slog, but the payoff was worth it: Casa San Pedro. Beautiful house, incredible hosts, golden hour light, laundry drying in the sun. This was also where blisters started showing up, so a heads-up: pack proper blister prevention, not just a first-aid patch for after.

Casa San Pedro partners with a nearby restaurant for delivery, and this turned into the best night of the whole trip for me - sharing a table with two Portuguese women (on their 14th and 9th Caminos) and a Spanish pilgrim on his 4th. Real conversation, real stories, the kind of communal moment that's the whole point of doing this.

Stage 4: O Castro to Piñeiron - 23.34km Piñeiron is a tiny village about 3-4km before Sigüeiro - I skipped booking in Sigüeiro itself since nothing available there excited me. This stage is flat and runs through beautiful forest, and it's shorter than the two before it, though another long stretch here has no cafeterias, so plan your snacks accordingly.
Piñeiron itself has no shops at all, so we ate at the restaurant attached to the local golf course - the only option around, and it did the job.

Stage 5: Piñeiron to Santiago de Compostela - 21.32km Mostly flat, with coffee and churros to start. There's a main road running roughly parallel to the official Camino route here, up to 2km apart at points - we stuck to the Camino path, which meant another stretch with few cafeterias. We passed through Santiago's industrial edges before reaching the old town.
Arriving at the cathedral was the emotional high point of the whole trip. It felt like watching arrivals at an airport - everyone around you has just overcome something, whether that's the kilometers, a fear, blisters, or pain. I could have sat in that square for hours, just watching people's faces.

We stayed in a traditional albergue in the old town - shared rooms, bunk beds, lockers with keys. Genuinely normal Camino conditions, though it's noisy at night from the street below (bars, people coming and going) - worth knowing if you're not a heavy sleeper. We visited the cathedral, made it to the pilgrims' bar Momo, and had dinner in town before calling it a trip.

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​Total walked: about 121km over 5 days.

Food, drink, and a few practical tips

• The Spanish countryside doesn't have the food variety of the cities - go in expecting local, basic food most days, the same way you would in any small village anywhere in the world.
• Forget oat milk or other plant-based milk once you're outside the cities - it's just not really a thing in rural Galicia.
• Non-alcoholic beer is everywhere. Non-alcoholic wine or gin - don't bother asking.
• Water is one of the best-organized parts of this route: frequent, marked, drinkable taps the whole way.
• From Santiago airport to the city center: bus 6A, stops right outside the airport, €1 cash paid directly to the driver.
• Monbus is a solid option for getting around the region generally, not just the Ferrol-Santiago leg.
• And once you arrive - give yourself a real pause at the cathedral, not just a photo and a walk-off. Sit. Watch the faces around you. Feel your own heartbeat for a second. Let it land.

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Want my packing list?
​I packed for this whole trip in one 6.4kg backpack. Drop your email below and I'll send you the exact checklist I used - what made the cut and what I left behind.

One more thing before you go:

Want the full financial breakdown, day by day? I wrote it all out, accommodation, food, flights, every euro, planned versus what I actually spent. Read the Camino Inglés budget post.
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Buen Camino!