Camino de Santiago Part 1: What I Wish I Knew Before Walking | Routes, Packing & First-Time Tips

Camino de Santiago Part 1: What I Wish I Knew Before Walking | Routes, Packing & First-Time Tips

[Music] The Camino de Santiago is a pilgrimage across Western Europe to reach the cathedral in Santiago de Compostella, Spain. The hike can range from a few days to a few months depending on the route you choose, and each route offers unique landscapes, cultural experiences, and historical sites, making every pilgrim’s journey distinct. The pilgrimage is about the journey with deep connections and insights gained along the way. You meet people from all around the world and spend long periods of reflection while hiking each day. The commino is more than a physical challenge. It’s often a transformative spiritual or personal experience. It is known as a living mosaic of global connection and exploration. Hi everyone, my name is Bailey and I am a travel content creator on YouTube and also mainly on Tik Tok. I talk all things travel and life in your 20s and share all these really cool experiences that I do as I’m trying to figure out what I want to do with my life and how I want to exist in this world. I always say that I want to live a thousand lives and doing the Camino was one of the lives that I have been dreaming about forever. and I officially took on the challenge because I had a month free in May and I completed my first ever commamino. The commamino has always been something I’ve really wanted to do, but actually booking the commamino was very last minute for me. I kind of booked it about 3 weeks before my trip. So, I didn’t really have a lot of time to plan or train or do any of that and it still worked out perfectly. I think it’s just something you just got to seize the moment when you feel called to do it. But I ended up doing the Portuguese Camino which takes around 13 days or at least it took 13 days for me and it’s about 170 mi. It can start anywhere along the path from like Lisbon to Santiago. I started in Porto, which I think is like one of the more popular places to start on that route. And from Porto to Santiago is about two weeks. In this video, I’m going to be talking everything about how to plan for your trip, accommodation offered, food while you’re on the trail, going alone versus going in a group, different transportation options, all the gear that I packed, all the clothes that I packed, and all the things that I just wish I knew before I went because there is a lot of information out there on the Camino. But because there’s so many different routes, none of it was specific to necessarily what I was doing or the time of year. So, if I had to sum up this video, this is okay for anyone going on the Camino. But all my knowledge comes from doing the Camino Portuguese in the month of May because gear that’s needed and the type of weather and everything varies based on what month and what path you do. We are on the Camino. It is day one. I’m literally 2 miles into my 170 something mile journey and we’re feeling a lot better. Last night, I was just like a little anxious and a little questioning just about everything about why am I even doing this? But I’m getting pretty excited. Thankfully, for the start, I have this group of Italian guys that were with me for like the first 2 and 1/2 miles. But now I’m officially on my own cuz they’re going on the central route and I am going on the coastal [Music] route. So, first we’re talking how to plan your commamino. And the first step of that is you need to choose your route. So, there are a million different routes that you can choose, a million different starting places. It can honestly be overwhelming looking at the map. I’m going to list all the different routes right here, or at least the most popular routes, and I’m going to share a little bit of what I know about them. So, the Norte, I’ve heard, is the absolute most beautiful, but also the hardest hike, and it takes about a month. The Francis is also about a month and a half. That one also is a little bit more challenging at the beginning, and then it flats out. That is your very traditional Camino. That’s the one that most people do if they’re referencing the really long commamino. Then you have the Portuguese, which is the way that I did. This one’s about 2 weeks. It could be longer, but a lot of people say that the Lisbon to Porto isn’t as pretty, so most people skip that part and they just start in Porto. And this is where you can walk along the coast, which is really beautiful. Then from there, you have the Primitivo, which is really short. The English, which is also really short, and there’s a couple other paths in there, too, if you start doing some research that you can figure out make more sense to you. Because in order to say that you’ve done a commamino, all they really care about is the last 100 km. And you can really start that from any of these routes. So I think on the Portuguese way, the last 100 km starts in Tui, Spain. Most people will choose their route based on length of time that they have cuz not everyone can take off work for like a month and a half and just go walk the chamino. And then it’s also just based on the difficulty of the hike. I would say that the Portuguese way was relatively easy and I think most people would be able to do it if you are relatively fit or in good health. The second thing in planning is you’re going to want to download the Commamino Ninja app. I don’t know why this isn’t talked about. Um I couldn’t find it anywhere until I actually got to Porto was in my first Alber and I was meeting people and asking questions cuz I was completely clueless going into this and everyone told me to download Kamina Ninja. It shares everything that you need to know, the route you’re taking. It has downloadable offline maps so that when you’re actually walking, you know where you’re going. It shares with you your elevation gain, different accommodations available in each town, and also what food is available in each town because sometimes you’re walking through the tiniest little towns and there might not be food for miles. Before your trip, you’re also going to want to book your first two nights of accommodation. So, this is going to be your first night of accommodation in Porto before you even start your walk and then maybe your first day of accommodation after walking. And that’s it. Seriously, that is all you need to do before you go because plans are going to change. Things are going to come up. You’ll talk to people. You’ll change your mind. And you just want to have a very open itinerary to just let whatever happens happens. And you’re going to find that accommodation either on Commamino Ninja or by using Booking.com and typing in the towns that you think you’re going to be in based on the route that you chose. Starting in Portugal, you can either go the coastal route, you can go the lural way, or you can go the central route. So, those are your three options. You also want to go ahead and book your flight. So, you want to have your flight into one location and you want to have it out of another location. You can also do a round trip situation. So, I know for the Portuguese way, a lot of people do a round trip into Porto and once they get to the end in Santiago, they will then bus back to Porto the day before they’re supposed to leave. Cuz even though it might take you 2 weeks to walk, it’s probably only like a 4 to 5 hour bus ride. I personally got a one-way flight into Porto and I left right out of Santiago cuz they do have an airport there. I want to take a minute to shout out today’s sponsor, Tortuga Backpacks. You guys know I’m super intentional about what I pack and how I travel, and this brand has truly changed the game for me. Tortuga makes high-quality, functional gear built for real travelers. Think compression packing cubes, packable backpacks, daypacks, and more to help you optimize storage on your next trip. But their most notable product is the 40 L travel backpack light. The bag opens up like a suitcase, which is a non-negotiable for me. I can fit two packing cube, shoes, and still have room to spare. It’s been my go-to for traveling up to 3 months at a time. The mesh pockets on the sides are perfect for organizing your smaller items, and it even has a hidden laptop sleeve for those of us who work remote, and it’s even carry-on approved. If you’re interested in more of Tortuga Backpacks products, check out the link in the description for 10% off your first purchase. And lastly, when it comes to planning your commamino, I think the best way that you can actually do the commamino is just to wing it. You’re going to meet so many people along the way. You’re going to want to change your mind. You’re going to be talking to people. I really think you should just go in with a very minimal plan because you just need to see where life’s going to take you. I think that’s the whole purpose of the commamino is just enjoying the journey and seeing what the commamino wants from you and all the things you can learn about yourself by just being a part of the adventure. That is what makes the commamino so special. So really just leave a lot of your plans open to figure it out as you go. You guys an update because I’m now 9 and 1/2 miles in and I stopped at a little cafe cuz I had to go to the bathroom. Everyone’s really cool about pilgrims here. You can tell they’re kind of pretty respected cuz you can just walk into like any place and just go to the bathroom and they’re super kind. And then I made another pit stop because I finally found a bench and I sat on that bench for about 5 minutes and soaked up every minute of it. And now we’re back on the road again. And these cobblestones might be the death of me. Ever since I left those two guys, I haven’t seen another pilgrim since. It’s just been me. But I’m about to get off this more central coastal route and go straight to like the I think it’s like technically called the latoral route and that’s directly on the coast. So I’m about to cut through this town called Lab Bruge. Hopefully see the ocean after about 10 miles. When it comes to accommodation, there’s kind of three main places that you can stay. The first is Alberg, the next is hotels, and then there’s also guest houses. Starting with Alberes, there’s public alberes, and there’s private Alberes. Public Alberes are usually first come first serve. So, a lot of people that will stay in those will leave super super early in the morning. Like, you’re leaving when it’s still dark outside so that you can get there as quick as you can to make sure you get a bed. Some people really love the adventure, the thrill of doing it this way and just seeing where they end up. Some people also do it out of necessity because these types of accommodation are usually a lot cheaper, but because they’re cheaper, it’s usually just a room with like 50 different beds in it and you kind of have to wait in line to get a spot. So, there’s just there’s a lot of time wasted. Personally, the public alberes was not the way that I wanted to go. I went to private alberes, which is like the next step up, and it might be $8 to $10 more every single night. This is where you’ll go ahead and book in advance so that you know you have a bed when you get in, and they’re usually a little bit nicer. Sometimes they’ll have curtains, but mainly you’re just guaranteed a bed. The next step up would probably be guest houses. And I also stayed at a few of these, and I loved it. Usually, they’re owned by a couple or there’s volunteers that are working there that will cook you a dinner that night. You get your own private room. They’re these really special places that are a lot more low-key. Usually there’s only like a max of like 10 people staying there. So, I find them really really peaceful. And then there’s also hotels when you’re in like bigger cities because you will be going through some pretty big cities sometimes and you can stay at a nicer hotel if you want to treat yourself a little bit. But obviously the price goes up from public alber, private alber, guest house to hotel. The pro tip when booking your accommodation is to try to book everything through WhatsApp if you can. this way that you have a little bit more flexibility if you want to cancel or if you don’t make it that far that day without having to lose your deposit on whatever room you have because a lot of times when you go through something like Booking.com there’s like a 24-hour cancellation period where you’ll lose all your money. So to avoid that, book through WhatsApp. Also, when I was traveling in May, if you really care about where you stay each night, you kind of want to book 2 to 3 days in advance. I’ve heard in years past that people are just able to show up every day and find a really cool spot. I think the commamino is just getting busier and busier each year. So, that was just not the case for me. So, I would try and stay a couple days ahead. Like I said before, I found all my accommodation through the Commamino Ninja app. And if all of those were taken on Commamino Ninja, then I was just going to booking.com and just typing in the town that I was going to and a bunch of different options come up. Day two and I’m feeling pretty good. I’m actually not that shockingly enough. Well, I’m sore, don’t get me wrong, but like not as sore as like I thought I’d be. Like I thought I’d wake up and I wouldn’t be able to move. Doing good. Feeling good. Less mileage today. I think I’m only doing like 14 miles. So, still a lot, but a lot better than yesterday at like 19. That’s what I ended up at. Let myself sleep in a little bit. Just got some breakfast at the hostel because it was great. And now we’re starting our walking. Food on the Camino is very, very inexpensive. This is just because you’re in Spain or Portugal and food already is pretty inexpensive. But then on top of that, you’re going through really, really small towns. A lot of the accommodations will offer these like family style dinners, which are so nice, especially when you’re in some towns that are kind of in the middle of nowhere. There’s just not a lot of options. They will cook for everyone that is staying there that night. And it’s usually like a really nice three course meal. They’ll make like a salad or a soup and then you’ll have a main dish and then you’ll even have dessert sometimes after, usually for a pretty affordable price of about like $10. There are also pilgrim dinners at a lot of restaurants which are once again a three course meal at an actual restaurant for like eight to$10 dollars which is so incredible and that is how a lot of people will eat on the commamino because you’re getting these really really good nutritious dinners. I also recommend that you carry snacks with you. This is one because you might get hungry on the trail and it’s really important to fuel yourself, but two because a lot of the times, especially when you get into Spain, you will be getting in right at siesta time. So, this means I usually finish my walk every single day at like 3:00 p.m. If you know anything about Spanish culture, that is prime siesta. And things will not open up again until 7 to 8:00 p.m. So, you’re going to have a period of like 4 to 5 hours where you’re not going to be able to find food if you don’t have it on you. And you are going to be starving once you’re done walking like 14 15 miles that day. So, I always made sure that I had snacks in my bag with me at all times. You can also cook in a lot of the host. I would just check before booking that they have a kitchen available. I know a lot of people that were traveling in groups were doing this. I think it was a lot harder with me traveling on my own because I was having to buy all the ingredients every time and I couldn’t really carry them with me every single day. So, if you’re traveling in a group, this is definitely a pro. Or just make some friends and then ask them if they want to make dinner sometimes cuz I know when I was gone for 2 weeks, you get sick of eating out. At least I get sick of eating out. So, there were some nights when I really just wanted like even the simplest home-cooked pasta, I would just go run to the grocery store and make myself. Lastly, I eat mainly vegetarian and I did kind of find it a little bit difficult on the trail to get very nutritious meals as a vegetarian. It’s definitely possible. I’m not telling you it’s not possible. You can also be vegan. I know some people who are vegan and do it, but just know that your options can be very, very limited. I like to compare it to like if you’re trying to eat vegan in the south, like you can find things, but it just might be a little bit more difficult. So, I would take that in mind when you’re going onto the trail and just be prepared to maybe bring a lot of snacks yourself or make a lot of meals if you need to. I just passed these four women who are probably in like their late ‘ 60s, early ‘7s from the US. And I think the most badass thing about this trail, at least on like the coastal side of Portugal, is that it’s probably like 70% women. And then out of that 70%, a good portion of them are also doing it alone, which is just incredible. I’ve been having so much fun just meeting and talk to people. And it it’s so multicultural. I mean, there’s people from all over Europe and the US and Canada. So, there’s just really good vibes on the trail. Super high energy. Everyone’s so kind and it’s really just it feels like a community. I was personally solo when I did the community Santiago and I loved it and could not recommend going solo enough. I think if you’re deciding between going alone versus going with a group, you really just need to sit down and think about why you’re even doing it and what your intentions are behind the trip. I know for me, I just wanted a lot of time alone to just think and to enjoy nature and to have no expectations of me the whole time. Like it was just time for me to be with myself and learn and learn who I am and then learn from also other people that I met. I love the experience of solo traveling. I just wanted to go into a solo travel adventure that had a purpose and had an intention behind it. And so I thought doing a hike like this was going to be the perfect way for me to explore and travel, but also feel like I was doing it for a reason. I kind of split up my commamino into two different weeks. I had my first week which felt very solo. Basically, I was pretty much hiking every single day alone. I was spending a lot of time alone. I would meet people in the host and we would chat for a little bit, but like I really was just taking my time for myself. And then my second week is what I refer to as my very social week. And this is when I found a group of other solo travelers that were also in their 20s. And we ended up forming this little cohort of girls. and we ended up spending pretty much the whole entire second week together. And even when I wasn’t with those girls, because a lot of times we didn’t do the hikes together to have our alone time and then when we got to our destination, we’d all meet up for dinner or stay in the same hostel or just do things together when we got to our towns. I would still be hiking with a bunch of other people. And I think this is because the last 100 km, like I said before, is what you need to do to say that you’ve done a full commamino. And that usually starts in TUI, which was the start of my second week. So there was just a lot more people on the trail and I found people to be a lot more social in the second half. I personally, like I said before, loved being solo. It’s honestly the way that I recommend that you do a commamino because I met so many incredible people. I was talking to people from all over the world, all walks of life, just getting so much good advice from everyone that I met. It really was an incredible experience. And I know when I’m traveling as a group, I’m not usually as likely to like reach out to other people and to meet other people while I’m traveling and I’ll just stay with the group of people that I’m with. And I think the commamino is a great thing to do if you’ve never traveled solo before because there is a set route of like once you’re here, you have to go here and then you go here. And there’s so many other people you can ask questions to that are on the trail because everyone is doing it together. And there are so many female solo travelers. So if you’ve ever been scared, this is the thing that I think you should do to start solo traveling. This might be the most incredible thing I’ve ever done. I’ve had the best day. It’s not fun. It was raining when I started cuz I went and hid in this little cafe, which when I mean little cafe, I mean, they didn’t even sell cappuccinos or anything. They only sold coffee, drink coffee. So, there was a bunch of us in there all hiding out from Italy. And we were from all over from Switzerland, a group from Italy, it was me, a girl from Singapore, a couple from Canada. It’s like 10:30 in the morning, and the man who owns this cafe is so sweet, and you can tell he loves pilgrims cuz it’s all catered towards pilgrims. And he comes up with port wine, he starts pouring everyone wine at 10:30 in the morning. And so then we’re all cheersing. You’re hanging out drinking our wine. The second you get done with like 3 miles of that, you come across this tiny little shop that’s owned by this sweet little man who keeps giving you food as long as you put money in the donation bin. And it’s like the perfect time when you need a place for a snack or just to rest your legs. So, that was also incredible. And then I get these stunning views. I’m watching chickens and sheep and these back roads and these beautiful hills and I just cannot believe this is my life. I have that feeling often when I’m traveling, but like I cannot stop smiling today. When it comes to transportation, there’s a lot of different ways that you can get around the commamino that aren’t just walking. And that was something that I did not realize before I went. So, I ended up doing the spiritual variant, which has a boat ride as a part of the route. And so, you have to book those boats usually like 4 days in advance because they will start to book up. So, that’s something I’d pay attention to is to make sure your route does not have a boat ride that you have to schedule. There’s also different ways to go. Some people take trains at certain spots. Some people take little canoes or boats at certain spots. Like, there’s so many different ways to do the chamino, which I think is incredible. And that’s where the whole journey adventure, choose your own adventure comes up when you talk about the commamino because I promise you, no one has ever done the exact same commamino. Like, there is just simply no way because there’s so many different places to stop or go or change directions. It really is such a unique experience. Also, if you ever need to Uber somewhere or just take a rest day, please take those days and don’t be embarrassed to call the Uber or to take a bus or to take a taxi, whatever you need to do to get to the next spot. It’s really okay. You just need to listen to your [Music] body. Day four because I haven’t updated you guys in a minute. About 5 and 1/2 miles in of my 14 mile journey today and I’m feeling pretty good. I’m trying to beat the rain because the rain’s supposed to come at like 1 or 2 p.m. and I’m really not trying to get completely soaked again cuz I don’t have very many dry clothes left besides what I’m wearing at the moment. Everything’s been taking like 2 days to dry. I did laundry yesterday because I thought I got in early enough. Turns out was not early enough cuz then it started to rain again when all of our clothes then had to get brought into us. So, it’s kind of just been a mess to get clean clothes. So, we’re not trying to dirty and or get rained on any other of my clean clothes that I currently have or wet shoes. What the daily routine on the trail or on the commamino looked like was this. I’m going to break it down for you. Um cuz it pretty much looked the same every single day. You’re going to start by waking up pretty early and this is to give yourself enough time to do your daily routine. Everyone starts getting their little rituals down of like it’s going to sound really weird, but like their foot rituals to prevent blisters. So, like mine was every morning I would wake up and I would put on my band-aids and my tape and everything that I knew I needed to do to not get blisters. I never got a blister, mind you. Pretty proud of that fact. And then I would also put Vaseline all over my feet before putting on my socks. You would change. You would go sit downstairs. A lot of times the Alberes would also have breakfast for you. And then if they didn’t, I would just make sure that I had like granola bars on hand so that I could snack on my way out. And then you would just start walking. And I would normally try and walk for at least four miles before my first stop. And usually my first stop was at a coffee shop. Once I hit four miles, I would keep going until I hit a coffee shop on the side of the road. I would stop there usually for like 30 minutes to an hour, depending on how tired I was or what I was feeling that day. And I would just read and journal and get a coffee and a pastry and just have a break. And then you go right back to walking. Keep walking and walking and walking and walking all day. Taking breaks when you need it. Maybe stopping to have a snack that you packed in your bag or stopping at a restaurant for lunch if you happen to pass one by and you’re feeling extra hungry and just seeing where the walk takes you and then eventually you will arrive at your alge or whatever your accommodation is for the night and the first thing you must do is shower. The second thing you must do is laundry because you need your laundry to have enough time to dry. You’re pretty much doing laundry every not even pretty much you are doing laundry every single day because you do not have that much with you. And we ran into the problem on my commino where like things were not drying fast enough. So things were taking about 2 days to dry. So you really just had to get your laundry done as quick as possible. Once those two things were done, then you can relax. Then you can read, you can journal, you can sit outside in the sun, you can take a nap if you want to just have that time to yourself to relax. Then you go to dinner and you either eat at the hostel or you go out to dinner somewhere. And then you lay in bed because you are so tired cuz you just walked 50 miles that day and you start booking your accommodation for like the next two nights. And then you go to sleep and you repeat it all the next day. But that’s pretty much what you will do every single day. That is part one in my commino day Santiago series. I’m going to do a second one going over my packing list, all the gear I packed, and what I wish I knew before I was traveling and how much I spent on the commamino. That’s going to be in the next video. If you guys have any questions about anything that I talked about, please leave it below. I can even add those into the next video, too, if you guys have enough questions. I know it can be very overwhelming. It can seem really scary. It’s a pretty daunting task to say, “Hey, I want to walk 170 miles in a row because why not?” But you really just have to go for it and figure it out as you go and ask people questions when you can. And I promise you, it will be an incredible journey. I personally want to go back and do another one someday, maybe in the next couple of years, because I just had such a great time and I would love to do a commamino every few years just to recenter. If you guys want to know anything more about the community Santiago, I have so many videos on my TikTok that I’m going to link down below. I’ll also link a lot of relevant videos that I’ve done on Tik Tok in the description box below. And I will see you guys in part two when I post that next week.

This is Part 1 of my Camino de Santiago series, where I share everything I wish I knew before starting my pilgrimage on the Portuguese Way.

In this video, I break down:
– The different routes you can take (including why I chose the Portuguese Way)
– How to book albergues and other accommodation
– Transportation options to and from the Camino
– Walking solo vs in a group

Make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss Part 2, where I’ll share packing tips, budgeting, and what I would have done differently.

If you are looking for the perfect companion for your next trip you should check out Tortuga Backpacks line of quality travel gear to get you started!
https://www.tortugabackpacks.com/bailey

If you found this video helpful, I also have a complete guide to traveling in our 20s which teaches you all the basics to get started traveling while you are young- you can find it here ( https://www.baggagegirls.com/product/ebook-how-to-travel-in-your-twenties-by-bailey-dean/?utm_source=hoobe&utm_medium=social )

00:00 Introduction
02:05 How to Plan
05:40 Tortuga
06:48 Acommodation
09:55 Food
12:50 Group vs Solo
15:45 Transportation
17:56 Daily Routine
20:52 Outro

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