Camino
Camino del Norte in the Basque Country: the coastal Camino de Santiago
Irun and Hondarribia to Bilbao and Kobaron: the Northern Way’s Basque stages, 214 km of sea and mountains, UNESCO-listed since 2015. Plus the inland route.
The Northern Way (Camino del Norte, or coastal route) follows the Cantabrian Sea from the French border all the way to Galicia. It is one of the oldest pilgrimage routes to Santiago de Compostela, and the Spanish Basque Country offers one of its most spectacular sections… and one of its toughest.
The route in numbers
- About 845 km in total, from Irun to Santiago de Compostela, through four autonomous communities: the Basque Autonomous Community (Euskadi), Cantabria, Asturias and Galicia.
- 32 to 39 stages depending on how you split it, 8 or 9 of them in the Basque Country.
- UNESCO World Heritage: in 2015, the listing of the ‘Routes of Santiago de Compostela’ (1993) was extended to the routes of northern Spain, including the coastal route and the interior route of the Basque Country and La Rioja, a network of almost 1,500 km.
The Basque stages
According to Turismo Euskadi, the coastal route covers 214 km in Euskadi:
- Hondarribia → San Sebastián (Donostia)
- San Sebastián → Zarautz
- Zarautz → Deba
- Deba → Markina-Xemein
- Markina-Xemein → Guernica (Gernika-Lumo)
- Guernica → Bilbao
- Bilbao → Portugalete (or the Bilbao → Balmaseda variant)
- Portugalete → Kobaron, on the border with Cantabria
The start, along the Gipuzkoa coast, is very hilly; the route then gets gentler in Biscay (Bizkaia), before reaching the Encartaciones (Enkarterri) district.
What you’ll see along the way
- Hondarribia and Irun, on the banks of the Bidasoa.
- San Sebastián and its bay, La Concha.
- Zarautz, Getaria and Zumaia with its flysch cliffs.
- Lekeitio and Guernica, a symbolic town.
- Bilbao, with the Guggenheim, then the Vizcaya Bridge at Portugalete.
The other Basque route: the inland way
The inland route also starts in Irun, but heads inland via Hernani, Tolosa and Vitoria-Gasteiz to Briñas, in La Rioja: 249.7 km in 7 stages. A line of communication since Roman times, it crosses the San Adrián mountain pass.
Further reading
- The Camino from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, stage by stage
- Preparing for your Camino: credencial, Compostela, tips
- Camino routes in France and the French Basque Country
- The sanctuaries of the Basque Country
Sources
- Turismo Euskadi — The Way of St James: coastal route
- Spain.info — The Northern Way
- UNESCO — Routes of Santiago de Compostela: Camino Francés and Routes of Northern Spain (in French)
- Eroski Consumer — The two roads to Santiago through the Basque Country
Buen Camino!