French Way

In addition, the convergence of personal and religious motifs, personal challenges and spirituality, Romanesque and Gothic styles, Templar castles and Benedictine monasteries, lush forests and murmuring rivers, medieval legends and Celtic magic They serve to erect themselves as one of the most incredible experiences any person should experiment..

Within its large route there are two starting points that are quite common among pilgrims, although the main starting point is the town of Saint Jean Pied de Port, many decide to start the Camino de Santiago from Roncesvalles, in order to avoid crossing the border between Spain and France, and not climb the great slope that separates them. The other very common alternative is to start from Sarria, as it meets the more than 100 km required for the Compostela and can be covered in 5 days, very useful for people who start or have little time to enjoy the Camino.

History

After becoming the most important pilgrimage route of Medieval Europe for the pilgrims who, moved by the Christian faith, walked towards the tomb of the Apostle Santiago in the city of Compostela, the French route was becoming more and more important until gaining the title of the most internationally recognized route and, therefore, the most important at an economic and social level. Moreover, due to it’s relevance, large buildings were erected that are today part of the great historical and cultural heritage that surrounds the Jacobean route. If you do the Camino from Ponferrada you will be able to see a clear example of this heritage, such as its Templar castle.

The French Wayis the most documented, existing since 1135 manuscript archives in the Codex Calixtinus, whose “Book V” is the first source of information on the cultural, religious and even tourist treasures that walkers could find in each of the sections that separated the tomb of the apostle from the main capitals of Europe at the time.

Nowadays

The French route is the most famous route in the world, the most traveled (in 2015 more than 260,000 pilgrims arrived in Santiago) and the best conditionedbecause of the economic potential it represents for the towns it crosses. Its route is drawn throughout the north of the peninsula along 760 km, which are often divided into 31 stages that begin their journey in the French town of Sant Jean Pied de Port.

Despite the fact that since the eleventh century pilgrims walked through northern Spain saving great difficulties and leaving behind an important cultural, artistic and social development, the most important increase in the French Way began in 1993, a Jacobean year that brought with it a very important revival of the Camino de Santiago as a tourist element, backed by the declaration of the Jacobean Route as the First European Itinerary of Cultural Interest by the Council of Europe and World Heritage by Unesco.

Main starting points

• Camino de Santiago from Roncesvalles
• Camino de Santiago from Burgos
• Camino de Santiago from León
• Camino de Santiago from Ponferrada
• Way of St James from Sarria

Stages of French Way