Pilgrimages — every road, both maps: the terrain and what happens to you while you walk it
Every road, today
Seven pilgrimages, drawn from their real paths.
Pilgrim's morning card for this stage · Open it in Pilgrim
Scroll to unroll the roadsNow set out on your own morning
Say when you could leave and how many days you have. You'll get the roads, or the part of a road, that fit. Then watch the walk day by day from your own date.
Rain on the Discipline Coast: Shikoku in a Typhoon Year
On 24 October, two walkers on day 23 of the Shikoku henro began the morning with the forecast: a big typhoon was coming for the coast. The same morning, near the Marshall Islands, Typhoon No. 31 formed — the first 31st typhoon since 2013, in a year that has now had one every month from January to October. Autumn is the henro's second good season. This year, on the Kōchi coast, the season brought two days of rain, and a breakfast the café owner would not let them pay for.
- The Holy Year Opens in the Emptiest Month · Camino Francés
- A Tap to the Gate: Kumano's Autumn Buses and Hosshinmon-oji · Kumano Kodo
- Just Get There Early: The Advice That Stops Working on the Camino del Norte · Camino del Norte
- All dispatches
Where to sleep and where to weep.
What to pack and what to leave behind.
The route guide for people who care about the interior journey as much as the exterior one.
Camino Francés
Spain & FranceThe most walked pilgrimage in the world. From Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port across the Pyrenees, through the vineyards of Navarra, the meseta of Castilla, and into Galicia. 790 kilometers of terrain that strips away everything you thought you needed.
Camino del Norte
Spain784 kilometers along the Bay of Biscay, from the French border to Santiago. The oldest of the Caminos — walked when the inland was Moorish and the Cantabrian coast was the safer road. The sea is your companion for most of it.
Camino Primitivo
Spain263 kilometers from Oviedo to Santiago. The original Camino — the route walked by King Alfonso II in 814, the year after the apostle's tomb was found. Every other Camino descends from this one.
Camino Portugués
Portugal & Spain243 kilometers north from Porto to Santiago. The gentler Camino — easier terrain, southern light, Portuguese pastéis in the morning and Galician empanadas by night. The second most walked of all the Caminos.
Camino Inglés
Spain112 kilometers from Ferrol to Santiago. Walked since the medieval period by English, Irish, Scandinavian, and Flemish pilgrims who arrived by ship because walking from their homes was impossible. The shortest of the major Caminos, and the one for people who cannot take a month off.
Shikoku 88 Temple Pilgrimage
JapanA 1,200-kilometer circle around Japan's smallest main island, connecting 88 sacred temples. You walk with Kukai — the monk who walked this path in 774 AD. The island walks with you.
Kumano Kodo
JapanAn ancient network of pilgrimage trails through the sacred mountains of the Kii Peninsula. Where Shinto and Buddhism fused into something older than either. One of only two pilgrimage routes in the world with UNESCO World Heritage status.
Every route has two maps
One shows the terrain. The other shows what happens to you while you walk it. We publish both.
Most pilgrimage guides tell you where to sleep, what to pack, how many kilometers per day. Useful information. Half the story. The other half — what happens to your mind after day ten, why the meseta breaks people open, what it means when the path circles back to where it started — that part usually lives in forum threads and hostel conversations.
We think both maps belong in the same guide.