The cost of walking the Camino de Santiago in 2024

There is no set Camino de Santiago cost. How much you spend depends on many factors. You can walk the Camino de Santiago for 25 Euros per person a day or spend over 50 Euros per day. I’ve had days when I spent 16 euros as well as 50 Euro days on the same Camino. It all depends on how much you can and want to spend, how much comfort you need, etc. In this post, I’m discussing what you can get on 25, 35, and 45+ Euro per person per day on the Camino, give a detailed breakdown of my Camino budget, and give some money-saving tips. 

It’s important to remember that the cost may vary depending on the chosen Camino. Some routes work out cheaper than others. We’ve walked 9 different Camino de Santiago routes and we did notice the difference, especially in accommodation prices. I’m going to compare the different routes and explain why some of them are more expensive to walk.

Camino de Santiago cost – 25, 35, and 45+ Euros per day

I’m giving an overview of what you can afford to walk the Camino on these budgets, it doesn’t mean you have to stick and stay only in public albergues if you have 25 Euros per day it just shows that most of the time it’ll be your best accommodation option. Accommodation and food are the main expenses on the Camino. Laundry and luggage delivery service are two other expenses many pilgrims have but both are optional. You can do hand-washing and carry your backpack. Some days you might have some extra expenses such as entrance fees, etc.

If your budget is 25 Euros per person per day

Accommodation – public albergues, 8 Euros

Food – grocery shopping – 10-12 Euros

If your budget is 35 Euros per person per day

Accommodation – private albergues, 12-14 Euros

Food – Menu del Día – 10-12 Euros; breakfast – 3-4 Euros; grocery shopping – 8 Euros.

If you spend 45+ Euros per person per day

Accommodation – a private room in a hotel, around 20 Euros per person (if you’re two people sharing a double room), around 30 for a single room.

Food – Menu del Día – 10-12 Euros; breakfast – 3-4 Euros; dinner – 15 Euros.

Extras

Laundry – 3 Euro per load for washing, 3-4 Euros per load for drying.

Luggage delivery service – 6-7 Euros per backpack per stage.

I’m going to elaborate on each topic below comparing different options.

If you want to track your daily expenses easily, you can install one of the travel spending apps on your phone, e.g., TravelSpend. It’s a free app. You can add your daily travel expenses divided into different categories (accommodation, shopping, transport, etc.) and see the breakdown for every day and the whole trip. The app is available on iOS and Google Play.

The cost of accommodation on the Camino de Santiago

Your accommodation options on the Camino are quite diverse (especially on the popular Camino routes) from public and private albergues to hostels and hotels/guesthouses. Albergues are hostels for pilgrims.

Public (municipal) albergues

It is the cheapest accommodation option on the Camino. Municipalities run them and are exclusively for pilgrims walking or cycling the Camino. You need a Credential (a pilgrim’s passport) with stamps to stay at public albergues. The average price is around 8 Euros per person per bed. Public albergues are usually quite big with one or two rooms with several bunk beds and shared facilities (showers, toilets, a kitchen).

On more popular Camino routes like the Camino Francés or the Camino Portuguese from Porto, you can plan your itinerary to stay almost every night at a public albergue and pay 7-8 Euro per bed. Less busy routes have fewer public albergues – from time to time you’ll have no option but to stay at private albergues.

Private albergues

The second cheapest accommodation option on the Camino. Private albergues belong to a person or a company anybody can stay there but most of the guests are usually pilgrims. They cost between 14-17 Euros per bed. Private albergues usually have better facilities and are smaller than public albergues. Some private albergues have private rooms as well.

Sometimes you can find albergues for donation. How much to pay depends on you. We usually leave as much as we would pay for a public albergue or more if we like the place. There are many private albergues on the Camino de Santiago, you’ll be able to find one at the end of every day. 

Hotels/guesthouses (pensions)

These are the most expensive and comfortable accommodation options on the Camino. Prices for a private room start at 30 Euros for a single room and 40 Euros for a double room. Staying at hotels every night, especially on longer Camino routes is expensive but I’d recommend doing it sometimes. It’s nice to have a good rest and some privacy. We usually stay in hotels at least once a week or even more often if we can find a well-priced private room.

Comparing public and private albergues and hotels

The cost of food on the Camino de Santiago

Grocery shopping and cooking

The cheapest food option is to buy food in supermarkets/shops and cook for yourself. Most albergues have a communal kitchen that pilgrims can use. Some kitchens are well-equipped and have all you need for cooking, while some are basic. My advice is to check out the kitchen before you go shopping.

Most of the places along the Camino routes have at least a small grocery store where you can get bread, pasta, cheese, yogurt, fruit, and vegetables. Bigger towns and cities have supermarkets where you can get pretty much anything including takeaway meals that are usually cheaper than restaurants. We usually spend between 12 and 14 Euros on grocery shopping for two people. Depending on what you buy and for how many meals I’d recommend budgeting 10 Euros per person per day to buy enough food for 2 meals.

Breakfast

The Spanish are not very big on breakfast, most of them just drink a cup of coffee with a small pastry. Many cafes on the Camino offer breakfast that usually includes a cup of coffee, a glass of fresh-squeezed orange juice, and a sandwich or a pastry. A breakfast like that costs around 4 Euros. In very busy and touristy parts of some Camino routes, you can find an English (eggs & bacon) or an American (sausages, eggs, cereal, etc.) breakfast as well. It costs between 8 and 10 Euros.

Menu del Día or a Pilgrim’s Menu

Menú del Día or a set meal that includes a starter, a main, a drink (wine, beer, water, soda), bread, and dessert or coffee is a very popular lunch option everywhere in Spain not only on the Camino de Santiago. A typical menu costs between 10 and 14 Euros. The quality of the menu varies. I had some amazing menus and some poor meals on the Camino. Usually, in cities and busy towns, menus have more options and are of better quality. The worst meals I had in albergues/restaurants in the middle of nowhere. After finishing my meal I was almost as hungry as before.

If you’re on a special diet e.g. vegetarian or vegan in small towns/villages it might be difficult to find a suitable menu. In cities and bigger towns, it’s not a problem as many restaurants have vegetarian/vegan menu options. The best option for you is to cook for yourself.

Dinner

The most expensive meal on the Camino de Santiago. We don’t often go out for dinner on the Camino but we do go out for a drink which is not expensive. Dinner in a restaurant with a glass of wine will cost you around 20 Euros per person depending on the place and chosen meal.

For a beer or a glass of wine at the bar, you’ll pay an average of 2-3 Euros. It may include a simple tapa. Many bars in Asturias and Galicia offer a free tapa with every drink you order. It might be a small portion of tortilla, peanuts, a small cheese or ham sandwich, etc.

Make sure to try typical Galician dishes Pulpo a la Feira (cooked octopus) and Pimientos de Padrón (fried green peppers) are great with beer. In Santiago de Compostela there are a couple of amazing tapas bars on Rúa do Franco and Rúa da Raiña streets.

In the Basque Country, Cantabria and Navarra, they serve pintxos, a more sophisticated version of tapas. Pintxos don’t come with your drink, you have to pay extra for them. A pintxo costs 2-3 Euro and it’s usually absolutely delicious stuff. If you happen to walk one of the routes through Northern Spain e.g. the French Camino or the Northern Way make sure to try pintxos in San Sebastian, Bilbao, Santander, Bilbao, or Pamplona.  

If you’re planning to go out for a drink and a tapa regularly add 30-50 Euro (depending on how long you’re going to walk) to your Camino budget. 

Trying local food on the Camino de Santiago is a part of the experience. Some dishes are not to be missed e.g. Tarta de Santiago, tapas and pintxos, Pimientos de Padron, and Pulpo a la Feira are some of them.

Extra expenses on the Camino

Luggage delivery service on the Camino

The service is available on all major Camino de Santiago routes. The more popular the route is the more companies offer backpack delivery services. The average price is 7-8 Euros per backpack per stage. It might vary depending on the distance, route popularity, etc. You can use the service for the entire Camino or only for selective stages e.g. the roughest ones that involve walking long distances or have many ascents and descents.

You can decide whether you need it or not on the way. Try to walk with your backpack and if it’s too heavy or too difficult you can always start using the luggage delivery service. It’s important to remember that many public albergues don’t allow luggage delivery which means you’ll have to stay in private albergues or hotels.

Laundry

It is one of our main extra expenses on the Camino de Santiago. We do machine washing more or less twice a week. Many albergues (both public and private) have self-service washing machines and dryers that work with coins. The machines are usually quite big; you can share one load between 3 or 4 people. It’s 3-4 Euros per load for washing and about the same for drying. If it’s a sunny day we hang our clothes outside, if it’s rainy and cold we use a dryer. Sometimes the machines are free but you have to buy detergent. Many people do hand washing. Most albergues have washing basins and drying lines.

Entrance fees

Walking is the main activity on the Camino. Usually, you’re too tired after a full day of walking to do any sightseeing but some attractions just can’t be skipped. Like the Cathedral of León on the Camino Francés or the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao on the Camino del Norte. I’d suggest adding 20-30 Euros extra for entrance fees and tickets.

The cost of transportation

You’re probably not going to use any on the Camino itself but you’ll have to get to the starting point of your route and back home from Santiago de Compostela. If you’re coming from Europe your transport expenses won’t be very high if you buy your plane tickets a couple of months in advance. You can use one of the budget airlines to get to Madrid or Barcelona and from there catch a local flight, bus, or train to your final destination.

To get back from Santiago, you can take local transport to Madrid, Porto, etc., and from there fly back home. If you come from overseas e.g. US, Australia, Canada, etc. your international flight will be one of your biggest expenses. I’d suggest adding 60-70 Euros to your Camino budget for local transport expenses. 

Different Camino routes start in different places, some of them are easy to reach like Lisbon or Porto, the beginning of the Portuguese Way, some are more difficult like Oviedo, the beginning of the Camino Primitivo, or Irún, the starting point of the Northern Camino.

The average cost of getting to the starting points of the Camino de Santiago

The cost of getting to Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port (Camino Francés)

Bus Pamplona – St.Jean-Pied-de-Port – 22 Euro

Train Bayonne – St.Jean-Pied-de-Port – 15 Euro

In total getting to St.Jean will work out between 40 and 50 Euro depending on how and from where you’re coming.

The cost of getting to Irún (Camino del Norte)

The cost of getting to Oviedo (Camino Primitivo)

The cost of transport from Santiago de Compostela

There are direct flights with budget airlines from Santiago to the UK, Switzerland, Ireland, Italy, Malta, etc. If you buy your ticket a couple of months in advance you can get a really good deal e.g. a flight to the UK for 25 Euros.

The cost of travel Insurance for the Camino

This is an important thing to have if you’re going to travel abroad and planning to do outdoor activities. Walking the Camino is not a high-risk venture but it’s always recommended to have travel insurance that can cover your medical expenses (in case you need any), gear loss, or trip cancellation. Note, if you have a European Health Insurance card you don’t need any extra medical insurance for Spain or Portugal. The cost of Camino travel insurance varies depending on the company, the policy, a person’s age, etc.

World Nomads offers simple and flexible travel insurance. Buy at home or while traveling and claim online from anywhere in the world.

My detailed budget breakdown for the Camino Francés

The French Way is the most popular Camino route. Walking it I wrote down everything I spent. I didn’t try to do it the cheapest way. If I felt like staying in private I did, if I wanted to eat a menu or go out for a drink I went.

The cost is for 33 days; 31 days of walking, 1 day in St.Jean-Pied-de-Port, and 1 day in Santiago de Compostela.

In total, I spent 1235 Euros in 33 days or 37 Euros per day. It includes accommodation, food, all extra expenses, bus tickets from Barcelona to St.Jean-Pied-de-Port, and a train ticket from Santiago to Madrid.

How much did I spend?

Accommodation – 500 Euro or 15 Euro per day on average. I stayed 10 nights in public albergues, 14 nights in private albergues, and 9 nights in private rooms including one night in a spa hotel in Astorga. If you don’t stay in hotels and stick to albergues (public and private) your average accommodation cost will be 10-12 Euros per day.

Eating out – 327 Euros or 10 Euros per day on average. I didn’t eat Menú del Día every day but stopped for breakfast quite often. It includes going out for tapas in Logroño and Santiago de Compostela. If you cook for yourself or eat takeaways from supermarkets you can completely exclude eating out from your budget.

Grocery shopping – 214 Euro or 6,5 Euro per day. If you don’t eat out and mostly make your own food your grocery shopping will be more, between 350 and 400 Euros per person.

Drinks (coffee, wine, beer) – 68 Euros or 2 Euros per day. I stopped every day for coffee and sometimes went out for a glass of wine or a beer. If you don’t stop for coffee it’ll save you about 40 Euros on the longer Camino routes.

Transport – 81 Euros. 50 Euros to get from Barcelona to Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port; bus Barcelona – Pamplona, 28 Euros, and bus Pamplona – St.Jean, 22 Euros. A train ticket from Santiago de Compostela to Madrid was 31 Euros.

Extras (entrance fee, laundry, etc.) – 45 Euros or 1,4 Euros per day on average.

I didn’t use a luggage transfer service but if you’re going to use it add 6 Euros to your daily budget. For 31 walking days, it’ll be 186 Euros extra.

The cost of essential gear

For walking the Camino de Santiago you don’t need any special gear. There are two important items that you can bring for the Camino – comfortable walking shoes and a suitable backpack. These two you’re going to use every day walking for hours. I’d recommend investing in both. You don’t need heavy hiking boots for walking the Camino unless you’re planning to walk it in winter.

In our opinion, a pair of light hiking shoes are great for walking the Camino. As for your pack, a 30-40l backpack should be enough. if your stuff doesn’t fit in it means you’re trying to pack too much. If you’re planning to do some Camino training to prepare better for the pilgrimage it’s best to wear the same hiking shoes and backpack you’re going to use on the Camino.

The average cost of the essential Camino gear

This is the list of essential items one will need on the Camino. The given examples are for women, men’s gear costs more or less the same.

More details on what to pack for the Camino for different seasons for men and women can be found in our Camino de Santiago packing list post.

Comparing the cost of different routes

As I mentioned above up to now we’ve walked 9 Camino de Santiago routes: Camino Francés, Camino Portuguese from Lisbon, Camino del Norte, Camino Primitivo, Camino Inglés, Camino Finisterre-Muxía, Via de la Plata, Camino del Salvador, and Camino de Gran Canaria. We’ve done all the major routes in Spain and Portugal. Portugal overall is a bit cheaper than Spain. Things like transport (local trains), hotels, and eating out. 

The following routes can be relatively easily done for 25 Euros per person per day.

Camino Francés

Camino Portuguese from Porto

Camino Primitivo

Camino Finisterre-Muxía

Camino Inglés

Camino de San Salvador

It doesn’t mean you can’t walk other routes spending 25 Euro per day but it’ll be more difficult due to the higher cost of accommodation and/or lack of public albergues.

Camino Francés, Camino Portuguese, and Camino Primitivo

The most popular Camino routes are the cheapest ones because they have more infrastructure for pilgrims; many municipal and private albergues, special pilgrim’s menus at restaurants, etc. The Camino Frances, the Portuguese Camino from Porto (both the Central and the Coastal Route), and the Camino Primitivo have public albergues pretty much at the end of every stage. You can plan your walk the way you stay 90% of the time at public albergues which means you’ll pay as little as 7-8 Euros per person per night on average. The French route has the most accommodation options 

Vía de la Plata & Portuguese Camino from Lisbon

On less popular Camino routes like the Silver Route or the Portuguese Camino from Lisbon, accommodation is more expensive. On the Via de la Plata all public albergues cost 10 Euro which is a bit more than on the Camino Frances. On the Portuguese Camino from Lisbon, there are few public albergues every other night we stayed at a guesthouse or a private albergues. On the other hand, eating out on these routes was less expensive.

Camino Finisterre-Muxía and Camino Inglés

Both routes are very short, 3-5 days even if you stay at hotels all the time it won’t ruin your budget. Both the Camino Finisterre and the English Way have enough public albergues and many private albergues you’ll be able to walk them spending 25 per person Euro a day. The only problem on both routes is there are not many supermarkets but most of the towns have at least a small grocery store.

Camino del Norte

The Camino del Norte (the first half of it) was our most expensive route. The part of the route through Asturias and Galicia was more or less the same as other Camino routes. Northern Spain (the Basque Country and Cantabria) is overall more expensive than the rest of the country. Accommodation is significantly more expensive in the popular touristy cities such as San Sebastian and some small coastal towns in the Basque Country. There are public albergues in the Basque Country but many of them are open only during the peak season (July and August), the rest of the year pilgrims stay in hostels or hotels. Eating out is more expensive in Northern Spain if you want to walk the Camino del Norte on a tight budget you’ll have to make food.

Camino de Gran Canaria

Out of the 9 Camino routes, the Camino de Gran Canaria worked out the most expensive per day. It’s only 3-4 walking days so it didn’t cost us a fortune though. There are no albergues on the route pilgrims stay in hotels or guesthouses which are a lot more expensive. Cooking is not possible because most places don’t have a kitchen which means you have to eat out 2-3 times a day. Our average budget was 60 euros per person per day for this route.

Camino de Santiago money-saving tips

First of all, always make sure to have some cash with you. Public albergues and some private albergues don’t accept credit cards. No need to carry a lot of cash just enough to pay for accommodation, food, etc. for a couple of days. On most routes, you’ll get an ATM every day. We usually draw 300 Euro at once and when we have less than 40 Euro we draw again. Most hotels, supermarkets, grocery stores, and restaurants accept cards.

Tip 1. Eating out every day adds quite a bit to the cost if you want to save money cooking food is the way to go.

Tip 2. Book your international flight in advance many airlines have special prices for early booking. Find out which airlines fly from your destination and subscribe to their newsletter to make sure you won’t miss their special offers. Use sites like Skyscanner to search for the cheapest flights. Book your local flights in advance as well. Many budget airlines often have great early booking deals, you can get a flight for 20-30 Euros.

Tip 3. From our experience, it’s cheaper to walk the Camino if you’re two or more people. A double or a triple room works out cheaper per person than a single room. If you’re going to walk along you can always team up with another pilgrim and rent a twin room (with two single beds) it’ll be cheaper than paying for a single private room. In many places, you can find apartments that can accommodate 2-4 people. If you’re a group walking together you can always rent one. These apartments often have a well-equipped kitchen, a washing machine, etc.

Tip 4. Cooking together is another way to save money if you’re several people cooking together you can split the cost of the shopping. Whatever you buy it’s usually too much for one person anyway and you end up leaving half of it in the kitchen.

Camino planning resources

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The pretty half of Stingy Nomads, responsible for all our land adventures (hiking, climbing, walking the Camino) and following them write-ups. Alya loves walking since she was a child, she prefers to walk 1000 km with a backpack rather than to do a 10 000 km road trip (actually any road trip). Alya is a big fan of Latin America, the Spanish language, and dancing. Every time we go away she desperately misses our dog Chile.