Avoid the crowds and start your Camino de Santiago in the Algarve
This largely off-road route avoids the pilgrim-clogged ‘classic route’ through France and Spain
Discover a secret stretch of a classic pilgrimage
Credit: Try Portugal
“There are as many caminos as there are pilgrims travelling to Santiago,” anthropologist Nancy Frey writes in her book
Pilgrim Stories. That might surprise anyone who thinks there is one definitive route to the supposed burial place of St James at Santiago de Compostela, the third holiest place in the Christian world after Rome and Jerusalem.
Theoretically, your pilgrimage can start outside your own front door. But what Frey also means is a pilgrimage is as much about your state of mind as the route you follow. Which camino, how far you walk and whether you start in France, Spain or Portugal all depend on what you want to gain.