Your Real Number of Days

Start by working out how many days you will actually walk; every other decision in this book depends on it.

The formula:

Vacation days = walking days + 3.

The three extra days are the flight out, the trip to your starting town, and the trip home. They leave no room for a rest day, a day of sightseeing or a spare day for a blister; if you want any of those, add them on top.

If you have the usual American allowance, start from this: ten days of paid time off, taken from one weekend to the weekend after next, give you a 16-day window. That means up to 13 walking days, enough for any route in this book.

Where the three days go

1. Day 0 — the overnight flight. Most flights to Madrid and Porto leave the East Coast in the evening and land the next morning. From the West Coast you will connect, and land later.
2. Day 1 — getting to the start. Airport, then a train or bus of 2 to 5 hours to your starting town. You arrive tired, collect your credential, eat early and sleep. Don’t plan to walk on this day.
3. Last day — going home. You reach Santiago at the end of your last walking day. The next morning, a train or bus takes you back to Madrid or Porto, and you fly home the same day if your flight leaves after mid-afternoon.

Two of the routes in this book need one or two more travel days because their starting points are hard to reach: O Cebreiro (Chapter 7) and A Fonsagrada (Chapter 9). Their chapters say so up front.

The 16-day window, day by day

The window spends ten workdays and three weekends. Fly out on Friday evening, straight from work, and the same ten days off give you a 17-day window and one more walking day. It works, but you start the Camino tired.

Your days, your routes

Find your number of vacation days, door to door, and read across. Every route earns the Compostela.

O Cebreiro and the Primitivo include the extra travel days their chapters recommend.

With eight days you can squeeze Sarria into five walking days, but one of them is 18 miles (29 km), from Palas de Rei to Arzúa. With fewer than eight, the Compostela is out of reach: walk a shorter stretch for the experience, or wait for a longer window.

Work out your own number on the worksheet in Appendix A, or with the Route Selector on the website.

Rest days, buffers and jet lag

None of the plans in this book includes a rest day. On a walk of six to nine days you rarely need one, and the Gentle plans already keep most days under 12 miles. On the longer routes (Ponferrada, Porto), a rest day is a good idea if you can add it; spend it in a town with something to see, such as Ponte de Lima, Pontevedra or Sarria.

A buffer day is different: a free day at the end, in Santiago, that absorbs anything that goes wrong on the way. A sprained ankle, a missed bus or a full town can cost you a day. If your window allows only one extra day, make it a buffer, not a rest day.

Jet lag. Spain is six hours ahead of New York and nine ahead of Los Angeles; Portugal is one hour behind Spain, so set your watch forward an hour when you cross the bridge from Valença to Tui. Day 1, the travel day, is your adjustment day:

• Sleep on the plane if you can, and stay awake until a normal Spanish bedtime on Day 1.
• Eat at local times from the first day. Dinner in Spain starts at 8:30 or 9 p.m.; pilgrim menus are often served earlier.
• Walk in daylight on your first morning. Most people feel normal by the second or third walking day.

If you are flying from the West Coast or connecting through another city, consider adding a night at the airport city before traveling on.