Camino Bound

Pamplona to Burgos

Pamplona to Burgos is approximately a 205 km trek across Spain. Pamplona is a lovely city to start your Camino Frances  where approximately 1% of pilgrims start here. The city is filled with loads of history, culture, and food and is famous worldwide for the running of the bulls during the San Fermín Festival, which is held annually from July 6 to July 14. This festival was brought to literary renown with the 1926 publication of Ernest Hemingway’s novel The Sun Also Rises.  Hemingway spent hours writing his novel at the art deco Cafe Iruna just off the main plaza del Castillo. 

Pamplona with a population of 200,000 people is one of Spain’s greenest cities and a former bastion of the Roman Empire, Pamplona is just as much worth a visit during the remaining fifty weeks of the year for its history and modern art museums, its open recreational spaces and its glorious religious monuments.

The Camino Frances from Pamplona to Burgos leads you through many important cities before you reach the big city of Burgos like Puente la Reina, Estella, Logrono, Najera, Santo Domingo, and Belorado.  The terrain features rolling hills and beautiful tree-lined rivers, earthen paths as well as paved, and vistas that will be burned in your brain for a lifetime. Each town has it’s own story and has numerous hidden treasures that are worthy of being explored.

While in Burgos, the home of El Cid, we suggest visiting the world-class museum of Human Evolution and the breathtaking Burgos Gothic Cathedral (bring your pilgrim credentials for a discount and your sello/stamp. NO packs allowed) along with dozens of other must-see historical sites and museums.  The nightlife is vibrant and the cuisine delightful. This town offers lots of places to rest, watch the world go by, and explore the culture and history before you head home. 

If you choose this route you will have just walked from Pamplona to Burgos which is a good first stage of completing the entire Camino Frances which can be done in three stages.

Your first steps on the Camino start here.