The Camino de Santiago on horseback

Choose your Camino. Before beginning your pilgrimage, choose the route that best suits both of you and your needs.

Any Camino is good to enjoy this experience. But have in mind that there are routes provided with more services where it will be easier to sort any unforeseen events, such as the Camino Francés or the Camino Portugués.

Here we leave some information about the most popular routes so you can check the stages, orography, levels of difficulty or accommodations, among some other things.

Plan your route. Check the stages you want to do and their difficulty degree. Remember that hydration and being well rested are essential for both of you, so remember that there are some routes, such as the Camino Francés, where there are relays between stages where you can stop with your horse.

In addition, remember that you will have to feed your partner along the Camino, so that is why you have to have in mind not only the places to rest but also where to buy food.

Choose correctly the dates. Work obligations or family and social engagements usually schedule our agenda and it is not always possible to choose the most suitable date. But like we said before, in horseback pilgrimage it is important to adapt not only to our needs but also to our partner’s ones.

That is why we recommend to do your Camino in autumn or spring, the best time to do it, especially in order to avoid extreme temperatures that can affect both of you.

Check the accommodation options. Like you have probably already imagined, there are not many accommodations that allow to horses to stay or that can provide services to care for them. That is why it is important that you plan the stages correctly and choose in advance where you will be staying at. In our website, we have an accommodation browser that can help you check the differnent options.

Gear up correctly. Beyond the essentials for the pilgrim’s backpack and a good first aid kit, when doing the Camino along with your horse you cannot forget:

• Saddle and stirrups.
• Cleaning tools.
• Helmet, gloves and reflective vest.
• Horse’s documentation.
• Bandages and protectors for the horse.
• A vessel to feed your horse.

Remember that, if you do not want to carry too many things, you can count on our Paq Mochila, our rucksack transfer service consisting on transporting your bags (or your horse feed, if you want) from accommodation to accommodation.

That is what Andrés Ansó ‘Tala’ did, a pilgrim from Navarra who did his Camino del Norte from Portugalete along with his horse Cayetano in 2022. It was an experience that lasted more than 20 days in which they used the service provided by our Paq Mochila to carry both of their luggage.

We also would like to remind you that in Correos you can count on multiple services that can be useful for you along your pilgrimage. For example, our Paq Peregrino allows you to send a suitcase or a package to Santiago or to get rid of that extra stuff you packed initially.

And, when arriving to Santiago, just two minutes away from the Cathedral, you have our luggage storage (Rúa do Franco, 4), where you can leave your backpack or whatever you need in order to enjoy the city with no burdens.

Entering the Obradoiro on horseback

A lot of pilgrims who do the Camino on horseback ask themselves if they can enter the Obradoiro along with their route peer. And the answer is definitely yes. But with some conditions.

You must notify your arrival to the local police (the phone is 092) a few days in advance. They will indicate the mandatory path and will grant you a permit of entrance that allows a brief permanence before the Cathedral.

You must consider that this entrance must take place before 9:00 am. After that, the mount must be led to the closest riding school or accommodation in order to enjoy the visit to Santiago.

How to get the Compostela

If you do the Camino on horseback, you can get the Compostela just like everybody else. The requirements are the same as if you did the Camino on foot. That is, covering 100 km of any route and, at least, the last stage should be arriving to Santiago.

If you start your Camino outside of Spain, you must cover a minimum of 70 km in Spanish territory, and the last stage must also be arriving to Santiago.

We hope this article is useful if you are planning to do your Camino on horseback in the next months. We hope to see you soon entering the Obradoiro!