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Can walking the Camino de Santiago de Compostela be done with kids and leave you sane enough to tell the tale? The answer, amazingly, is yes and this blog is about sharing two families’ experiences of one week on ‘The Way’.
Let’s be honest; selling the idea of a pilgrimage isn’t the same as whipping out a family pass to Disneyland. It was never going to be easy to get a 10, 11 and 15-year-old trio of girls whooped up about the idea of carrying 10 per cent of their body weight over 113k of Spanish countryside – often with pre-7am starts.
In fact, why would we even try? A question which was, in truth, nagging away at me the week before departure when it seemed unfathomable that we weren’t going for a fortnight’s well-earned flop round a pool like, apparently, everyone else we knew.
By August 5, 2012, however, there was no turning back. Packed into a taxi to Stansted Airport, our 7-day portion of this ancient pilgrim path awaited us: three adults; three kids; six ruthlessly-edited rucksacks and one donkey (no, just kidding…but I’ll admit that in those early and deliriously deluded days of planning our trip, we had seriously considered taking Billie ‘burro’ Holiday- a panda-eyed Pyrenean donkey belonging to Cristina’s Spain-based sister.) Now that would have been mucho funny.
Camino with kids 
I got this site from myy pal who informed me regarding this web page and at the moment this
time I am visiting this web site and reading very informative articles at this place.
Thank you so much. I hope you do the camino soon…you will love it I’m sure.
Hi,
we’ve walked the Camino with our 6 months and 3 year old baby girl and our 3 year old daughter. First time in 2012 we walked from Burgos to Ponferrada (just with the 3 year old). Now we continued with both girls from Ponferrada to Santiago de Compostela. We created a facebook page which does not only describe our experiences on the way but also contains tips about transportation of kids, packing lists etc.
Up to now it’s mostly written in German, but the english translation will be finished this week.
I am really very happy to find more and more parents jumping into this adventure!
If you are interested in the facebook page, pleasse follow this link: https://www.facebook.com/camino.de.santiago.with.children
Louisa
Hi Louisa, We’re planning to go with our 8 month old. Tried to find the fbook page, but no luck Is it still around? Thanks!.
Hi Kristin,
I’m sorry but the fb page is no longer available….
Louisa
Hello! I have created a group in Facebook exclusively for those who are looking for information on walking the Camino with children. I have added a link to your page in the files so people can learn from your journey.
I will be walking this year myself with children and have been researching it as much as I could. I found a lot of helpful information, including yours, but haven’t found a site where I felt like I could ask questions without judgement. When I have asked questions, I found there are some who don’t agree with taking kids on the Camino and aren’t shy about voicing their opinion of it. This is why I created the group.
If you are on FB (I know not everyone is), I hope you will join us and give advise to anyone who needs it. https://www.facebook.com/groups/caminobabies/
Please let me know if you have any questions or are not comfortable with your page being shared.
Thank you!
Heather
https://www.facebook.com/groups/caminobabies/
Hi Healther. Thank you so much for your post. I have no problem with my link being shared – but I’m not on fb myself. Good idea though and best of luck with it!
Sandra
The Camino de Santiago is a fantastic experience! I did three routes – French, Portuguese & Northern Camino – and can’t wait to do it again. However, now that I want to get pregnant I had serious doubts about doing it with children… although this post has given me courage! I also came across this one with tips about doing the Camino with your family and I think it’s a great adventure!!
https://www.pilgrim.es/en/plan-your-way/how-to-do-the-way/with-your-family
However, it says that you should wait until they’re 8 y.o. I see yours is 10. From your experience, do you think it´s worth waiting or you can bring a 5 – 6 y.o. to do it?
Cheers, Sam.
Hi Sam. Thanks for reading. I’d say 8 is probably the youngest you’d be wanting your kids to be before getting them on the Camino. All children’s are different of course but as you’ll know you need to get up and get going each morning and can’t risk too many delays while you persuade your young ones to get up off the ground when they are bored and tired! But I would say that the last stretch we did – Sarria to Santiago was prob the best for a youngster. The day stages are fairly short and there’s lots of opportunities to stop and eat, look, or just rest on way. Good luck with whatever you decide. And lovely to hear from you!