CaminantesThe Camino de Santiago in April: 54,642 pilgrims and 13h 21m of daylight
By August Frederik Kramer, who has walked the Camino twice · Last updated 21 September 2026
Two things about April can be measured, so here they are. 54,642 pilgrims collected the Compostela in Santiago in April 2025, 10.3% of the year and the number 7 month of twelve; that is about 1,821 arrivals a day. This year the office counted 56,213 in the same month. In 2018 it was 22,068, so April has grown 2.5 times over in seven years.
The other measurable thing is light. In the middle of April Santiago gets 13h 21m of daylight. Take off 1h 30m for breakfast, coffee and lunch and walk at 4 km/h, and the day holds 47.4 km. Every one of the 214 stages on our 10 routes fits inside that, and the longest of them, 34.9 km from Villaharta to Alcaracejos on the Camino Mozárabe, still leaves 3h 07m of light.
What April is like, in numbers
April is when the Camino wakes up. March brought 14,068 pilgrims; April brought 54,642, 3.9 times as many, and May another 78,650 on top. The light is already generous at 13h 21m, only 1h 59m short of June, so no stage on any route is a race against the evening. What April does not yet have is the late-summer crowd, with one exception: Holy Week, which falls in April more often than in March, and is the one week of the month worth planning around.
Where April sits in the year
The Pilgrim’s Office’s monthly count for 2025, with the daylight in the middle of each month at Santiago’s latitude. The three quiet months are shown together because the office’s chart hides their labels.
| Month | Pilgrims | Share | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|
| March | 14,068 | 2.7 % | 11h 51m |
| April | 54,642 | 10.3 % | 13h 21m |
| May | 78,650 | 14.8 % | 14h 36m |
| June | 74,043 | 14.0 % | 15h 19m |
| July | 67,013 | 12.6 % | 15h 04m |
| August | 77,095 | 14.5 % | 13h 59m |
| September | 81,534 | 15.4 % | 12h 34m |
| October | 62,854 | 11.8 % | 11h 08m |
| November | 11,072 | 2.1 % | 9h 47m |
| January, February and December | 9,751 | 1.8 % | - |
The whole year, the routes, the countries and where people start are in our guide to how many people walk the Camino. If the light matters more to you than the crowd, our winter guide is the page that turns on it, and our guide to the best time of year takes every month in turn.
Know these words before your Camino. Spanish is preparation, the same as boots and stages. Try the free topic
Where the numbers come from
The pilgrim count is the Pilgrim’s Office’s own, read from its public dashboard on 21 September 2026; it counts Compostelas issued, so it is a floor. Daylight is computed for Santiago’s latitude on the middle day of the month, ignoring hills and horizon. The walking budget is our own rule of thumb, 4 km/h with 1h 30m of stops, the same one the winter guide uses, so the two pages cannot disagree.
Common questions
How many people walk the Camino in April?
54,642 pilgrims arrived in Santiago in April 2025, according to the Pilgrim’s Office, about 1,821 a day. It was the number 7 month of the year.
Is April busy on the Camino?
April carries 10.3% of the year’s pilgrims. The busiest month is September with 81,534; the quietest three, January, February and December, share fewer than ten thousand between them.
How much daylight is there in April?
13h 21m in the middle of the month at Santiago. At 4 km/h with 1h 30m of stops that is 47.4 km of walking, more than any stage on our ten routes needs.
Keep reading
How many people walk the Camino? 530,722 last year, and the count only goes up
The Pilgrim’s Office numbers in one place, with the arithmetic done: a doubling in ten years, 30.5% of everyone starting at Sarria, September overtaking August as the busiest month, and how many came from your country.
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Take it with you
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