The Camino Francés from Pamplona, Burgos, León and Ponferrada: km, stages and climbing from each start

By August Frederik Kramer, who has walked the Camino twice · Last updated 20 September 2026

Nobody asks how long the Camino Francés is; they ask how long it is from where they can start. So here it is from the places people start: from Pamplona, 701.1 km in 33 stages; from Burgos, 485.7 km in 23; from León, 304.6 km in 14; from Ponferrada, 204.5 km in 10. The whole route from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port is 768.6 km in 36 stages on our plan, and the last 114.4 km from Sarria, the Compostela walk, has a guide of its own.

The number nobody publishes is what starting later does to the climbing. The Francés climbs 13.6 m for every kilometre walked. From León it climbs 14.8, more than the whole route, because both of the big climbs, the 1,505 m high point above Foncebadón and O Cebreiro at 1,349 m, are still ahead of you, and the 181.1 km of meseta you skipped climb 5.9 m per kilometre. Start at León and you keep every hill the route has and leave out the flat.

Eight starting points, one track

Each row is a place people start from, with what is left to the cathedral on our track, how many of our stages that is, the metres you will climb, the climb per kilometre, and the highest point still ahead of you.

A start marked * is not one of our stage ends: Ponferrada sits on the stage from Molinaseca to Camponaraya, and its figures are measured from the town’s own position on the line, matched by coordinates. The stage count for it includes the part-stage you begin on.

From León: 14 stages, and steeper than the whole route

León to Santiago is 304.6 km in 14 stages on our plan, which is a fortnight to the day, the horizon the German and Italian searches keep asking for. It climbs 4,519 m, 14.8 m per kilometre against 13.6 for the route from Saint-Jean, and the reason is where the climbs are: the route’s high point of 1,505 m comes after León and so does O Cebreiro, at 1,349 m. On a fortnight from León you walk both, and the descent that does the most damage on the whole route, day 26 from Santa Marina de Somoza to Molinaseca, 982 m down, is in your first week.

What you skip is the meseta. Burgos to León is 181.1 km and 9 stages, and it climbs 1,068 m between them: 5.9 m per kilometre, 24% of the route carrying 10% of its climbing, between 765 and 936 m above the sea. It is not low; it is flat and high, which is a different thing, and it is the stretch whose absence makes the León start steeper than the route.

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From Ponferrada: 204.5 km and the steepest start of all

Ponferrada is 204.5 km out, 10 stages on our plan, and climbs 3,434 m: 16.8 m per kilometre, the steepest of the 8 starts in the table. The route’s high point is 18.8 km behind you when you set out, so what is ahead is one climb, O Cebreiro at 1,349 m, with no plateau to spread it over. Ponferrada is also where the Camino de Invierno turns off; what that detour costs in kilometres and metres is in the Camino de Invierno guide.

The 36 stages, measured

Generated from the route itself rather than copied from a guidebook, and split where our stage planner picks: 36 days averaging 21.4 km. The first of them, 25.9 km and 1,351 m over the Pyrenees to Orreaga / Roncesvalles at 52.2 m per kilometre, is the steepest stage on any of the ten routes on this site and has a guide of its own.

Only 3 of the 36 stages climb 20 m or more per kilometre, and the first is one of them. The biggest descent is day 26, Santa Marina de Somoza to Molinaseca, 982 m down off the Montes de León, which is a problem for feet rather than lungs: why is in our guide to the ten worst descents.

From Sarria: the last 114.4 km

Sarria is 114.4 km from the cathedral on our track, 5 stages, with comfortable margin over the 100 km the Compostela requires. It is the one start on the Francés that needs no arithmetic, and it is not the only route where the line falls somewhere surprising: our guide to the last 100 km has all seven.

What this page does not measure

The Camino Aragonés, which joins at Puente la Reina from the Somport pass, and the two places where the waymarked route offers a choice we have not measured both sides of: Samos or San Xil after Triacastela, and the high path over the hospitales after Roncesvalles. We hold one line. Nothing here is about albergues, which change every season, or about crowds, which we do not count; the numbers are the route’s, not the people on it. If you are choosing between routes rather than reading about this one, our comparison of all ten routes puts all ten side by side.

The full Camino Francés route page: every stage, the elevation profile and the app

Common questions

How far is the Camino Francés from León?

304.6 km on our track, in 14 stages, climbing 4,519 m. That is 14.8 m per kilometre, steeper than the whole route from Saint-Jean at 13.6, because both big climbs are after León.

How many days does the Camino Francés take from Burgos?

23 walking days on our plan for 485.7 km, with 5,587 m of climbing. The first 9 of them are the meseta to León, at 5.9 m per kilometre.

How far is it from Pamplona to Santiago?

701.1 km in 33 stages, climbing 8,645 m. Starting at Pamplona skips the Pyrenees day but keeps everything else the route has.

How far is it from Ponferrada to Santiago?

204.5 km, 10 stages, 3,434 m of climbing at 16.8 m per kilometre, the steepest of the common starts, with O Cebreiro at 1,349 m still ahead.

Is the Camino Francés flat?

On average it climbs 13.6 m per kilometre, flatter than 6 of the ten routes we measure. The flat part is the meseta, Burgos to León, at 5.9; the two big climbs are the Pyrenees on day 1 and the Montes de León and O Cebreiro after León.

Where do the last 100 km of the Camino Francés start?

Sarria, at 114.4 km from the cathedral on our track, 5 stages out, with room to spare over the 100 km the Compostela requires.

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