Camino Guidebooks and Apps
Guidebooks can be a useful tool when planning your Camino and a valuable resource whilst on the trail.
But with such a wide range now available, how do you go about choosing one?
A good guidebook will have written descriptions of each stage, maps for reference, and detailed information on facilities and accommodation.
To get you started here are a few of the most popular Camino guides available:
The Brierley Guides
The Camino Guides by John Brierley are amongst the most well-known and popular guides for the Camino Routes. Described as Practical and Mystical Manuals for the Modern-Day Pilgrim, they contain all the information you’d expect from a good guidebook with a particular focus on the reflective aspects of the journey.
Stage descriptions are accompanied by easy-to-follow maps, giving a good route overview. Contact details are provided for accommodation options, and more detailed town/city maps are useful when entering and exiting the urban areas.
Routes covered include the Camino Francés, Portugués, Inglés and Finisterre.
The Cicerone Guides
The content of the Cicerone Guides varies slightly depending on the author and route, but all offer the same straightforward layout – both easy to follow and packed full of detail, without being overwhelming. They generally include: a section on planning, stage-by-stage route maps, elevation profiles, details on facilities & accommodation and give historical context to the route highlighting points of interest along the way.
Routes covered include the Camino Francés, Norte, Portugués, Primitivo, Inglés, Finisterre and Via de la Plata.
Village to Village Guides
The Village to Village Guides contain a wealth of practical information including suggested itineraries, stage descriptions & difficulty, route maps, elevation profiles and terrain. The Camino Francés guide is slightly bulkier than the Brierley guide, but is packed with helpful information and covers both the Francés and Finisterre routes in one book.
Routes covered include the Camino Francés, Norte, Portugués, Primitivo, Inglés and Finisterre.
You can purchase these guidebooks, plus many others, from the Confraternity of St James in London. Alternatively, you can find most titles available on Amazon.
Apps can be a really useful tool for navigating the Camino and planning your trip. However, it’s always advisable to bring along a good guidebook (containing maps of the route) in case of battery or signal issues.
Buen Camino
Created in 2014 by journalist and pilgrim Carlos Mencos, the Buen Camino App is one of the most widely used on the Camino. Some of the features include; route descriptions, an index of locations (and distances between them), and maps with your route and current location highlighted.
Routes available include the Camino Francés, Portugués, Norte, Primitivo, Inglés, Finisterre and Via de la Plata.
Camino Ninja
The Camino Ninja App is also a popular choice on the Camino due to its simple and user-friendly design. The app features route maps, accommodation details, elevation profiles and includes stage planning tools for most of the main Camino Routes.
Helpful for planning and on route navigation, it is available for both Android and iPhone.