Guidebooks and apps can be useful tools when planning your Camino and handy references to have while you’re on the trail.

With so many to choose from, it can be difficult to know where to start. A good Camino guide should provide practical information on routes, stages, accommodation and facilities along the way.

Here are a few popular Camino guidebooks and apps to help you get started.

Camino Guidebooks

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The Brierley Guides

The Camino Guides by John Brierley are amongst the most well-known and popular guides for the Camino Routes. Described as a Practical and Mystical Manuals for the Modern-Day Pilgrim, these comprehensive guides contain all the information you’d expect. They also have 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 navigating 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. The guides are 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.

Camino Apps

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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.