Spain and Portugal for Visitors

Get your "passport" before you go.

Consistently wry, often side-splitting account of a cycle ride from Cornwall to Santiago to Bilbao, by an Englishman who had "never cycled much further than the nearest pub before."

You would expect it to be a Portuguese site given the topic, but no, it's Brazilian, also with English and Spanish versions.

High quality but Spanish-only guide.

Improbably, from a Basque supermarket chain, a great guide to the stages and hostels along the way, sorry, Way.

Guidebooks by one John Brierly, which he describes as "Practical and Mystical Manuals for the Modern Day Pilgrims."

Large collection of camino-related web links.

A long established site dealing with "walkable pilgrim routes to Santiago de Compostela," described for both pilgrims and recreational walkers.

Semi-official, slightly commercial guide.

French site, but you knew that, didn't you?

English association of friends of the Way.

From a 2000 trip, here you will find general bicycling information for the Camino, day-by-day itineries, recommended guidebooks and links.

Cryptic name for a site with lots of information and great photos.

There are various ways into Aragón from France; the most classic on the Camino de Santiago being through the mountain pass of Somport, historic town of Jaca (now a mountain resort) and Canfranc in the Valley of Aragón, or the Basque route from Saint Jean de Pied de Port to Roncesvalles, where the Basques gave Charlemagne's Frankish army such a trouncing that the Song of Roland maintains that their humiliation came at the hands of the Moors. The regional tourist board's website deals with both these routes and others.

From the regional tourist board.

Website promoting a book on the subject. In Spanish and English (book and site).

The Spanish-only website of the Spanish Federation of Associations of Friends of the Way of Saint James.

Guide to the Way, with plenty of information, though in ropey English.

In the author's words, the northern routes are for "those who have already completed one pilgrimage to Santiago by the more usual 'Camino Francés'".

Commercial portal with very detailed information from a web design company.

A site "based on trips made by a male overweight 60 plus couch potato, a heavy smoker for fifty years who had never before made a long journey by bicycle or gone on a camping expedition before riding to Santiago." So if he can do it...

Santiago-based bicycle rental company with a different angle. They will have your bike delivered wherever in Spain you would like to start your camino from, so freeing you from the hassles of both getting it there and taking it back with you. In addition, they have other imaginative ideas, such as a bicycle garaging service.

Almost the official sight for the Camino, though the word Xacobeo actually refers to a Jubilee year when making the pilgrimage is supposed to be especially meritorious. I found the most interesting material under "The Ways:" there is, of course, no single way to Santiago, any road that gets you there is valid, though there are about eight officially recognized routes. You will find the most famous Camino de Santiago described here as "The French Way."