Peter Nientied
Two contrasting places on the Camino de Santiago
25 or so years ago I visited Santiago de Compostela, the final destination of pilgrims who walk one of the camino’s to the cathedral in Santiago. In 2025 I went back. The city had changed a lot, the pilgrim city has become a tourist city. I started to read about this development and talked with people. In this photo series I put side by side the space of the final destination Santiago and the sleepy village of Pendueles on the Camino del Norte that is still a pilgrim’s domain.
In Santiago de Compostela 499.173 pilgrims were registered in 2024 by the Camino de Santiago’s Pilgrim Reception Office. 43% of them were Spanish, the remainder from all other parts of the world. In 2003, 74,324 pilgrims were registered. The popularity of the Camino has increased, with a dip during the Covid period. Santiago’s cathedral and some of the camino's are UNESCO listed cultural heritage. Tourism boards promote the camino. No statistics are published about ‘non-pilgrims’ visitors to Santiago, estimates suggest about 1.5 – 2 million people per year.
Pilgrims who walk (or bike) at least 100 km. receive a camino certificate, but routes in Spain can be as long as 1000 km. (the Via de la Plata, the 'silver way', staring in Sevilla). The so-celled French route is the most popular. There are many recognised routes to the final point of Santiago’s cathedral. where they all come together.
The Camino is changing. In earlier days it was a quest for solitary pilgrims with spiritual, personal objectives, doing a whole camino, meeting people on the way, staying in dedicated albuerges (hostels). In 2025 we see, next to traditional motives for walking the Camino, wellness and fitness tourism. Commercial services (luggage transport, hotels etc.) are widely available nowadays. Big groups do the last 100 km of the route.
In the city of Santiago the discussion about ‘overtourism' (‘masificación’) has started. Commercial activities to cater to the demands of visitors and pilgrims now dominate the cityscape. The sheer number of people and the emerging gentrification (homes turned into tourist apartments, rising prices) are detested by many residents.
Click to enlarge
A striking contrast with Santiago provides the village of Pendueles on the historical Camino del Norte route that starts in the Spanish – French border town of Irún. 820 km in 35 sections lead to the cathedral of Santiago. This camino is a bit harder to do and less popular than the French route. This latter point, together with walking along the coast and the moderate climate, is a reason why hikers select this route.
During the winter Pendueles is a sleepy village with some 200 residents. In the period from April to October pilgrims cross this village, make a stop for a breakfast at Albergue Bar Castiellu, buy foodstuff in the tiny supermercado, or spend a night in one of the few albuerges or in the modest hotel. In Pendueles one finds Albuerge Aves de Paso, a so-called donativo, i.e. pilgrims voluntarily pay what they can or want to afford for a bed, a warm meal and a breakfast.
I volunteered as ‘hospitalero’ in albuerge Aves de Paso. The owner, Anna Visser, bought the place in 2021 from a retiring albuerge owner, changed it but kept its donativo-character. She tells her story in her book ‘My Albuerge along the Camino’ (in Dutch language, 2025).
Click to enlarge
Further reading and watching:
Arte TV made a good video about the situation in Santiago. Click here.
All numbers pertaining to registered pilgrims can be found here.
A 2023 research article on motivations to walk the camno is by S. Brumec et al. in the journal Pastoral Psychology, click here. Mercedes Sánchez Barba wrote in 2022 an interesting thesis about the positive mental and health benefits of pilgrims, click here. Conclusion: walking the camino is good for you.
You find many sources on social media, on all aspects of the Camino; individual blogs, descriptions of various routes and (often useful) information from commercial providers.