The Camino Frances is the most popular Camino de Santiago route. It takes 30 days on average to complete. The longer your walk is, the more you spend. If you don’t have enough time or money to walk the entire route you can walk a part of it.
Let’s say your Camino budget is 1000 euros. If you walk for 30 days your daily spending limit will be around 33 euros. With that budget you will have to stay in albergues, do grocery shopping and cook . If you walk for 2 weeks with the same budget you can spend 70 euros per day. You can stay in private rooms and eat in restaurants.
Keep in mind that for getting the Compostela certificate you have to walk at least 100 km on any Camino route. To walk 100 km/62 mi with the average pace of 20 km/12.4 mi per day takes only 5 days. So if you are on a tight budget and want to have more comfort on the Camino Frances walk a part of it.
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Camino Frances planning tool
You can use our free planning tool to get a customized itinerary of the Camino Frances. Choose your daily distance and starting point and get an itinerary with walking stages and places to stay that suits you.
Camino Frances on 25, 40, and 50+ euros per person per day
When budgeting, keep in mind that some days you will go over the budget and some days stay under. Try to balance your spending so you don’t end up spending too much.
25 euros per person per day
It’s challenging but possible to walk the French Camino, spending 25 euros per day on average.
Accommodation. Mostly municipal (public) albergues, they charge 10-12 euros per bed. Try to stay as much as possible in those otherwise you will spend all your daily budget on accommodation. Private albergues are more expensive between 15 and 20 euros per bed.
Food. Doing grocery shopping and cooking. Eating out is not an option. Most albergues have kitchens so you will be able to cook. Big supermarkets have canteens where you can get affordable meals in case you stay in a place without a kitchen.
Extras. There won’t be much left after paying for food and accommodation but you can stop for coffee from time to time, do laundry, or buy an entrance ticket to a museum.
40 euros per person per day
It’s a good budget for a comfortable walk but you will still have to stay often in albergues. 40 euros is exactly how much I spent per day walking the Camino Frances. You can see my detailed budget breakdown below.
Accommodation. Albergues (private and municipal), once or twice a week you can stay in a private room. Private albergues are usually smaller and more comfortable. You can stay mostly in those and every once in a while in a private room. Private rooms with shared facilities (bathrooms) are cheaper.
Food. Try to combine cooking and eating in restaurants. If you stay mostly in albergues you can eat out once a day. If you rather spend more on accommodation then do grocery shopping or buy take aways.
Extras. You can stop for coffee every day, do machine laundry every 3-4 days, and buy entrance tickets.
Luggage delivery. If you decide to use luggage transfer service add to your daily budget 5-7 euros.
50+ euros per person per day
If you’re ready to spend more than 50 euros per person per day your Camino walk will be very comfortable.
Accommodation. You can stay in private rooms pretty much every night. It’s easier to do if you’re two people walking together as double rooms work out cheaper per person than single rooms. Expect to pay around 30 euros per person on average for a double room and 40+euros for a single room.
Food. Depending on your actual budget and the cost of accommodation you can decide how much you want to spend on food a day. You can probably eat breakfast and lunch at a restaurant almost every day. As for dinner going out every day for one month will end up costing a lot. Maybe a couple of time a week.
Extras. Add 50 euros extra to your budget for entrance fees, laundry, etc.
Luggage transfer. If you prefer your luggage to be transferred from hotel to hotel add 5-7 euros per day to your Camino Frances budget.
The cost of accommodation on the Camino Frances
You can find two types of accommodation on the Camino Frances; shared rooms (albergues) and private rooms (hotels, guesthouses).
Albergues (pilgrims’ hostels)
Albergues are special hostels for pilgrims with one or several dorm rooms with bunk beds (usually) and shared facilities (bathrooms, toilets, and a kitchen). Albergues can be public (municipal) and private.
Public albergues are the cheapest accommodation option on the Camino Frances. Most of them charge 10-12 euros per bed. Some charge 15 euros (in St.Jean Pied de Port and Roncesvalles). Public albergues can’t be booked in advance. They are exclusively for pilgrims. One will need a Credential (pilgrim’s passport) to stay there.
Private albergues are more expensive. They cost between 15 and 20 euros per bed. They usually have better facilities and are smaller. These can be booked in advance. And are not exclusively for pilgrims though most people staying there usually are pilgrims.
Hotels and guesthouses
Staying in private rooms without any doubt is the most comfortable option. But on long Camino routes such as the Camino Frances it will significantly increase your budget. Many pilgrims including myself combine staying in albergues and private rooms.
Prices of private rooms vary greatly from 35 euros for a budget single room with shared bathroom to 100 euros for a room in a 4-star hotel. Even if you spend 50 euros a day for 30 days your accommodation budget will be 1500 euros. For many people it’s equal to their entire Camino budget. Of course if you can afford it it’s great. Private rooms can be found pretty much everywhere on the Camino Frances.
The cost of food
Eating out
Breakfast. It is the cheapest and easiest meal to have in a cafe. First, because you don’t have time to make breakfast in the morning. Second, because it’s not expensive; for a set breakfast (coffee, sandwich, and orange juice) you pay between 5-7 euros. To save up money you can buy a pastry or make a sandwich the night before and stop only for coffee.
Lunch. Many restaurants on the Camino Frances offer so-called Menu del Peregrino (pilgrim’s menu) – a set meal that includes entree, main dish, bread, and a drink. The menu costs 10-12 euros. It can be good or bad but usually it’s pretty average.
To order a la cart menu (a dish and a drink) for lunch works out more expensive.
Dinner. It’s the most expensive meal to eat in a restaurant. Prepare to pay 30-35 euros per person on average for a basic dinner.
Grocery shopping
Buying food in a supermarket and cooking is the cheapest way to eat on the Camino Frances. The only problem is if you want to cook a proper meal you need a kitchen. Most albergues have one but hotels and guesthouses rarely let you use their kitchen.
A standard food shopping in Spain (without fancy jamos, expensive wine, etc.) will cost you around 10 euros per person per day. It’s significantly cheaper than eating out. To save up on shopping, team up with other pilgrims and split the cost.
Luggage delivery service
It’s not the expense that every pilgrim has, only those who don’t want to walk with a big backpack and prefer it to be transferred on a daily basis. The average cost is 5-7 euros per backpack per stage depending on the part of the route.
Extra expenses on the Camino Frances
Extra expenses include stops for coffee, laundry, entrance tickets, etc. They are optional but I recommend adding some extra for them in your budget. You should enjoy the walk and small things like stopping for a coffee with pastry or visiting a museum make your Camino even more special.
The cost of transport
This will vary greatly depending on where you come from. For pilgrims from overseas the cost of getting to the Camino will be a big part of their budget.
If you want to know how to get to Saint-James-Pied-de-Port, the starting point of the Camino Frances and how much it will cost read our detailed post How to get to St.Jean?
If you decide to start your walk in Sarria and walk the last 100 km on the Camino Frances you can find more details on the cost of transportation here.
How much did I spent on the Camino Frances?
The French Way is the most popular Camino route. Walking it I wrote down everything I spent. I didn’t try to do it the cheapest way. I stayed in private rooms every time I felt I needed it, I went out for lunch or drinks, and stopped for coffee at least once a day. You can spend less if you stay in public albergues, buy food in supermarkets, and don’t go out.
The cost is for 33 days; 31 days of walking, 1 day in St.Jean-Pied-de-Port, and 1 day in Santiago de Compostela.
In total, I spent 1351 Euros in 33 days or 41 Euros per day. It includes accommodation, food, all extra expenses, a bus ticket from Barcelona to St.Jean-Pied-de-Port, and a train ticket from Santiago de Compostela to Madrid. If you exclude the cost of transport it will be 38 euros per day.
The breakdown of my expenses
Accommodation – 550 Euro or 16.6 Euros per day on average. I stayed 12 nights in public albergues, 14 nights in private albergues, and 7 nights in private rooms including one night at a spa hotel. If you don’t stay in hotels and stick to albergues (public and private) your average accommodation cost will be between 10 and 15 Euros per day.
Eating out – 350 Euros or 10 Euros per day on average. I didn’t eat lunch every day. I often stopped for breakfast. I went out for tapas twice in Logroño and Santiago de Compostela. If you buy food and cook or eat takeaways from supermarkets you can exclude eating out from your budget.
Grocery shopping – 250 Euro or 7.5 Euros per day. If you don’t eat out and mostly cook your grocery shopping will be more, between 350 and 400 Euros per person.
Drinks (coffee, wine, etc.) – 75 Euros or 2.3 Euros per day. I often stopped for coffee and sometimes went out for a glass of wine. If you don’t stop for coffee it’ll save you between 40 and 50 Euros on the Camino Frances.
Transport – 81 Euros. 50 Euros to get from Barcelona to Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port: bus Barcelona – Pamplona, 28 Euros, and bus Pamplona – St.Jean, 22 Euros. A train ticket from Santiago de Compostela to Madrid – 31 Euros.
Extras (entrance fee, laundry, etc.) – 45 Euros or 1.4 Euros per day on average.
I didn’t use a luggage transfer service but if you do add 5-7 Euros to your daily budget. For 31 walking days, it’ll be around 200 Euros extra.
Camino Frances money saving tips
Stay in public (municipal) albergues, they are the cheapest accommodation option on the Camino Frances, most of them cost 10 euros, some 15 euros.
Try to stay in places with a kitchen so you can cook instead of eating out, it’ll save you at least 200-300 euros on a 30-day route.
Carry snacks with you or make sandwiches for the route so you don’t have to stop for lunch or snack on the way.
Team up with other pilgrims to do the grocery shopping and cooking. It works out cheaper if you split the cost.
Pack light so can carry your backpack instead of using a luggage transfer service.
The pretty half of Stingy Nomads, responsible for all our land adventures (hiking, climbing, walking the Camino) and following them write-ups. Alya loves walking since she was a child, she prefers to walk 1000 km with a backpack rather than to do a 10 000 km road trip (actually any road trip). Alya is a big fan of Latin America, the Spanish language, and dancing. Every time we go away she desperately misses our dog Chile.