Camino Francés
15.1 km, 914 m up and 224 m down, through 3 places, 1 of which has somewhere to sleep. Where you stop is up to you.
Every place on the path in order, with the distance from Arnéguy. Most are too small to sleep in — a fountain, a chapel, a bar that may or may not be open — but they are what the day is actually made of.
Cross the main road (D933/N-135) and the bridge into Spain. The route follows a country road lower in the valley, bringing you into Valcarlos from below. The walking is flat and easy along the river.
Leave town along the main road, eventually branching left onto a smaller road. Gañecoleta is less than 1 km from this junction. From there the serious climbing begins.
Gañecoleta is a tiny settlement on the Valcarlos Route where the serious climbing begins. A few scattered farmhouses, no services. From here the route climbs steeply — and relentlessly — toward the Puerto de Ibañeta, gai…
The Puerto de Ibañeta (1,057 m) is where the two routes from Saint Jean Pied de Port converge — the Napoleon Route descending from the Collado de Lepoeder through beech forest, and the Valcarlos Route climbing steeply fr…
The camino starts on a path to the west of the main road, heading into beech forest before returning to the road as you approach Burguete. It's a gentle, flat walk of about 3 km — a merciful start after the mountain.
Distance, climb and descent are measured along the GPS track for this camino — 255 recorded points across this span, the same track the app carries. The town-to-town figures in my data put it at 13.6 km.
Esta entidad ha sido beneficiaria de una ayuda del Programa de incentivos a la movilidad eficiente y sostenible (MOVES III), gestionado por la Xunta de Galicia a través del Instituto Enerxético de Galicia (INEGA) en el marco del Real Decreto 266/2021, y cofinanciada por la Unión Europea — NextGenerationEU, dentro del Plan de Recuperación, Transformación y Resiliencia.