Camino del Norte
14.3 km, 165 m up and 0 m down, through 4 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 Pasajes de San Juan. 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.
Pasajes de San Juan (Pasai Donibane in Basque) is one of the most unusual places on the entire Norte. The village is a single street wide, wedged between the harbor and the cliff, with houses stacked five stories tall an…
Once off the ferry, the official camino turns right while a road variant turns left. Turn right to follow the coastline to the sea, passing a boat yard along the way. Where the road ends, the path and climb (on steps) begins. At the top the camino returns to a paved road, turn right when it does and follow it until it widens into a parking lot for the nearby Faro de la Plata (straight ahead if you want to visit).
From the parking lot the camino turns left to return to a trail. Pay close attention to the various forks in the trail; although they are well marked there are many options through the forest.Along this stretch you will also see markings for the GR-121, a 300km circuit that shares ground with the Camino and on several occasions offers an alternative to the official camino.You will eventually come to a fork in the trail at a point where indeed the GR-121 turns right where the camino turns left. Both are acceptable, the GR follows the coastline through the forest while the camino joins the paved road. They converge before arriving in San Sebastián.NOTE: Only the camino path passes the Ulía albergue which is located on the hillside overlooking the city. The trail descends into San Sebastián, and where it meets the Avenida de Navarra the municipal albergue is on your right.
Turn right on the Avenida de Navarra towards the sea, the road follows it and you follow the road. You can walk in the sand of the Playa Zurriola if it suits you, the way ahead is evident as it crosses the bridge over the Río Uramea.Once over the bridge continue straight ahead, past the municipal gardens and towards the Playa de la Concha which you will follow all the way to its end. At the end of the beach cut across the park separating it from the road (Satrustegi) and turn right on the road towards the tree covered hillside ahead, and then left where it ends to follow the road signs to Igueldo.The Ondarreta Albergue is along this road, straight ahead and on your left-hand side. The camino, however, turns right off of the road before it arrives at the albergue. The way is uphill along a paved road which turns into a trail, twisting and turning all the way to the top. Before long you will be on a small paved road which connects with a larger one, and in front of you will be the gravel parking lot for the hotel Leku Eder, cut across it and walk past the hotel along the main road.NOTE: If you were to turn right at the parking lot, you could go uphill to visit Monte Igueldo. Follow the road as far as the next hotel, turning right at the sign for the Buenavista Hotel at the start of Igueldo.
Getting from the monte to the camino is a simple matter. From the parking lot at the top of the monte, make like a car and roll downhill along the road. When you get to the small gravel parking lot on your right, cut across it to pass the Hotel Leku Eder and keep on that road.
From the Buenavista Hotel the camino keeps to the paved roads for several more kilometers but eventually heads back into the forest along trails and even along centuries old cobbled roads as it descends to the AP-8. After passing under the AP-8 turn right to follow the road steeply uphill. At the top is the Iglesia de San Martín. Follow the road straight into Orio.
Distances are the sum of the town-to-town measurements in my data, not a straight line on a map. Climb and descent come from the altitude of each place listed above, so they under-read where the path goes over a hill between two of them.
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.