More than ever, this year we want to spend time with our family and most beloved ones. That’s why the interest for traveling with the entire family is strongly increasing. The Camino de Santiago is the perfect adventure to enjoy with your family. Let’s see why this can be a great opportunity for spending time all together.
The Camino de Santiago for Families
When we talk about the Camino de Santiago, many could think that this is a hard journey, only for young students who want to walk hundreds of kilometres with a huge backpack on their shoulders and sleeping in public hostels. And this is not totally wrong. A big part of the pilgrims who decide to walk the Saint James Way reflect this description. However, in the last years many other types of pilgrims started to undertake the Way.
It’s common to find solo female or male travelers of any age, retired people who walk in groups, parents with their children, couples (some walking the Way during their honeymoon) and so on. This change is strongly connected with the motivations that push pilgrims to walk the Way but also to the improvements that we can find in terms of the services on the Camino.
The services on the Camino de Santiago
Luggage transfer
We can assure that the age is not a limiting element for the pilgrims on the Way. In fact, you can find older people (up to 90 years old) on the route, but also small kids (from 3-4 y.o.) walking with their parents. And this happens because the nature of the pilgrimage has changed, as well as the services offered to the hikers.
For instance, you can have your backpack transferred from stage to stage and don’t need to worry about this issue. At Galiwonders we always offer the luggage transfer among stages so that our pilgrims can enjoy their walk with no pain. Thanks to this helpful service, those family members who could have more problems (such as the grandparents or young children), can enjoy the experience without any difficulties.
Accommodation
Moreover, the number and type of accommodation has increased enormously in the last years. You can find hotels, b&b, guesthouses, hostels, rural houses, etc.. on the Way. This means that you will have more privacy, won’t have to share common spaces with people you don’t know and will enjoy a less noisy stay.
When we offer you a tailor made itinerary, we can adapt the choice of the accommodation to your needs and preferences. For example, looking for structures that might have swimming pool or some other amenities for entertaining kids and give you some time to spend all together when you finish your stages.
Distance between the stages
In case you are walking with young kids or older people, you might need to find shorter routes so they won’t get too tired. No problem. At Galiwonders we are local experts of the Camino and can suggest you some easy options such as the French Way Easy, the English Way Easy, the Portuguese Way Easy and the Portuguese Coastal Way Easy. Following the same itinerary as the standard routes (20-25 km/day), you will simply divide the stages in two, to walk half of the daily distances (10-13 km/day).
We strongly believe that the Camino has to be a pleasant journey, to enjoy with your entire family. It won’t make sense to get stressed for arriving at the end of the day, if you don’t live this experience with joy.
Pet friendly Camino
When we talk about a family trip, we can’t avoid to think about other important members: our pets. In Fact, more and more pilgrims started to walk the Way with their dog recently. Even if the majority of the hotels still do not accept animals, we can assist you giving you some options to walk the Way with your dog, on the main routes to Santiago.
24/7 emergency phone
We would like to remind you that all our pilgrims will receive our telephone number before starting their trip to get 24/7 assistance . In case you need an extra service on the Way, such as a taxi transfer or an extra luggage transfer, we can organize it for you (but this extra cost will have to be directly paid to the professional who will provide the service).
In conclusion, the Camino de Santiago is the perfect journey to enjoy with all your family. You don’t have to worry about the long distances, since we can cut them in half. Neither the weight of your luggage will be a problem because we can organize a daily transfer among stages. Furthermore, you can stay in family friendly accommodation and count with a 24 hours service to assist you during the walk. Be ready to create some wonderful memories along the Camino de Santiago!
You can walk both the Camino de Santiago and the Via Francigena in Italy and you can choose to do it by foot or by bike. Get ready to enjoy a good walk in the nature with your entire family, discovering more about the history and legends of the Camino de Santiago and live a once in a lifetime adventure.
Please feel free to contact us for any doubt. Buen Camino!