Walking the First Stage of the Camino – St Jean Pied de Port to Roncesvalles

Walking the first stage of the Camino from St Jean Pied de Port in France to Roncesvalles involves hiking over the Pyrenees mountains that divide France and Spain. We receive many questions about this day – mostly about the difficulty, but also about the options.

• See also our other article about this stage: Walking the Camino Frances: the first steps on the French Way

St Jean Pied de Port (population 1800) is a delightful bustling Basque village nestled in the foothills of the Pyrenees mountains on the French side and is the starting point for The French Way (Camino Francés), the best known Camino walk. This charming walled market town, with its steep narrow cobbled streets, lies on the river Nive, and stands at the base of the Roncevaux pass across the Pyrenees.

The name ‘Pied-de-Port’ means ‘foot pass’ or ‘Saint John at the foot of the mountain pass’. This ‘pilgrimage’ is the most popular of the routes of the Way of St. James and extends 790 km across Northern Spain, traditionally starting at the 14th-century church in the town center of St Jean Pied de Port.

Most common route

The traditional and most common way to walk the first stage of Spain’s Camino Frances day is up over the picturesque Pyrenees mountains following the Napoleon (or Orisson) route, which is featured in the film The Way. This is a beautiful walk, but one of the more challenging days. You may be tired/jet-lagged and this first day involved an ascent of 1250m carrying what you need for the day.

Leaving St Jean Pied de Port, the sealed road switchbacks and climbs fairly steeply out of the valley on a quiet sealed road. Once past the Albergue at Orisson, where you can stop to refuel, the gradient starts to level out somewhat and you follow a grassy trail that climbs and winds through the hills before dropping down steeply into Roncesvalles.

The walk through the Pyrenees can be unpredictable because of the weather; however, people used to walking in hills or trekking will not find it an especially difficult day as the gradients are not that severe and the steepest part of the walk is on a quiet road.

This route had strategic importance during the Napoleonic wars and it is the route Napoleon took to cross into Spain following the old Roman road the Via Traiana. It was also used as a route through the Pyrenees by Emperor Charlemagne.

The Route Napoléon

This is the route that pilgrims have used for several centuries primarily because of its lack of trees and other places where bandits could hide, unlike the heavily wooded route through Valcarlos.

Valcarlos (Road) route

The alternate Valcarlos (or road) route to Roncesvalles may need to be taken in the event of bad weather, such as snow or heavy fog. This route stays closer to the road and has a steep 600m ascent at the end of the day up to Roncesvalles. It is not as well marked and you will encounter more road traffic.

Both routes have an ascent and both have the option to break this day over two by either staying at an Albergue at Orisson or a Hotel at Valcarlos. The 18-bed accommodation in Orisson is a basic but very well run and popular Albergue that can be pre-booked for an overnight stay, but it sells out well in advance. The sunrises from here are beautiful!

Other options

You can start in St Jean Pied de Port, but you can also omit this day altogether and start your pilgrimage in either Roncesvalles or Pamplona on the Spanish side, both popular starting points.

You can also take a shuttle bus up to near Orisson and thereby limit the number of kilometers walked on this first day as well as the steepest section of the Napoleon route. The bus leaves at 8.30 am from central St Jean Pied de Port.

You can also have 2 nights in St Jean Pied de Port and use one of those days to walk partway (and return to St Jean Pied de Port) and the next day completes the walk by transferring back to where you walked to the previous day and continuing to Roncesvalles.

This map from the John Brierley guidebook shows the altitude and routes of both options and a summary of options for your first day’s walk.

Common options for the first few days

1. Walk St Jean Pied de Port to Roncesvalles via Orisson route (25km).
2. Walk St Jean Pied de Port to Roncesvalles via Valcarlos route (24km).
3. Shuttle bus to Orisson; walk to Roncesvalles (16km).
4. Walk to Orisson (9km) and take the shuttle back to St Jean Pied de Port then the following day, take the shuttle to Orisson and walk to Roncesvalles (16km).
5. Walk to Orisson (9km) and stay overnight then walk to Roncesvalles (16km).
6. Walk to St Jean Pied de Port to Valcarlos and stay overnight then walk to Roncesvalles.
7. Start in Roncesvalles or Pamplona and omit the mountain walk.

Regardless of how you choose to walk the first days of your Camino, the views, the accomplishment and the camaraderie will reward you long after your last steps in Spain.

If you would like more advice about this day, please contact our Camino Team. They have walked this section and are happy to share their expertise.

In Roncesvalles

You’ve arrived! Roncesvalles (population <100) in the municipality of Navarre in Northern Spain is the first place that you will come to in Spain and has great historical significance for such a small hamlet. It is situated at the bottom of the Pyrenees pass at an altitude of 900m on the river Urrobi and is a very welcome sight for pilgrims after the walk over the mountains.

Roncesvalles is famous in history and legend for the defeat of the French Emperor Charlemagne and the death of his heroic knight Roland here in 778 who was a popular legendary figure in medieval Europe. Today, Camino pilgrims continue to give thanks at the famous monastery for a successful crossing of the Pyrenees, one of the hardest parts of the Camino de Santiago.

If you can stay awake, attend the pilgrims mass at 8pm. Otherwise, check-in, have a shower and enjoy a meal at the social Hotel Roncesvalles, which has wonderful food and wine, and comfortable beds – you deserve it!

Receive a pilgrim’s blessing

Mass times in the historic Roncesvalles Collegiate Church are 8pm Monday to Friday and 6pm on Saturdays and the days before bank holidays (7pm from July to October). On Sundays and bank holidays Mass is celebrated at 12.00 noon and 6pm (7pm from July to October).

Getting there

To get to St Jean Pied de Port you have a few options but the main choices from Australia are to fly into either Paris or Barcelona.

Paris

If you fly into Paris, you can catch the high-speed TVG train to St Jean Pied de Port either from Charles de Gaulle airport or alternatively from Montparnasse station in central Paris (if you would like a few nights in Paris first). The train goes to Bordeaux where you change trains for Bayonne and then again in Bayonne for the short journey to St Jean Pied de Port. Trains can be booked at www.raileurope.com

You can also fly from Charles de Gaulle to Biarritz with Easy Jet and spend the night in coastal Biarritz or travel the short distance from Biarritz to St Jean Pied de Port via bus and train or by private transfer or taxi. If you prefer to transit straight through and avoid staying in Paris, you can do this with Qatar or Etihad airlines straight through to Biarritz.

Barcelona

If you are flying into Barcelona, you can overnight and then catch a train to Pamplona and then a daily local bus or private transfer from Pamplona to St Jean Pied de Port.

Regardless of your choice, before commencing the Camino, we suggest at least a couple of nights to rest and adjust to Europe time in either Paris, Biarritz, Barcelona or indeed an extra night in St Jean Pied de Port itself.

Choose from self-guided Camino de Santiago routes

RAW Travel is Australia’s leading walking tour operator for walking the Camino. We offer options for all of the Camino routes in France, Portugal and Spain. Whether you want to take the inland route via Camino Frances, walk through France on Le Puy Camino, take the coastal Portuguese Camino, or walk to Santiago along Camino del Norte, we have an array of self-guided walking holidays for you to choose from.

Get in touch with our team today to start planning your hiking adventure.