★★★★★ 4
A very good book if you will travel the Camino de Santiago as a pilgrim
Format: Hardcover
This book captures the flavor of each of eight Caminos to reach Santiago de Compostela (there are more than that, but not given more than a mention - these are the main ones). The Caminos take you from where they enter Spain from France and Portugal all the way to Santiago de Compostela; the exception is the one from Lisbon. You can almost "feel" the experience of each walk. The book will help you select a Camino, based on from where you are coming, what you'd like to see (scenery, towns, villagers, etc.), and how much stamina you have.
The book starts off with a wonderful history of the the Caminos from when they were developed through modern times, and how they changed over time, not just in terms of physical changes, but in terms of the types of people who traversed them (pilgrims to hippies) and how they evolved with various religions and politics of the times.
There is a very nice synopses of the eight Caminos, highlighting the differences between them. This provides an overview of why you may or may not consider taking that Camino.
The book then goes into detail about each one, elaborating on what I wrote in the first paragraph above. This is where one gets an excellent "feel" for the Camino, enabling you to determine if it is for you or not. It also gives you basics on things to see and do along the way, including places that would be great and welcoming for pilgrims. Don't expect too much detail here, but certainly enough to give you the flavor of the Camino. All sections, but especially this one, have excellent photos to complement the text.
The culminating chapter, of course, is the one on Santiago de Compostela. This one was a bit disappointing, as it provided only a bit over one page of text on the sites there. I would have thought there would be more, especially about the Cathedral itself, as that is the destination the travelers had spent days to reach. Instead, it basically just listed a bit more than bullets of what to see in the Cathedral. One third of the text in this Chapter was about the museums. There was practically nothing about the squares around each side of the Cathedral and all the places along them. For this city, I would suggest a different tour book if you want to see more.
I have the hard cover book, which was very nice for me to read at home. However, if I were to go on one of the Caminos, I would take no more than a Kindle, which is nowhere near as unwieldy as a large, heavy book. If I didn't like Kindles, I would want to bring a paperback, but sadly, the book is not available in paperback.
Overall, I believe that the way the author enables one to experience the Caminos is well worth the cost of the book.
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Reviewed in the United States on April 6, 2026
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