    Array
(
    [0] => Array
        (
            [name] => Spain
            [category] => Array
                (
                    [name] => Country
                )

            [parent] => Array
                (
                    [name] => Europe
                )

        )

    [1] => Array
        (
            [name] => Galicia
            [category] => Array
                (
                    [name] => Location
                )

            [parent] => Array
                (
                    [name] => Spain
                )

        )

    [2] => Array
        (
            [name] => Castle and Leon
            [category] => Array
                (
                    [name] => Location
                )

            [parent] => Array
                (
                    [name] => Spain
                )

        )

)

Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela © Mazur Travel

Abbey of Santa Maria la Real de Las Huelgas, Burgos, Spain © David Herraez Calzada

Monastery of Santo Domingo de Silos, Burgos Province, Spain © WINDCOLORS

Cathedral of Burgos, Spain © nito

Sos del Rey Catolico, Spain © Jon Chica

Church of Saint Mary of Eunate, Spain © Edward Fairbairn

Santiago de Compostela © Alekk Pires

The Road to Santiago - Architectural masterpieces along Spain's great pilgrimage route

Overview Practicalities Testimonials

Section:

Tour highlights

One of the great historic journeys of the world.
Includes all the major sites and deviates to many lesser-known ones.
An architectural pilgrimage by coach – not a spiritual one on foot – for lovers of Romanesque and Gothic.

‘By land it is the greatest journey an Englishman may go.’ So wrote Andrew Boorde, physician and former bishop of Chichester in his 1542 First Book of the Introduction of Knowledge. The road to Santiago has rarely been without plaudits, from Godescalc, bishop of Le Puy in 950, to Paula Gerson, scholar and sceptic in 1993.

What was claimed to be the tomb of St James was discovered in 813 in the wilds of Galicia and soon began to attract pilgrims. Roads and bridges were built along the approaches which soon coalesced into a standard route. Hospices and monasteries were founded and secondary shrines became established. Variously described as the Camino Francés, the Milky Way and the Road Beneath the Stars, the route exerted a pull which was pre-Christian, but the discovery of an Apostolic tomb and the renewal of the infrastructure conspired to make Santiago the most celebrated of all medieval journeys – a byword for Chaucer’s pilgrims, a destination to vie with Jerusalem and Rome.

The funds poured into such an enterprise were immense, resulting in an incomparable range of medieval – particularly Romanesque – and Renaissance monuments. With cathedrals such as Burgos, León and Santiago, monasteries of the calibre of Silos and Leyre, the paintings of Jaca, the sculpture of Miraflores, the metalwork of San Isidoro, the textiles of Las Huelgas, the road to Santiago does not want for masterpieces.

But equally impressive is the landscape, a memorial backdrop through which all must pass – the limestone cliffs and tumbling watercourses of Aragón and Navarra, the forests of chestnut, oak and acacia of the Rioja, the vast wheat fields of Castile and the green, slate-divided fields of Galicia.

This is very much an architectural tour – travelling by coach – rather than a walking tour, though it still offers the chance to participate in a thousand-year-old flow of humankind which constitutes one of the most powerfully felt shared experiences in the spiritual and aesthetic history of Europe.

This tour is particularly strenuous. Please read the advice under ‘Practicalities’.

Practicalities

Two sharing: £5,030 or £4,790 without flights. Single occupancy: £5,720 or £5,480 without flights.

Travel by private coach; hotel accommodation; breakfasts, 2 lunches and 10 dinners, with wine or beer, soft drinks, water and coffee; all admissions; all tips; all taxes; the services of the lecturer and tour manager.

Parador de Argómaniz: 4-star hotel; simple rooms. Parador de Sos del Rey Católico: 4-star parador with views of surrounding countryside. Parador de Sto Domingo de la Calzada: 4-star parador in the heart of town. NH Palacio de Burgos: 4-star modern hotel in the centre of town. Parador de León: newly-refurbished, 5-star hotel in a grandiose Plateresque pilgrim hostel. Parador de Villafranca del Bierzo: 4-star parador in a contemporary building. Parador de Santiago de Compostela: 5-star parador, for centuries the abode of the grander pilgrims. Single rooms are doubles for sole use throughout.

We stress that this is a long tour with a lot of coach travel, seven hotels and a lot of walking, often on uneven ground. A good level of fitness is essential. Unless you enjoy entirely unimpaired mobility, cope with everyday walking and stair-climbing without difficulty and are reliably sure-footed, this tour is not for you. Average distance by coach per day: 85 miles.

Are you fit enough to join the tour?

Between 10 and 22 participants.

Before booking, please refer to the FCDO website and Travel Health Pro to ensure you are happy with the travel advice for the destination(s) you are visiting.

Trecento Frescoes, 8–15 September 2026

Gastronomic Basque Country, 7–14 September 2026

Courts of Northern Italy, 1–8 October 2026

Modern Art on the Côte d'Azur, 2–8 October 2026

Bulgaria, 2–12 October 2026

Testimonials

“
I came home on a complete high from all the wonderful buildings, made so much more interesting by the detailed information given by the lecturer at each site.
”

“
Richard Plant was very authoritative on Romanesque churches and sculpture and had a light touch when it came to describing the features of them. He was very good company.
”

“
A good choice of stopping points and the free half-day in Burgos and a day in Santiago were perfectly timed and most enjoyable. Effortless travel in first-class coaches driven by careful and very competent drivers.
”

Call us, we are open
9:00am-5:30pm BST 020 8742 3355