Cheap Travels

Irun to San Sebastián (Donostia)

Distance Covered: 26km / 16.1 miles

The first segment of the Camino del Norte is one of the most beautiful parts of the whole route, and it happens to end in my favorite city in Northern Spain.

When I lived in San Sebastián (2015-2017), this hike was a route that I would often take visiting friends on. It’s amazing how just outside of a relatively large city, you can find spaces that feel almost completely secluded.

If you’re curious to learn more about the Camino, take a look at my post explaining this ancient pilgrimage.

Disclaimer

I should mention that the trail is quite well-marked, with an abundance of signs signaling the most important turns. This first segment confirmed my plans to hike the Camino without downloading any specific maps’ app. While I definitely would not recommend that approach for everyone, for me navigating was part of the challenge.

Of course, speaking a little Spanish will go a long way on this hike, as on routes other than the Camino Frances you are more likely to run into people who do not speak fluent English. If you’re looking to get started with some basic transactional Spanish, take a look at my article on Spanish for the Camino.

I fortunately had planned enough extra days in my itinerary to make up for any additional time that it might take, but it did occasionally cause me some issues.

First day of the Camino del Norte

After sleeping in, I took a local bus to the French/Spanish border and started on the segment of the pilgrimage that I was most familiar with.

I drank a quick coffee and grabbed some snacks for the hike at a bar in Irun, and started out on the trek back towards San Sebastián.

Hiking out of the city and up into the hills was uneventful, but I was just excited to be on the trail and in the countryside. After spending years living inland in the US, the smell of the sea brought back enough memories to keep me distracted as I hiked up the steep hills.

On most of the Camino you’ll be seeing, and interacting with, farm animals like the sheep grazing at the bottom of the image. These sheep are a common sight, and also happen to make some of the finest cheese you’ll ever eat.

The beach visible in the distance, just across the river Bidasoa, is in Hendaye, France.

This pilgrimage takes you from the French border all the way to the Galician coast, just north of Portugal, in a little over a month.

Pictured here are more sheep grazing along the ridge between Irun and Pasaia. Abundant rainfall during the winter and spring months keeps this area a vibrant green all year round.

Many tourists get lucky and only visit when it’s warm and sunny, but trust me when I say that most of the year it’s pouring rain.

A few hours into the hike, a thick fog rolled in, almost completely covering the path. Now this looks a lot more like the Basque Country I know and love.

Fortunately, it’s pretty hard to get lost once you’re on top of the ridge. Eventually I did make a wrong turn in the dense fog, but only walked about a mile before realizing it.

After a while, the fog lifted and visibility improved significantly.

Walking along the top of the ridge, I had my first run in with horses in a long time. I honestly forgot how absolutely massive horses are, which I wasn’t fully prepared for.

The picture on the right shows a group of seven or eight horses densely clustered directly in front of the gate that I needed to go through. After approaching the group a few times and having no luck moving them, I wound up hopping a section of barbed wire fence further up.

The last thing I wanted was to get kicked by a horse on my first day of this 500 mile trek, so I figured it was best not to push my luck.

A few miles later, I had made it to the town of Pasaia/San Juan, where I once again stopped for a quick bite to eat.

Truly one of the best parts about this trip is that you don’t need to carry meals and cooking gear with you, you can pop in to a bar every few hours for a coffee, some tortilla (Spanish, not Mexican) or a beer. In true European fashion, this route combines thru-hiking with luxury.

After a quick snack, I picked up the water ferry for a few euros, and was on my way back up to the ridge line.

The reason the Camino del Norte is considered the most difficult Camin of the Camino routes is because of these ups and downs. In many Camino segments in the Basque Country, you spend hours hiking up to a high plateau, only to return to sea level a few hours later.

Walking these steep sections day in and day out with a heavy pack is the main reason that I recommend bringing trekking poles on this hike. Letting your arms take some of the weight will really help your knees from tiring out.

On the wall to the left, if you look closely, you can see two parallel red and white lines spray-painted onto the rock face. These lines mean that you’re on a marked hiking path, while turns marked in these same colors with an “X” mean that you’re going off route.

The Camino is marked with various shell symbols, yellow arrows, or a region-specific marker.

Pictured here are a few of the many types of signs marking the Camino de Santiago trail. The shells vary from region to region, but they’re pretty easy to find.

The moss beginning to grow on the sign should give you an idea of just how humid it typically is here throughout most of the year.

After hiking back up to the ridge, I finished the last few miles of this hike in a hurry, as it had taken me nearly all day to make it back to San Sebastián.

Once you retake the high ground, this route traverses along some steep cliffs and ultimately down into San Sebastián.

There are several possible variations of this route, but this is the one that I know best, and it’s by far the most picturesque.

This shot was taken just before starting the steep descent into San Sebastián, as the tree-cover begins to clear. Typically, this beach, La Zurriola, is packed with surfers, sunbathers, and tourists.

One thing that I wasn’t quite ready for was the incredible hunger you build up by walking 12+ miles a day for several weeks on end.

Because I had booked a round-trip flight to and from Bilbao, I spent my last week in Spain relaxing in San Sebastián, eating and swimming. Over the course of this hike I probably lost somewhere close to 10 lbs (4.5kg), and here I gladly started the process of putting the weight back on.

I was even able to catch up with some teachers that I used to work with in Zarautz, and a few past students as well.

The above picture shows the same beach, just a few weeks later, after I had already completed my Camino hike. Even as the sun sets, people can still be seen on the beach, and in the water with their surfboards.

What better way to rest your weary legs than to soak them in ocean water?

At the end of my first day on the Camino, I got some food from my favorite restaurant, Juantxo, with a few friends who still live and work in San Sebastián. It was nice to enjoy their company before setting out to complete this hike on my own.

After a long day of hiking and swimming, I was ready to get to bed, so I could get an early start the next day.

Final thoughts

Overall, my first day on the Camino was a blast, revisiting some of my favorite old hiking spots and catching up with some old friends.

One of the principal reasons I chose this Camino route was to return to San Sebastián and see some friends there. That, and I wanted to take on the most physically challenging variant of this hike.

Despite the fact that I had spent a few months training for this hike, the elevation change still managed to kick my butt. The training did, however, pay off later on when I only got a single blister in over 500 miles (800km) of hiking.

Another point that I want to emphasize here is that you will meet people on the trail. Many of these sections go through busy cities and towns, and each night you will meet dozens of pilgrims doing the same trail as you. Because I was stopping a lot to take pictures, I didn’t stick with just one group. I did, however, get to know most of the people walking at roughly the same time as me, because I would inevitably wind up walking near them at one point or another.

Ultimately, I decided to do the Camino alone, not because I necessarily wanted to, but because I didn’t feel like waiting for anyone else to come do this. I wrote an entire article on the subject, so check that out if you’re looking for some inspiration for doing a solo Camino.

If you have any questions, drop them down below in the comments, and I’ll get back to you when I have a chance!

¡Buen Camino!