We are from Santiago, at the end of the Camino
This guide is written by the Bonsai Café team: a group of lifelong Santiago locals who watch pilgrims arrive at the Praza do Obradoiro every single day of the year.
It grew out of the questions we get every day
Bonsai Café is a few minutes on foot from the Cathedral, on Avenida de Rodrigo de Padrón. Every day pilgrims who have just finished their Camino walk through the door: they drop their backpack on the floor, order a coffee and start asking.
And it is almost always the same questions. How many days does it take from Sarria? Where do I sleep in Palas de Rei? Is it worth carrying on to Finisterre? Where can you eat proper octopus without falling into a tourist trap? We have spent years answering the same things out loud, table by table.
This guide is that same answer written down, so it also reaches the people still packing their backpack eight hundred kilometres away. What we tell you here is what we would tell a friend sitting at the bar: no frills, no sales pitch.
The Bonsai Café team
We are not a travel agency, nor a remote newsroom writing about places it has never seen. We are a group of people born and raised in Santiago de Compostela, with a café in the city centre and the Cathedral around the corner.
We know the city because we live in it. We know which streets are jammed in August, what time to walk into the Pilgrim’s Mass if you want a seat, which terraces catch the afternoon sun, and which recommendations only ever come from people who have never been here.
The project is run by Bonsai Lounge & Cafe SL, the company behind Bonsai Café in Santiago de Compostela. Full company details are in the legal notice.
— The Bonsai Café team · Santiago de Compostela
How this guide is made
Cross-checked data
Distances, elevation gain and stage profiles are cross-checked against official sources and the Camino friends associations before we publish them.
We say what we have walked
Galicia and the last hundred kilometres we know first-hand. What we have not walked ourselves we research thoroughly, but we never dress it up as personal experience.
Pilgrims as a source
Every week we talk to people who have just finished the stage you are about to walk. When an albergue closes or a section changes, we usually hear about it early.
Dated in plain sight
Opening hours, prices and services go stale. We show when each page was last updated so you know how current what you are reading is.
Spotted a mistake? Tell us
If something does not match what you found on the Camino, write to bonsailoungecafe@gmail.com and we will fix it.
What we are not
We are not a travel agency
We do not organise or sell packages. If you want somebody to arrange your entire Camino from start to finish, that is not us.
We do not handle bookings
We have no albergue beds and cannot hold one for you. We tell you where they are and what to expect from each; you book directly.
We do not issue the Compostela
The credencial and the Compostela are issued by the Pilgrim’s Reception Office. We only explain how the process works and what you need.
We do not publish what we have not read
No page goes live without someone on the team reading it all the way through first.
You will find us in Santiago
Bonsai Café
If you have just finished your Camino, drop by. The least we can do is pour you a coffee, hear how it went and give you the two or three tips that never fit in a guide.
Map
- Bonsai Café
Where to start
Choose your route
The seven Camino routes compared: distance, difficulty and days.
What to pack
The backpack list, with no extra weight or needless purchases.
What the Camino costs
A realistic daily budget, depending on where you sleep and eat.
What to do when you reach Santiago
The Compostela, the Pilgrim’s Mass and how to celebrate the finish.