CaminantesThe Camino de Santiago in March: 14,068 pilgrims and 11h 51m of daylight
By August Frederik Kramer, who has walked the Camino twice · Last updated 23 September 2026
Two things about March can be measured, so here they are. 14,068 pilgrims collected the Compostela in Santiago in March 2025, 2.7% of the year and the number 8 month of twelve; that is about 454 arrivals a day. This year the office counted 17,823 in the same month. In 2018 it was 11,056, so March has grown 1.3 times over in seven years.
The other measurable thing is light. In the middle of March Santiago gets 11h 51m of daylight. Take off 1h 30m for breakfast, coffee and lunch and walk at 4 km/h, and the day holds 41.4 km. Every one of the 214 stages on our 10 routes fits inside that, and the longest of them, 34.9 km from Villaharta to Alcaracejos on the Camino Mozárabe, still leaves 1h 37m of light.
What March is like, in numbers
March is the month the Camino restarts, and the month growing fastest. 14,068 pilgrims in 2025 and 17,823 this year, 27% more, which is the largest year-on-year jump of any month the office publishes. Then April nearly quadruples it, to 54,642. The light is already 11h 51m, 3h 28m short of June, and every stage on every route fits the day with 1h 37m to spare. What March does not promise is weather. We measure light, not snow: the mountain crossings are the ones to ask about locally, and the winter guide is the page for what short days do.
Where March sits in the year
The Pilgrim’s Office’s monthly count for 2025, with the daylight in the middle of each month at Santiago’s latitude. The three quiet months are shown together because the office’s chart hides their labels.
| Month | Pilgrims | Share | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|
| March | 14,068 | 2.7 % | 11h 51m |
| April | 54,642 | 10.3 % | 13h 21m |
| May | 78,650 | 14.8 % | 14h 36m |
| June | 74,043 | 14.0 % | 15h 19m |
| July | 67,013 | 12.6 % | 15h 04m |
| August | 77,095 | 14.5 % | 13h 59m |
| September | 81,534 | 15.4 % | 12h 34m |
| October | 62,854 | 11.8 % | 11h 08m |
| November | 11,072 | 2.1 % | 9h 47m |
| January, February and December | 9,751 | 1.8 % | - |
The whole year, the routes, the countries and where people start are in our guide to how many people walk the Camino. If the light matters more to you than the crowd, our winter guide is the page that turns on it, and our guide to the best time of year takes every month in turn.
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Where the numbers come from
The pilgrim count is the Pilgrim’s Office’s own, read from its public dashboard on 21 September 2026; it counts Compostelas issued, so it is a floor. Daylight is computed for Santiago’s latitude on the middle day of the month, ignoring hills and horizon. The walking budget is our own rule of thumb, 4 km/h with 1h 30m of stops, the same one the winter guide uses, so the two pages cannot disagree.
Common questions
How many people walk the Camino in March?
14,068 pilgrims arrived in Santiago in March 2025, according to the Pilgrim’s Office, about 454 a day. It was the number 8 month of the year.
Is March busy on the Camino?
March carries 2.7% of the year’s pilgrims. The busiest month is September with 81,534; the quietest three, January, February and December, share fewer than ten thousand between them.
How much daylight is there in March?
11h 51m in the middle of the month at Santiago. At 4 km/h with 1h 30m of stops that is 41.4 km of walking, more than any stage on our ten routes needs.
Keep reading
The Camino in November: 11,072 pilgrims, and the month a stage stops fitting the day
A fifth of October, and the quietest walking month there is. It is also where the daylight stops holding the longest stage on the network, by 27 minutes, for the first time since January.
The Camino in August: 77,095 pilgrims, and no longer the busiest month
August was the peak in 2018 and is third now. What the month still has is light: 13h 59m of it, measured, and every stage on every route fits inside the day.
The Camino in October: 62,854 pilgrims and the daylight to walk them in
How busy October really is, from the office that counts, and how many hours of light it gives you: two measured things, and what they leave on the longest stage of any route.
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