CaminantesThe Camino de Santiago in May: 78,650 pilgrims and 14h 36m of daylight
By August Frederik Kramer, who has walked the Camino twice · Last updated 21 September 2026
Two things about May can be measured, so here they are. 78,650 pilgrims collected the Compostela in Santiago in May 2025, 14.8% of the year and the number 2 month of twelve; that is about 2,537 arrivals a day. This year the office counted 80,035 in the same month. In 2018 it was 40,665, so May has grown 1.9 times over in seven years.
The other measurable thing is light. In the middle of May Santiago gets 14h 36m of daylight. Take off 1h 30m for breakfast, coffee and lunch and walk at 4 km/h, and the day holds 52.4 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 4h 23m of light.
What May is like, in numbers
May is the first full month of the year and, by a whisker, the second busiest: 78,650 against 81,534 in September, with June at 74,043 close behind. Nearly 2,537 people a day reach Santiago. The days are as long as they get in practice, 14h 36m, within 43m of June, so a long stage is never a race against the light. Whoever starts the full Francés in the first week of May walks into June; whoever starts at Sarria the same week is in Santiago before the second weekend.
Where May 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.
Know these words before your Camino. Spanish is preparation, the same as boots and stages. Try the free topic
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 May?
78,650 pilgrims arrived in Santiago in May 2025, according to the Pilgrim’s Office, about 2,537 a day. It was the number 2 month of the year.
Is May busy on the Camino?
May carries 14.8% 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 May?
14h 36m in the middle of the month at Santiago. At 4 km/h with 1h 30m of stops that is 52.4 km of walking, more than any stage on our ten routes needs.
Keep reading
The Camino in April: 54,642 pilgrims and the daylight to walk them in
How busy April 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.
How many people walk the Camino? 530,722 last year, and the count only goes up
The Pilgrim’s Office numbers in one place, with the arithmetic done: a doubling in ten years, 30.5% of everyone starting at Sarria, September overtaking August as the busiest month, and how many came from your country.
The Vía de la Plata is two routes, and only one of them climbs
Seville to the fork is 636.4 km at 9.5 m per kilometre, flatter than any whole Camino we measure. Then the Sanabrés takes over at 15.8: half the climbing in a third of the distance, with the steepest hundred kilometres, the 109.9 from Ourense, saved for last.
Take it with you
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