The credencial: the pilgrim passport, and how often it is stamped

By August Frederik Kramer, who has walked the Camino twice · Last updated 25 September 2026

The credencial is the fold-out card that carries your name, your starting point and a row of stamps. It is what the Pilgrim’s Office reads when you arrive, and it is the only document on the Camino you cannot replace by explaining yourself.

The number people want is how many stamps. On the Camino Francés, walking only the qualifying stretch from Sarria, our stage split makes it 5 stages and therefore 10 stamping moments. Across the 7 routes that reach Santiago the figure runs from 10 to 12.

What the rule actually says

You will read almost everywhere that you need two stamps a day over the last 100 km. That sentence is not in the Pilgrim’s Office rules. What the rules say is narrower and conditional: if you walk only the minimum distance, the credencial must be stamped at the start and at the end of each stage, with the date, to show you resumed the way where you last stopped.

Three things follow. It is per stage, not per day. It applies only if you walk the minimum, so someone who started further back is not collecting a quota at all. And the purpose is continuity, not volume. The office’s own wording, and what it means for the certificate, is in the Compostela guide.

How many stamping moments each route implies

Two per stage, over the stretch that still qualifies. Where that stretch begins is measured from the route’s own track, which is why the towns below are the last stage starts still at or beyond 100 km rather than the ones a guidebook names.

The fewest is the Camino Portugués at 10, the most the Camino Primitivo at 12. Walk the same distance in more days and you have more of them, which is the point: the count follows your stages, not the calendar. 3 of our 10 routes do not reach Santiago at all, so no qualifying stretch exists on them. Where each stretch begins is set out in the last 100 km guide.

Where the credencial and the stamps come from

Get the credencial before you start, from a pilgrim association in your own country, from a cathedral or parish, or from the first albergue you stay in. Associations abroad usually post them. Nothing about the document is exclusive and nobody will interrogate you.

Stamps are easier than people expect. Albergues stamp on arrival, and so do bars, cafés, churches, town halls, pharmacies, tourist offices and a surprising number of vending machines. Collecting them is not the hard part. Remembering, on the day you set off early and walk straight through, is.

Know these words before your Camino. Spanish is preparation, the same as boots and stages. Try the free topic

The four ways it goes wrong

• A gap in the qualifying stretch. One day with nothing from where you set off is the failure the rule exists to catch, because it is what a bus looks like on paper.
• A stamp with no date. The wording asks for the date. A beautiful undated stamp proves you were somewhere, not when.
• Stopping short of the cathedral. The last stage has to end in Santiago. Finishing in a suburb and taking a bus in is exactly the continuity the stamps are there to show.
• Losing it. There is no backup. Photograph both sides every few days; it will not replace the document, but it turns a lost credencial into a conversation instead of a dead end.

What this page does not do

It gives no price and no opening hours. What a credencial costs depends on who issues it and changes; office hours change faster, and neither is verifiable from here. It also promises nothing about a digital credencial: there have been pilots, they move, and a page describing one is wrong within a season. What we can measure is where the qualifying stretch begins on each route and how many stages that is, and that is the table above.

Common questions

How many stamps do I need for the Compostela?

It depends on your stages, not on a fixed number. If you walk only the qualifying stretch, the rule asks for one at the start and one at the end of each stage, with the date. On the Camino Francés from Sarria that is 5 stages and 10 stamping moments on our split. If you started further back than 100 km, the per-stage rule does not apply to you and a stamp a day is plenty.

Where do I get a credencial?

A pilgrim association in your own country, a cathedral or parish, or the first albergue you stay in. Associations abroad generally post them, which is the easiest route if you want it in your hands before you fly. We do not publish prices because they vary by issuer and change.

Does a stamp have to be from an albergue?

No. Bars, cafés, churches, town halls, pharmacies, tourist offices and vending machines all give them. What the rule asks for is a stamp at the start and the end of each stage with the date on it, not a particular kind of issuer.

What if I lose it?

There is no central record, so a lost credencial is a real problem rather than a formality. Get a new one from the next albergue or association, keep walking, and bring whatever you have: photographs of the lost pages, tickets, receipts. The Compostela guide covers what the office asks for when you arrive.

Keep reading

Take it with you

Caminantes is free, works offline, and plans your stages around your own legs rather than a guidebook's.

All guides · Compare all 10 Camino de Santiago routes