The Camino Inglés from Ferrol: 110 km, and where the 100 km line falls

By August Frederik Kramer, who has walked the Camino twice · Last updated 14 September 2026

The Camino Inglés is the shortest route that earns a Compostela on its own, and that is why people pick it: a week away from work, a certificate at the end of it. Ask how long it is and every page answers about 120 km. Measured along our own track, the one the app navigates by, it is 110.5 km from Ferrol to the cathedral door.

That gap is not worth an argument and this page will not pick one. Anyone who walks from Ferrol qualifies on either figure. What the smaller number changes is the margin, and the margin is the part that decides things: at 120 km the route clears the 100 km minimum by twenty kilometres, and on our measurement it clears it by 10.5. Ten kilometres is one town.

Where the 100 km line falls, town by town

The Compostela goes to anyone who walks the last 100 km into Santiago on one recognised route, continuously, with a stamped credencial. On the Inglés that line sits 10.5 km out of Ferrol, so the entire qualifying window is the first stretch of the walk. Here is every town and village our track passes, and what is left from each.

Narón is the last place on that list that still clears the line, and it clears it by 3.7 km. Neda is the first that does not: 96.4 km to go, short by 3.6 km. On the published distance Neda would sit the right side of the bar, which is exactly why it reads as a safe place to begin, and people do search for how to start there. Where the line falls on the other routes into Santiago is in our guide to the last 100 km.

One honest caveat, and it cuts both ways. Our distance is measured along our track; a variant, a detour around roadworks or a different line through Betanzos moves it by a kilometre or two. And the Pilgrim’s Office does not read your GPS, it counts stamps from a recognised starting point. So treat anything inside 3 km of the line as undecided rather than settled. That includes Narón, which is over the bar by less than that. The answer to where to start is Ferrol.

The 6 stages, and which day is the hard one

Our plan splits the route into 6 days averaging 18.4 km, generated from the route itself rather than copied from a guidebook. Read the last two columns together: on a walk this short the longest day and the hardest day are not the same day.

Fene to Betanzos is the longest day at 29.2 km. Betanzos to A Salgueira is 15.0 km, shorter by 14.2 km, and climbs 29.5 m for every kilometre walked against the long day’s 21.3. The route’s high point is 458 m, which answers the question about mountains: there are none.

Total climbing is 1,802 m over 110.5 km, which is 16.3 m per kilometre. The Camino Francés averages 13.6. The Inglés is called easy on every page that mentions it and the word is almost never attached to a number: it is easy because it is short, not because it is flat.

Walking it in 5 days instead means joining two of ours, and the cheapest join is Betanzos to Os Ramos at 30.4 km. That is the honest version of the five-stage itineraries: a long day, in a known place, rather than five distances nobody measured.

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Starting from A Coruña, and the Celtic Camino

The other half of every question about where to start. The branch from A Coruña is published at about 75 km and we hold no track for it, so that figure is somebody else’s and this page will not dress it up as ours. What it means is not in dispute: on its own it is under 100 km and it does not earn the Compostela.

There is one real exception. A pilgrim who first walks a certified 25 km on a recognised route at home, as Irish walkers do on the Celtic Camino, can have the two counted together. That is a rule about credentials rather than about distance, and our guide to the Compostela states it properly.

When to walk it

Galicia rains in every month of the year, we do not measure rain, and this page is not going to tell you which month is driest. What we do measure is light. Mid-December at this latitude gives 9h 03m of daylight, and at 4 km/h with 1h 30m set aside for stops that carries about 30.2 km.

Every one of our 6 stages fits inside that, including the 29.2 km day, which makes the Inglés one of the few routes a short winter day does not shorten for you. By mid-June the same latitude gives 15h 19m and daylight stops being a constraint at all.

The full Camino Inglés route page: every stage, the elevation profile and the app

Common questions

How long is the Camino Inglés?

110.5 km from Ferrol to Santiago, measured along our own track. Most pages say about 120 km. Either way it is over the 100 km a Compostela needs, and the useful number is the margin: 10.5 km on our measurement.

How many days does the Camino Inglés take?

6 walking days in our plan, averaging 18.4 km, with a longest day of 29.2 km. Walking it in 5 means joining two of ours, and the cheapest join makes a 30.4 km day.

Does the Camino Inglés count towards the Compostela?

From Ferrol, yes: 110.5 km against a 100 km minimum. From further along it stops counting quickly. Neda at 96.4 km is already short by 3.6, and so is every town after it.

Where does the Camino Inglés start?

Ferrol, for anyone who wants the certificate. A Coruña is the other recognised start and is published at about 75 km, which does not reach 100 on its own unless you bring a certified 25 km from home.

Is the Camino Inglés hard?

Not long, and not flat. It climbs 1,802 m in 110.5 km, or 16.3 m per kilometre against the Camino Francés at 13.6. The high point is 458 m and the longest day in our plan is 29.2 km.

Can you walk the Camino Inglés in winter?

On daylight, yes. Mid-December at this latitude gives 9h 03m, which carries about 30.2 km at 4 km/h. Every one of our 6 stages fits inside that, including the 29.2 km day, which makes the Inglés one of the few routes a short winter day does not shorten for you.

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