CaminantesWhy pilgrims burn on one side: on the Camino Francés the sun is on your left 38% of the walk, on your right 4%
By August Frederik Kramer · Last updated 1 November 2026
Camino Francés, September: the sun is behind you for 50% of the walk, on your left for 43% and on your right for 2%.
Sunscreen on your left arm and leg and on the back of your neck.
At 14:00 the sun is on your left, high in the sky.
Pilgrims on the Camino Francés come home with one arm browner than the other, and it is always the left. We walked every stage of six routes against the sun, two minutes at a time. On the Francés the sun is on your left for 38% of the walk and on your right for only 4%. Walk north, as on the Camino Portugués, and it is the other way round.
Why the left
In Spain the sun crosses the southern half of the sky. The Francés runs west, so south is on your left all day. You set off at 8:00, when the sun is still low in the east, behind you, and as it climbs it swings round to your left. You arrive in the early afternoon, before it can get round to your face. That is why the sun spends 53% of the Francés behind you and 38% on your left, and almost none of it on your right: on your left 9 times as often as on your right.
Route by route
Every route that runs west has the same left-hand sun: the Camino del Norte and the Primitivo too. The Camino Portugués and the Vía de la Plata run north, so the morning sun in the east is on your right and the midday sun in the south is behind you. On the Portugués the sun is on your right for 55% of the walk. The Camino Inglés runs south from Ferrol, so the sun is ahead of you and on your left. The table is the whole walking year, with each month counted by how many pilgrims walk in it.
| Route | Left | Right | Behind | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Camino Francés | 38% | 4% | 53% | 5% |
| Camino Portugués | 5% | 55% | 34% | 5% |
| Camino del Norte | 39% | 7% | 47% | 7% |
| Camino Primitivo | 42% | 4% | 46% | 7% |
| Vía de la Plata | 10% | 41% | 44% | 4% |
| Camino Inglés | 61% | 6% | 13% | 19% |
What to do about it
Put sunscreen on the side the tool shows, every morning, before you leave: the left arm, the left leg and the back of your neck on the Francés, the right side on the Portugués. The back of your neck and your calves get the morning sun on every route that runs west. A hat with a brim all the way round covers the neck, which a cap does not. A long sleeve on the sunny arm does more than any cream.
How hot each stage is in each month, and how often it rains: Camino weather, stage by stage.
When you set off, when you arrive and what is open: a pilgrim’s day against Spain’s clock.
Know these words before your Camino. Spanish is preparation, the same as boots and stages. Try the free topic
How we measured it
We walked every stage of our stage plan on the route’s own track, out at 8:00 at 4 km/h with 1.5 hours of stops spread through the day, the same walking day our daily schedule page uses. Every two minutes we took the direction of the track and placed the sun with the standard solar position equations of the United States’ National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), on the 15th of each month, on Spain’s and Portugal’s clocks. A minute only counts while the sun is up.
Sun positions: NOAA’s solar position equations, computed for the 15th of each month on every stage of our stage plan. Pilgrims per month: the Pilgrim’s Office, 2025. Computed on 1 November 2026. Cloud is not counted: these are the hours the sun is up.
Common questions
Why do pilgrims get sunburnt on one side?
Because the Camino Francés runs west and the sun crosses the southern sky, so it is on your left. On the Francés the sun is on your left for 38% of the walk and on your right for 4%.
Which arm gets sunburnt on the Camino Francés?
The left. The sun is behind you in the morning and swings round to your left as it climbs. Put sunscreen on your left arm and leg and on the back of your neck.
Is the sun on the same side on the Camino Portugués?
No. The Portugués runs north, so the sun is on your right for 55% of the walk and on your left for 5%.
Keep reading
The Meseta on the Camino Francés: walk it or skip it
Burgos to León, measured: how much of it has a tree beside the path, the longest stretch without one, and the trains that skip it.
Camping on the Camino: the longest stretch without a campsite, on every route
Pick your route and see the longest stretch with no campsite that takes tents, from OpenStreetMap and our stage plan, and what the law in Galicia says about wild camping.
How much of the Camino is asphalt? Measured on every route
Pick your route and see how much of it is on asphalt or concrete, from OpenStreetMap along our own tracks, then tap the strip to see what is under your feet anywhere on it.
Take it with you
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