Packing to Camino and Questions & Answers

I included a packing list in the first article I wrote about Camino a couple of months ago. Coming back to it, I realized that this deserves its article. Why?

Packing on this very unique journey can be tricky. There are many factors which influence the decisions you make.

1. Weather and time of the year

There are 4 seasons in Spain.

Spring Camino

I would not recommend this part of the year for people who suffer from hen fever or any other allergies to pollen and grass. It can be beautiful, all green and colourful and the temperatures are still mild. But the pollen is a real thing you experience every day as you walk through the fields.

Raining and windy weather, temperatures can be anywhere between 5 degrees in the early morning until 25 and sunny during the day. Many days are unpredictable, you need to pack pieces of everything. Or hope for the best.

Summer Camino

Easier for packing as you expect warm sunny weather. Worse for your body, which can overheat. My recommendation is to wake up early, around 5 am and start walking before 6 am. Take regular breaks, and always have extra water with you. A large amount of sun cream, a hat/baseball cap and sunglasses are a must. Less rain, which is great. More sweat, which means more uncomfortable feeling and more odour in the albergues. More insects, flies, mosquitos. Danger of storms.

High season for Camino, albergues are full, roads are as well, and prices are higher. On the other hand, there are many people to share experiences with and make friends.

Autumn Camino

Comparable to spring, but expect more rain and winds. More debris on the paths as leaves are falling from the trees and create nasty mud after rain. You need clothes for rainy cold days and sunny warm afternoons.

Winter Camino

Nightmare for packing. Warmer clothes mean heavier backpacks. Warm socks, warm jackets, and thermo clothes to keep you warm. Gloves, hats, scarves. It can start snowing anytime, there can be ice on the paths so you need to be careful and walk slower. It is also the season when there are not many pilgrims around. Albergues are not full so you don’t have to book them in advance, but some of them may not be open. There are fewer people to meet during the journey which means also less support. And also not that easy to take a toilet break in nature when it’s 5 degrees outside.

2. Route

Are you going to be passing many towns and villages on your way, or are you going to walk in the wild for most of your Camino? 

Before we started our journey, I sat down with the map and checked the places where we were staying for the night. I noted down information about them, how large they are if there are any monuments or places to see. And more important things: supermarkets and shops offering sports equipment, clothes/shoes and pharmacies. I knew, that in the town on day 2, we needed to buy snacks and breakfast for 2 days ahead, as the village on day 3 had only a tiny little village store. It would be good enough in case of emergency, but better to be safe than sorry. We knew where to buy painkillers in case we would run out of them. Or new shoes.

Summary: Don´t pack snacks and food for the whole journey, buy it on the way.

3. How long is your Camino?

Are you going to walk just for 5 days to reach the necessary 100 kilometres to get a Compostela, or are you walking for 5 weeks?

You don’t need a conditioner for your hair if you are walking for 5 days. You will put a hair mask on after you come back to the comfort of your bathroom at home. But for 30 days? If your hair is used to conditioner, brushing them will be a challenge, especially if you are planning to wash them every day after a sweaty summer walk.

You don’t need large toothpaste for 5 days, pack 2 small travel versions. You know what I mean now, don’t you?

What if you forget to pack something?

Double-check the evening before Day 1

I checked if I packed everything needed on the evening before we started walking. We stayed the night in the large town. In case I forgot something, I could buy it there. My recommendation: start Camino in town with the supermarket. For this reason.

Don’t be afraid to ask

If you realise you forgot something or lost something on the way, it isn’t such a big deal. It’s Camino. Fellow pilgrims will be happy to help, all you need to do is to ask. My friend had a pain in her foot after a couple of days and she talked about it with other pilgrims during one evening. One of them offered his help, he told her to buy the bandage and show her how to tighten the foot to make pressure. It worked!

Packing checklist

I created an A4 packing checklist for packing for Camino. Ready to be used as a digital one or to be printed. You can cross the things you don’t feel like you need to pack, for example, feminine products for gentlemen. Unless your goal is to be ready to help in every need. You can download it HERE.

Few more notes

Bars of soap and shampoo

Bars? Because there is less chance of a leak. Imagine that you will be packing and unpacking every day. Many mornings, you push all the things down to make space for the snacks on the top of your backpack. You push too hard, put pressure on the bottle of shampoo and there you go. Now you don’t have a shampoo and all your things are ready to be washed. The bar of soap should be in a metal tiny box, so you don’t make a powder from it.

Eye masks and earplugs

Non-negotiable. You need to get proper sleep every night.

First aid kit

Even if you never bring anything like this for your holiday, pack it. Because it isn’t your normal holiday. Maybe you won’t use any of it. Maybe you will need every part of it. Or your fellow pilgrim will need it. We used paracetamol, (which is usually used to fight the fever) after the first day of walking and a couple more evenings when we were exhausted and our muscles hurt. It helps with the muscle fever as well and I sleep like a baby after that. I am not saying to drug yourself every evening. But it won’t hurt you from time to time.

Sewing kit

What if your backpack will tear in the middle of nowhere? Get the tiny little one.

Tips & tricks (not only for Camino)

I will write an extensive article on this one day. Because I know the tricks, you would not even dream about. It’s the experience and whole amount of moments of not being that clever, forgetting things and getting myself to the situations, when I was like: I wish I packed that.

Kinder Surprise plastic egg can be used as:

• first aid kit: the smallest version possible will consist of a couple of painkillers (paracetamol and ibuprofen) and pills to treat diarrhea 
• salt, sugar, or any powder which you don’t need a huge amount of. Remember that you can pour the powder only into one half of it, so you will be able to open it later without making a mess.

Tic tac box can be used as:

• first aid kit: extended version, where you can pack a couple of plasters as well as pills in their original package, you just need to cut it into very small individual pieces
• sewing kit: needles, small buttons, small safety pins and threads. All you need.

How to not forget things in accommodation?

• Be mindful when unpacking your things, avoid texting with one hand and unpacking and moving things around with the other one. 
• Have a system or some set of rules where you place your things. I always place the pyjama on the pillow, after unpacking and taking it off in the morning as well. I know I will find it there and pack it.
• Leave things in visible places, don’t place them in the wardrobes or drawers of the nightstand.
• Place items you can’t leave without together with things you could easily forget. When I used to work as a cabin crew, many of us used this smart trick: We locked our passports to the safe in the room, together with one of the shoes that was part of the uniform. I couldn’t leave with only one shoe on!

The most remarkable thing we packed

Silk pyjamas. Both of us. I have packed a pyjama which I got from this friend who walked with me as a birthday present. It was light blue with my initials on the shorts and shirt with short sleeves. She had the same pyjama in the pinky colour with dots. Everyone around us has been sleeping either in a t-shirt or sports bra or just random shorts they have been using during the day. Two of us, washing our faces in the morning, and wearing pyjamas that belong to luxury hotels raised a lot of eyebrows. And it was hilarious.

Maybe you are surprised by some items on the checklist and maybe you feel like some of the things you want to pack are missing there. Fair! I am happy for any comment and suggestion which can enrich my point of view and fellow pilgrims can benefit from it as well!

The last note… the most important one.

There are many reasons why this journey was so special, and amazing. You read about many of them in the previous articles – the freedom, vibes, unconnected from my usual life, nature and people. 

I was walking it with one of my most precious friends. Some days we talked all the time, some days we talked for an hour. Lost in our minds, thinking and rethinking all our past life decisions and plans. Sharing them, figuring out what went wrong and what our future looks like. I had a chance to be with her 24/7 for 2 weeks and I will be grateful for that forever. She has always been my motivation, the person I admire, who is chasing her dreams and enriches the lives of everyone around. Even nowadays, I talk to her while walking – sending her long voice messages on WhatsApp during my walks or on the way to/from work… to keep Camino going.

This is the last article about Camino de Santiago. I love this journey and I loved writing about it. I hope you enjoyed reading about it! If you want to start over, you can click here and enjoy the ride once again. Buen Camino!