Introducing the Forum Camino Planner

[wisepilgrim]

The Camino Planner

As the click-clack of walking sticks fades here in Santiago, the tap-tap of my keyboard picks up with exciting changes planned for 2025.

Earlier this summer, we published the complete content of the Wise Pilgrim guides here on the forum (see the Camino Guides link in the menu). At that time, I promised a number of updates throughout the year, and sure enough, a month later, we launched a multilingual site for our international pilgrim friends.

Now, I’m excited to announce our next major update: The Camino Planner.

This new tool, now accessible as part of the regular Camino guide pages, lets you create an itinerary for your upcoming (or even completed) Camino journey. Keep in mind, this is the initial launch of the planner, so a few bugs might appear. If you spot any, please feel free to let me know.

The basic workflow starts with selecting a starting date (optional) and then choosing where you plan to stay overnight, including both the city and accommodation. As you do, the interface updates, adjusting distances from each overnight location accordingly.

At the bottom of the page, you’ll have the option to save your itinerary. When you do, you’ll receive a link via email to modify or share your trip (more on this below). I recommend saving frequently in this first version.

You’ll also find an option to print a PDF of your itinerary, which includes the same information found in the Wise Pilgrim guides.

In addition, the email you receive will contain a link for sharing. By giving this second link to others, they can view your itinerary without dates. They can also modify it and save their own version as a remix.

The goal is to harness the collective wisdom and generosity of this forum to create and share itineraries that can serve as starting points for new pilgrims. For example:

• A 30-day Camino Francés itinerary. or a 40-day one. Long days... or short days.
• An itinerary curated by veteran pilgrims, focusing on favorite accommodations rather than overnight stays.
• A “first 100 km” itinerary to get you into the flow
• A “last 100 km” itinerary, ensuring reservations when the crowds are heaviest
• An itinerary for the Camino Francés that finishes along the Camino de Invierno or starts on the Camino Aragonés

Your creativity is the only limit.

At the moment I have only made the Planner Pages for the major Caminos in the guide, but the rest will be done early next week. I will also create and link to a few sample itineraries, and am happy to field questions about how it works or could be improved.

If anyone has route combination ideas where one camino leads to another, please let me know and I will do my best to build it out.

Hugs from Santiago,
Michael

 

[Kirkie]

The Camino Planner

As the click-clack of walking sticks fades here in Santiago, the tap-tap of my keyboard picks up with exciting changes planned for 2025.

Earlier this summer, we published the complete content of the Wise Pilgrim guides here on the forum (see the Camino Guides link in the menu). At that time, I promised a number of updates throughout the year, and sure enough, a month later, we launched a multilingual site for our international pilgrim friends.

Now, I’m excited to announce our next major update: The Camino Planner.

This new tool, now accessible as part of the regular Camino guide pages, lets you create an itinerary for your upcoming (or even completed) Camino journey. Keep in mind, this is the initial launch of the planner, so a few bugs might appear. If you spot any, please feel free to let me know.

The basic workflow starts with selecting a starting date (optional) and then choosing where you plan to stay overnight, including both the city and accommodation. As you do, the interface updates, adjusting distances from each overnight location accordingly.

At the bottom of the page, you’ll have the option to save your itinerary. When you do, you’ll receive a link via email to modify or share your trip (more on this below). I recommend saving frequently in this first version.

You’ll also find an option to print a PDF of your itinerary, which includes the same information found in the Wise Pilgrim guides.

In addition, the email you receive will contain a link for sharing. By giving this second link to others, they can view your itinerary without dates. They can also modify it and save their own version as a remix.

The goal is to harness the collective wisdom and generosity of this forum to create and share itineraries that can serve as starting points for new pilgrims. For example:

• A 30-day Camino Francés itinerary. or a 40-day one. Long days... or short days.
• An itinerary curated by veteran pilgrims, focusing on favorite accommodations rather than overnight stays.
• A “first 100 km” itinerary to get you into the flow
• A “last 100 km” itinerary, ensuring reservations when the crowds are heaviest
• An itinerary for the Camino Francés that finishes along the Camino de Invierno or starts on the Camino Aragonés

Your creativity is the only limit.

At the moment I have only made the Planner Pages for the major Caminos in the guide, but the rest will be done early next week. I will also create and link to a few sample itineraries, and am happy to field questions about how it works or could be improved.

If anyone has route combination ideas where one camino leads to another, please let me know and I will do my best to build it out.

Hugs from Santiago,
Michael

You keep on doing good works! I worked a bit on it, but stopped because my experience is not really useful for today's members. I do love going over my camino though, from 2006, as it reminds me of a unique experience that influenced me deeply. In free moments I will continue to plot the path.
I applaud you for the painstaking work you have given in this gift to all pilgrims who may happen upon it. Thank you, Michael.

 

[Robo]

I'm just trying to plot my Invierno from last year.
But I wasn't able to complete plotting the route.
A couple of common places to stay, and the associated accommodation, just off the Camino, seem not to be listed. Maybe I missed them?

Solden. (the apartments)
A Labrada. (Pension Pacita)
Vilarino. (CR Torre Vilarino)

 

[wisepilgrim]

I'm just trying to plot my Invierno from last year.
But I wasn't able to complete plotting the route.
A couple of common places to stay, and the associated accommodation, just off the Camino, seem not to be listed. Maybe I missed them?

Solden. (the apartments)
A Labrada. (Pension Pacita)
Vilarino. (CR Torre Vilarino)

The next minor update, for the end of next week, will add the option to include accommodation that is not currently listed as well as to include your own notes.

A few other bugs have appeared, and some embarrassing misspellings, but those will get squashed early Monday morning.

 

[Robo]

The next minor update, for the end of next week, will add the option to include accommodation that is not currently listed as well as to include your own notes.

A few other bugs have appeared, and some embarrassing misspellings, but those will get squashed early Monday morning.

It wasn't so much the accomodation listing was 'missing'. but the locations themselves, as potential stopping points were missing.

Though in each of the three cases, there is only one accomodation option anyway.

I suppose with off Camino accommodation, it's often the same thing.

But important on some routes I think, for those of us who can't walk long stages, to be able to see intermediate places to end the day.

Good work!

 

[Candywalks]

This is wonderful!! I am planning a 2025 Camino (Frances and Inverno) and this will be so helpful. Right now I have lots of scattered notes so this will allow me to pull it all together in one place.
One question - is there a way to include a rest day in an itinerary??

 

[wisepilgrim]

This is wonderful!! I am planning a 2025 Camino (Frances and Inverno) and this will be so helpful. Right now I have lots of scattered notes so this will allow me to pull it all together in one place.
One question - is there a way to include a rest day in an itinerary??

Yes! After you add a place to the itinerary, there is an option to the left to make that overnight up to 3 nights.

 

[MassNative]

This seems like it is going to be a great tool, I pretty much did this, very manually, with a spreadsheet, gronze, and the WisePilgrim app.

One suggestion is to add the ability to mark some itinerary stops to include "rest days". The godesalco site has a "rest day" field that defaults to 0 at each stop. Change the default to how many days off you would like to plan at this stop.

Jim

 

[wisepilgrim]

This seems like it is going to be a great tool, I pretty much did this, very manually, with a spreadsheet, gronze, and the WisePilgrim app.

One suggestion is to add the ability to mark some itinerary stops to include "rest days". The godesalco site has a "rest day" field that defaults to 0 at each stop. Change the default to how many days off you would like to plan at this stop.

Jim

See my comment above, as this does this. You simply specify how many nights at each stop... the default is 1 but you can set more.

 

[Dov of the Galilee]

I used the app for the CF for the walk from St. JEAN to Santiago, many times the prices cited were incorrect and or the hours of opening . The most severe was onetime it was posted as opening at 1100 and it turned out to be 1500. I wish the albergue owners updated Google and other apps such as this to make such things happen very seldomly.

 

[alexwalker]

Your app and efforts are gems. Thank you.

 

[sugargypsy]

Hi,
great tool, but I do have one question: Is there a specific reason why I can't read it in English ?

I have now tested the planner on my mobile, laptop and PC: The page always opens in German. If I want to switch to English at the box at the top right corner, it doesn't work.

I've tried Firefox, Edge and Google Chrome as browsers, but it makes no difference.

I can call up any other language, I have tested French, Spanish and Danish. That works perfectly well. But English? - No chance . Every time I tap on it, it leaves the page with the selected Camino and jumps back to the previous page where on can choose the Camino one wants to look at.

That's not big deal, but it's strange, since I usually read everything Camino-related in English.

 

[sprinto]

I have just tried the planner and saved it
I received the e mail and clicked on the link but don’t see my already saved itinerary
Am I missing something please

 

[trecile]

My only complaint about the planner and the site in general is that there is a lot of scrolling involved. Can you set it up so that details and accommodations in each town are collapsed and can be expanded by clicking a button?

 

[dougfitz]

The next minor update, for the end of next week, will add the option to include accommodation that is not currently listed as well as to include your own notes.

I will be interested to see how you solve this. I am currently working on the schedule for a short camino, the Mozarabe from Almeria to Granada, and in one place I will need to stay off the recognized route. In this case, it isn't far, perhaps about 1.5 km to add to the evening and following morning over the distances, assuming I return to the recognized route the same way that I left it. However, there have been many times when one wouldn't do that, and one would effectively create a short variant route staying somewhere off-route. There would be different arrival and departure paths, and possibly even several choices of paths to choose from, with different distances to add to the distance along the recognized route.

Of course, @wisepilgrim, if you were to say that there is a point where this just becomes too complex for the moment, and that there will be some more demanding challenges that will need to wait for a resolution, I would understand that too.

 

[mgnswaus]

The Camino Planner

As the click-clack of walking sticks fades here in Santiago, the tap-tap of my keyboard picks up with exciting changes planned for 2025.

Earlier this summer, we published the complete content of the Wise Pilgrim guides here on the forum (see the Camino Guides link in the menu). At that time, I promised a number of updates throughout the year, and sure enough, a month later, we launched a multilingual site for our international pilgrim friends.

Now, I’m excited to announce our next major update: The Camino Planner.

This new tool, now accessible as part of the regular Camino guide pages, lets you create an itinerary for your upcoming (or even completed) Camino journey. Keep in mind, this is the initial launch of the planner, so a few bugs might appear. If you spot any, please feel free to let me know.

The basic workflow starts with selecting a starting date (optional) and then choosing where you plan to stay overnight, including both the city and accommodation. As you do, the interface updates, adjusting distances from each overnight location accordingly.

At the bottom of the page, you’ll have the option to save your itinerary. When you do, you’ll receive a link via email to modify or share your trip (more on this below). I recommend saving frequently in this first version.

You’ll also find an option to print a PDF of your itinerary, which includes the same information found in the Wise Pilgrim guides.

In addition, the email you receive will contain a link for sharing. By giving this second link to others, they can view your itinerary without dates. They can also modify it and save their own version as a remix.

The goal is to harness the collective wisdom and generosity of this forum to create and share itineraries that can serve as starting points for new pilgrims. For example:

• A 30-day Camino Francés itinerary. or a 40-day one. Long days... or short days.
• An itinerary curated by veteran pilgrims, focusing on favorite accommodations rather than overnight stays.
• A “first 100 km” itinerary to get you into the flow
• A “last 100 km” itinerary, ensuring reservations when the crowds are heaviest
• An itinerary for the Camino Francés that finishes along the Camino de Invierno or starts on the Camino Aragonés

Your creativity is the only limit.

At the moment I have only made the Planner Pages for the major Caminos in the guide, but the rest will be done early next week. I will also create and link to a few sample itineraries, and am happy to field questions about how it works or could be improved.

If anyone has route combination ideas where one camino leads to another, please let me know and I will do my best to build it out.

Hugs from Santiago,
Michael

Michael, even as an organiserholic, I can’t begin to imagine how much work has gone into this. I am in awe! Having been a ‘tester’, literally in the first few days of Wise Pilgrim, I have watched how it has grown and given so much support to so many of us who are camino addicts over the years. I look forward to developments as they continue with this next iteration. Already there are so many great suggestions from those for whom the Camino is a way of life. You are indeed a ‘wise pilgrim’ to pick their knowledgeable brains. Thank you so much from those past, present and future pilgrims who will benefit beyond words from you dedication.

 

[WalkingInGers]

I will be walking from Algeciras to Santiago in March..

 

[MassNative]

See my comment above, as this does this. You simply specify how many nights at each stop... the default is 1 but you can set more.

Got it. Awesome.

I think I missed it because the "Days" option doesn't appear until after I selected the town to the itinerary, I just didn't see a new field appear.

 

[sprinto]

Hi Michael
Could you or someone help with my earlier post please

 

[wisepilgrim]

Hi Michael
Could you or someone help with my earlier post please

You will need to select a starting date too, at the very top. This can be changed, but it is very useful in two ways:
1. It reminds you which days are which.
2. It automatically modifies the booking links, if you plan to use them, to include the correct checkin and checkout date.

I am a bit unsure whether this should be a requirement, but in the end I think it makes more sense. Setting more than 1 night does not make a lot of sense unless we are actually counting days on the calendar... right?

 

[wisepilgrim]

I used the app for the CF for the walk from St. JEAN to Santiago, many times the prices cited were incorrect and or the hours of opening . The most severe was onetime it was posted as opening at 1100 and it turned out to be 1500. I wish the albergue owners updated Google and other apps such as this to make such things happen very seldomly.

It is a continuous effort to keep these things updated. I do a lot of outreach, and the most organized of hospitaleros proactively send me the changes, but there are a great many that feel like a note on the door is enough. This was the motivating factor for including the ability for pilgrims to leave comments in the app. I read them too, and when things like this come up I use the opportunity to update the database.

Hi,
great tool, but I do have one question: Is there a specific reason why I can't read it in English ?

I have now tested the planner on my mobile, laptop and PC: The page always opens in German. If I want to switch to English at the box at the top right corner, it doesn't work.

I've tried Firefox, Edge and Google Chrome as browsers, but it makes no difference.

I can call up any other language, I have tested French, Spanish and Danish. That works perfectly well. But English? - No chance . Every time I tap on it, it leaves the page with the selected Camino and jumps back to the previous page where on can choose the Camino one wants to look at.

That's not big deal, but it's strange, since I usually read everything Camino-related in English.

This is a very good question, as English should absolutely be the default. I don't have the same issue, and cannot seem to replicate it. If you have the time I would be grateful to receive more information via a private message. I can tell you that in the URL, when viewing German, there will be a "/de" after /camino-guides. If you do NOT see that and the content is still in German please send me the full URL so I can do some testing. If it does appear, and choosing English does not help, try removing that /de to see what happens.

My only complaint about the planner and the site in general is that there is a lot of scrolling involved. Can you set it up so that details and accommodations in each town are collapsed and can be expanded by clicking a button?

I agree 100%. I have fixed this on my end and will update the site as soon as the other outstanding bugs get fixed... in a day or two. I settled on a solution which balanced scrolling and clicking for so much content. Specifically I have hidden the accommodation in a collapsed box to reduce scrolling but left the details in place as they are more pertinent to the pilgrim making the plans... and to hide them would just result in lots and lots of clicking. I have also included icons representing the services of a city, so that it is more clear what types of accommodation (private vs albergue) and services are available at a glance.

I will be interested to see how you solve this. I am currently working on the schedule for a short camino, the Mozarabe from Almeria to Granada, and in one place I will need to stay off the recognized route. In this case, it isn't far, perhaps about 1.5 km to add to the evening and following morning over the distances, assuming I return to the recognized route the same way that I left it. However, there have been many times when one wouldn't do that, and one would effectively create a short variant route staying somewhere off-route. There would be different arrival and departure paths, and possibly even several choices of paths to choose from, with different distances to add to the distance along the recognized route.

Of course, @wisepilgrim, if you were to say that there is a point where this just becomes too complex for the moment, and that there will be some more demanding challenges that will need to wait for a resolution, I would understand that too.

It is true that there is no limit to the degree of complexity that could be programmed into this. The trick is to find the balance between features and usability.

The plan to start off with is to add text boxes for every place, where the user can manually type in their own notes. For cities this could include a list of places that they want to visit, or restaurant recommendations they heard about, or notes about transportation etc. It could be a mention that the night will be spent off camino, including a mention of how far off. Off camino distances accommodation is difficult to program for as the sheer number of cities and hotels is so very large. I have a few ideas in mind, but will need to experiment with them a bit to determine how practical they are. And I welcome more.

I will likewise add a text box in the accommodation section, so that the user can add their own hotel names and contact number. I imagine that this field could be digested and delivered to me so that I could simply add those places to the database too.



Thank you everyone for the feedback, I'll post back here when these changes have been implemented. And in the meantime I will also whip up a few sample itineraries to share.

 

[Candywalks]

Hi - I just wanted to let you know of some problems that I am having. I now see where I can have a rest day as the Days prompt opens up when I select a city. However when I try select the number of days, rather than getting a drop down menu where I can increase it up to 3 days, I get a client error. Also - I have tried multiple times to safe and email a link to myself. It appears that I am successful, however, I never get the email. I've checked my spam but don't see anything there. I'm using Google Chrome for my browser. Do you think that could be a problem?

 

[wisepilgrim]

Hi - I just wanted to let you know of some problems that I am having. I now see where I can have a rest day as the Days prompt opens up when I select a city. However when I try select the number of days, rather than getting a drop down menu where I can increase it up to 3 days, I get a client error. Also - I have tried multiple times to safe and email a link to myself. It appears that I am successful, however, I never get the email. I've checked my spam but don't see anything there. I'm using Google Chrome for my browser. Do you think that could be a problem?

This is a reply for anyone having the same issue, @Candywalks was able to track this down to being a problem with gmail blocking the receipt. Adding caminoplanner@wisepilgrim.com to her contacts fixed the problem.

 

[stewinyvr]

Hi Michael, thank you for the ongoing development of this tool which even in its early stages is tremendously valuable. While testing yesterday I noticed that when I scanned the generated QR codes in the pdf, they correctly identified the location in the bookings app, but the dates did not populate, the app always populated with whatever dates I had previously entered manually. If it helps, I am using a Google Pixel 8..

 

[wisepilgrim]

Hi Michael, thank you for the ongoing development of this tool which even in its early stages is tremendously valuable. While testing yesterday I noticed that when I scanned the generated QR codes in the pdf, they correctly identified the location in the bookings app, but the dates did not populate, the app always populated with whatever dates I had previously entered manually. If it helps, I am using a Google Pixel 8..

Thanks! I noticed this too, and am afraid that I mistakenly reverted some code where it was once working correctly. In fact there are multiple bugs present:
1. no dates should appear on the site unless you have chosen one.
2. all booking links should update with the correct checkin/out dates, both on the site and the pdf.
3. when a date is selected, the pdf does adjust the booking link but it is still setting it incorrectly

expect a fix shortly.

 

[MassNative]

Michael,

This is probably less a bug, and more an issue with bad route data.

After Sahagun, the planner offers the Via Trajana option. The planner says the two route options rejoin at Calzadilla de los Hermanillos, which is incorrect. You can rejoin at either Religios or Mansilla.

I selected the standard route, with an itinerary stop in El Burgo Ranero. After that the distances seem to be off by about 8-9 kms. Planner tells me it is 27.1 km to Mansilla (from El Burgo) instead of 19 km.

Still loving playing with this planner!

Jim

 

[wisepilgrim]

Just a follow to let everyone following this thread that I updated the planner with a load of bug fixes. There are a few remaining caching issues that are giving me a headache, and as @MassNative a few glitches in places where the route splits.

You should immediately notice a lot less scrolling as the accommodation is now in collapsed boxes. And beneath them is the ability to add your own hotel that is not in my dataset.

The QR code issue pointed out by @stewinyvr are fixed too, as well as the buttons that appear in the pdf.

I wonder, @Candywalks , if you could give it another try. The issues you are having are ones that I cannot seem to replicate using any of my browsers/simulators.

@sprinto I have sent you a reply, as I think now that your links should work.

 

[stewinyvr]

Just a follow to let everyone following this thread that I updated the planner with a load of bug fixes. There are a few remaining caching issues that are giving me a headache, and as @MassNative a few glitches in places where the route splits.

You should immediately notice a lot less scrolling as the accommodation is now in collapsed boxes. And beneath them is the ability to add your own hotel that is not in my dataset.

The QR code issue pointed out by @stewinyvr are fixed too, as well as the buttons that appear in the pdf.

I wonder, @Candywalks , if you could give it another try. The issues you are having are ones that I cannot seem to replicate using any of my browsers/simulators.

@sprinto I have sent you a reply, as I think now that your links should work.

Thanks Michael - just tested the QR code and works perfectly, this is an awesome tool, thanks for adding it to the camino toolbox

 

[sprinto]

Hi Michael
Loving the planner now i have sorted myself out
Just one thing , i have done my plan and e mailed it to myself
but the problem i have is when i edit the plan (ie put a note on accommodation etc)
and leave the editing tool it automatically saves but then reverts back to the first page.
Is it possible to make it that when you save your edit it reverts back to the page you have
just edited.
Many Thanks

 

[sprinto]

Thinking about it , it is a pdf problem
You just have to leave the edit tool open until you have finished and then close the edit tool before closing the pdf

 

[RobinK*]

Hi, great initiative!
Just tried to plan the Via Podiensis, starting date 1st of April 2025. Selected some places to spend the nights and then when I went for the button 'Continue in Occitanie' it gives me the error as depicted in my second picture.

 

[wisepilgrim]

Hello everyone!

This is just a follow to let everyone know that I have not stopped since the last post, and that all of the major bugs have been fixed. As such this tool is, I believe, ready for prime time.

The majority of the issues were related to the routes which split and rejoin later (particularly on the Norte). A few cases where underlying distance data was not correct subsequent to the addition of interstitial villages, and a few more were data points were transposed.

The pdf appears to be working well, and the links behave correctly. I plan one more change to them to include the map images, though I may simply include those as a separate download to keep the file size smaller. Opinions?

You will also notice, @RobinK* and @sprinto, that the routes are no longer split up. Each planner is unique, and I am building more as users send me suggested combinations (ie. Aragonés - Francés, or Francés Invierno).

Here on the forums Ivar has created a new resource type called ITINERARY that we can use to share our suggested plans to others. Just be sure to share the second link from the email, so nobody goes editing the original.

I wanted to thank everyone for their feedback, it has been invaluable. I will keep working on it, as I do whenever things go wrong or I see room for improvement.