If I want to do the Camino de Santiago by bike ... How do I take it to my first stage?

Camino de Santiago en bici

Walking the Camino de Santiago by bicycle is the option chosen by 10% of the pilgrims who make the Jacobean route. Only during last year, 27,000 people chose the two wheels to make longer stages, to enjoy cycling or to live any of the Camino de Santiago in a different way. If you are a bicyclist, you should consider two fundamental questions when planning the stages: how to take the bike to the starting point and how to transport it back home at the end of the Camino.

For many bicigrinos the possible impediments to take the bike in public transport, the increase in the price that is billed as baggage in the plane or the many routes that must be done until arriving at the starting town (What do I do with The bike if I have to take a taxi, will be safe in the cellar of the bus?), Have them leave their bicycle at home and choose to rent one for the Camino, assuming this extra cost.
Now this is no longer necessary and pilgrims can do the Ruta Jacobea on their own bicycle, thanks to specialized transportation services. Among them, for price, safety and comfort, highlights the Paq Bicicleta de El Camino with CORREOS.

Its operation is as easy as approaching the post office closest to your home (Correos has more than 2,300 distributed throughout the Spanish geography) and there you will be provided with a special packaging for your bicycle -150cm long, 30cm wide and 90 cm high. With this package, it is hardly necessary to remove it, only the front wheel must be removed. In this way, the process is fast and simple, without jeopardizing the components or the most delicate adjustments of your bike, so that when you re-mount everything is in place.

Once packaged, you can choose any post office along the Camino de Santiago to be sent there. Your bike will wait for you: the office staff will keep you for up to 15 days, an ample time that will give you enough margin so that you can move to your initial stage, in the medium of transport you choose and without stress, before collecting your bicycle to start the Camino de Santiago.

In this way, you can send your bike to both traditional starting places and any of the "intermediate" stages: on the French Way, from Roncesvalles or Somport; In the Primitive Way, the Northern Way, the English Way, the Portuguese Way, the Vía de la Plata, the Camino Sanabrés ... or in any other route of your choice.

The amount of this service, for any national shipment within the peninsula, is 42.37 euros (VAT included). The price includes the special packaging and insurance of 300 euros that you can extend if you prefer.

Once you reach the end of your Camino, Santiago de Compostela, Fisterra, Muxía or any other population, you can send it back home following the same procedure: to approach a post office, send it and not worry, because Your bike will be waiting for you at the nearest office to your address, when you return.

If you finish in Santiago, Correos has an office 2 minutes from the Cathedral, in Rúa do Franco, 4. From there you can send your bike back to your locality after arriving from your pilgrimage, but you want to continue using it to move around the city , You can also take advantage of the service in the office. They will keep your bicycle so that you can access the interior of the Cathedral of Santiago and so you can take a walk through the historical center of Santiago with peace of mind. The slogan will also be useful to leave your luggage, with which for security reasons, you can not access the Cathedral.

The Paq Bicicleta is also available for non-peninsular shipments from or to Baleares, Canarias, Ceuta and Melilla and for shipments outside Spain. These shipments abroad are offered from Santiago de Compostela and Fisterra, offices that have a wide schedule to attend the pilgrims: to Portugal, for 60 euros; To France, for 80 euros and to other European countries, for 90 euros.

What if I come from another continent?

For the many who arrive on the Camino de Santiago from outside Europe with their own bicycle, the most common option is to check it on the plane until landing in Spain. You can go to any post office in Madrid or any other city in whose airport you land, since the service of Paq Bicicleta lends itself in the entire network of CORREOS of the Spanish territory.