Independent arrival in Le Puy-en-Velay, located in France, where your pilgrimage on the Via Podiensis on the French Way begins. Proceed to your room and prepare mind and body for the Camino.

The pilgrimage tour begins today on the Camino from Le Puy to Saint-Privat-d’Allier. The Camino takes you along roads, tracks, and hiking trails with medium and sometimes steeper ascents and descents.

Distance: 23.5 km. (14.6 mi.) | Difficulty: challenging

From Saint-Privat, we descend to Monistrol-d’Allier, situated on the banks of the Allier which we will cross. From there, the Camino takes us up again to the plateau of the Margeride.

Distance: 19 km. (12 mi.) | Difficulty: Challenging

Through the Margeride and its impressive granite blocks, over cow pastures and through small forests, you will first go to Le Sauvage. You will then cross the Margeride Pass (second highest point of the Via Podiensis after the Pyrenees) and continue past the Roch Fountain to the Chapelle de Saint-Roch. We spend the night in Les Faux.

Distance: 28 km. (17.4 mi.) | Difficulty: Moderate

On this day, you will leave the Margeride and enter, almost without noticing, the mountainous region of the Aubrac. The day’s destination, Aumont-Aubrac, is also referred to as the “Gate of Aubrac”.

Distance: 20 km. (12.4 mi.) | Difficulty: Moderate

On the plateau of Aubrac, you will constantly encounter herds of the famous Aubrac cattle. You will reach Montgros.

Distance: 24 km. (15 mi.) | Difficulty: Easy

We initially continue through Aubrac toward Nasbinals and its Romanesque church of Notre-Dame, a real gem on the French Way. Your destination is Saint-Chély-d’Aubrac.

Distance: 20 km. (12 mi.) | Difficulty: Easy

The Camino leaves here Aubrac and enters the Lot Valley, one of the major rivers that flow through the Massif Central.

Distance: 16 km. (10 mi.) | Difficulty: Moderate

You walk via Espalion, also called “The First Smile of the South.” You spend the night in Estaing and its Gothic bridge. It is also the home of the d’Estaing family, whose most famous son, Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, was former president of France.

Distance: 18 km. (11 mi.) | Difficulty: Moderate

The Lot Valley shows once again its most beautiful side: small villages, views of the valley, plateaus, light and shadowy deciduous forests are waiting for you.

Distance: 15 km. (9 mi.) | Difficulty: Moderate

Over tracks and forest paths, and a short mountainous stage, we reach a highlight of the Via Podensis: Conques and its wonderful Romanesque monastery church.

Distance: 21 km. (13 mi.) | Difficulty: Moderate

After Conques, we start ascending again. Through chestnut forests, you will reach the green hilly landscape of Rouergue until Livinhac-le-Haut, where, shortly before, you meet the Lot again.

Distance: 24 km. (15 mi.) | Difficulty: Moderate

Along tracks, the Camino continues to Figeac, passing pastures and fields, and through small hamlets via Montredon and Felzins. The town’s most famous son is Jean-François Champollion, who was the first European to decipher Egyptian hieroglyphics.

Distance: 25 km. (16 mi.) | Difficulty:Moderate

Past Figeac, the Camino leads up to the Causses, which, with its austere beauty and sparse population, is one of the most impressive landscapes in France. Passing prehistoric dolmens, the Camino continues to Le Puy Clavel just before Gréalou.

Distance: 20 km. (12 mi.) | Difficulty: Easy

Your destination today on this short stage is Cajarc, the center of saffron cultivation in France.

Distance: 11 km. (7 mi.) | Difficulty: Easy

You will leave the fertile Lot Valley again in order to ascend the rocky Chausses afterward. Passing low oak forests, junipers, and boxwood bushes, you will reach Limogne-en-Quercy.

Distance: 17 km. (11 mi.) | Difficulty: Easy

You will first continue through the sparsely populated limestone plateau to the small village of Varaire, where time seems to have stopped. You will reach Mas de Vers, where you spend the night.

Distance: 22 km. (14 mi.) | Difficulty: Easy

The barrenness and solitude of the road accompany pilgrims until just before Cahors. Starting from the plateau, with a beautiful view of the stage destination, the Camino descends to the city that nestles in a meander of the Lot.

Distance: 17 km. (11 mi.) | Difficulty: Easy

On your way through the limestone plateau of Quercy Blanc, you will reach Lascabanes and pass fields of cereals, sunflowers, corn, or melons.

Distance: 23 km. (14 mi.) | Difficulty: Moderate

Through small river valleys and over gently rolling hills used for growing fruits and vegetables, the Camino continues today to Lauzerte.

Distance: 23 km. (14 mi.) | Difficulty: Moderate

Through the hilly landscape of the Tarn and the Garonne, you will reach Moissac. Next to Conques, it is the most important stop on the Via Podiensis from a historical and cultural point of view.

Distance: 25 km. (16 mi.) | Difficulty: Moderate

You will leave Moissac and walk along a towpath through several small villages. The route continues through Gascony, a region rich in history that can already be considered part of the Pyrenean foothills.

Distance: 29 km. (18 mi.) | Difficulty: Easy, but longer stage

On this day, the Camino leads through the Arrat Valley and further into the heart of Gascony, home of the character based on d’Artagnan from Alexandre Dumas’s famous novel The Three Musketeers. Over ridges, small valleys, and streams, the Camino goes through an intensively farmed region to Lectoure, former episcopal see and one of the oldest villages in the area.

Distance: 24 km. (15 mi.) | Difficulty: Easy

On well-marked tracks, forest paths or asphalted roads, you will hike today from Lectoure to the beautiful village of La Romieu, which houses an interesting collegiate church with a lovely cloister.

Distance: 18 km. (11 mi.) | Difficulty: Easy

After leaving La Romieu behind, you continue your pilgrimage along tracks through a beech grove. With increasing frequency, you will now pass vineyards that shape the heartland of Gascony, the Armagnac region. You reach Condom, a typical small town of Gascony.

Distance: 16 km. (10 mi.) | Difficulty: Easy

You will walk through the Armagnac region and its vineyards, groves, fields of melons, sunflowers, or cereals. Up on the hills are the typical bastide villages, such as Montréal-du-Gers, today’s stage destination.

Distance: 17 km. (11 mi.) | Difficulty: Easy

Just like the previous day, you will hike again through a diverse landscape and past the Ténarèze reservoir to the historic Eauze, the main town of Armagnac, which has some old and well-preserved townhouses.

Distance: 16 km. (10 mi.) | Difficulty: Easy

The gently rolling landscape is characterized by vineyards that alternate with cornfields and groves. You will hike to Nogaro, whose name derives from a walnut tree plantation.

Distance: 20 km. (12 mi.) | Difficulty: Easy

Through mainly tracks and forest paths, and small oak and sweet chestnut groves, you will hike through the Gers region and approach the Adour river plain.

Distance: 26 km. (16 mi.) | Difficulty: Moderate

You will hike south of the Adour’s course, where vast cornfields stretch across the fertile plain. Your destination is Miramont-Sensacq, from whose church you can enjoy a wide panoramic view of the Pyrenees on a clear day.

Distance: 20 km. (12 mi.) | Difficulty: Easy

Today, the first ridges join the landscape, on which the small historic villages of the area can be seen from afar.

Distance: 18 km. (11 mi.) | Difficulty: Easy

Further on, you will reach the old French province of Béarn at the foothills of the Pyrenees. The diverse landscape is shaped by cornfields and vineyards, as well as pastures, meadows, and smaller forest areas on the slopes.

Distance: 26 km. (16 mi.) | Difficulty: Easy, but longer stage

Over ridges and streams, past the Gave de Pau, you will enter the region of the Pyrenean foothills. Today’s destination is the village of Sauvelade and its Cistercian abbey, whose floor plan has the shape of a Greek cross.

Distance: 18 km. (11 mi.) | Difficulty: Easy

You will first hike to Navarrenx today. Originally built as a bastide, its structure, with all the fortified architecture, still remains an attraction today. Continuing through a gently wavy landscape with numerous streams, you will reach the French Basque Country.

Distance: 25 km. (16 mi.) | Difficulty: Moderate

This stage will take you closer and closer to the Basque Country and its green pastures, forests, small hamlets, and farms. Enjoy the view of the pristine landscape.

Distance: 31 km. (19 mi.) | Difficulty: Easy, but longer stage

Although you continually approach the mountain range of the Pyrenees today, the Camino stretches smoothly. Your destination is Saint-Jean Pied-de-Port at the foothills of the Pyrenees, where only here the Camino starts to rise steeply.

Distance: 18 km. (11 mi.) | Difficulty: Easy

Farewell, Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port; farewell, Camino – and safe travels on your journey back home or to your next adventure! Or, here is another option well-worth considering: to continue onto our first part of the Camino Francés, from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port to Pamplona.