Books about pilgrimage walks come in two kinds, and most people need one of each. The first is a practical guide: stage-by-stage route descriptions, maps, places to sleep and how to get home again. The second is a writer's account of the walk, which is no use for finding your way but a good deal more use for deciding whether to go.
This list takes both. The practical guides cover the St Francis Way in Italy, the Camino Francés across northern Spain, the Camino Ignaciano in the Basque Country and Catalonia, and the Fife Pilgrim Way in Scotland. The narratives are mostly about the Camino de Santiago, with two recent books on pilgrim paths in Britain. For Italy's other great pilgrimage, see our page on the Via Francigena.
Check the edition before you buy a guidebook. Routes are re-waymarked, stages are re-cut and accommodation changes, so a guide a few editions old can describe a different walk from the one on the ground. The current St Francis guide, for instance, describes 518 km in 27 stages, where the first edition described about 550 km in 28.
Our Picks
10 books1
The Way of St Francis: Via di Francesco : From Florence to Assisi and Rome
by The Reverend Sandy Brown
Paperback
Sandy Brown's Cicerone guide to the Via di Francesco covers 518 km from Florence to Rome in 27 stages, by way of La Verna, Assisi, Gubbio and Spoleto. It has route descriptions, 1:100,000 maps, elevation profiles and downloadable GPX files, and offers variants for the Florence to La Verna and Assisi to Rieti sections. Choose this one if you want a detailed, stage-by-stage guide to a quieter alternative to the Camino.
2
Lonely Planet Journey Camino de Santiago : Camino Frances
by Lonely Planet, Mark Eveleigh, Narina Exelby, Anna Kaminski, Richard Kieckhiefer, Oliver Smith, Josh West, Melissa Yeager
Paperback
Lonely Planet's volume on the Camino Francés, the best-known route to Santiago de Compostela. It mixes planning advice with background on the culture, history and landscapes along the way, so it suits both first-time pilgrims working out the practicalities and readers who want context for what they will pass.
3
Camino Ignaciano : Walking the Ignatian Way in Northern Spain
by Murray Stewart
Paperback
Murray Stewart's Bradt guide follows the route Ignatius of Loyola took in 1522, from the Basque Country to Montserrat and Manresa. It is a compact, carry-in-the-rucksack guide with the practical information needed to walk it. A good choice for walkers who want a Spanish pilgrimage with far fewer people on it than the Camino Francés.
4
The Fife Pilgrim Way : In the Footsteps of Monks, Miners and Martyrs
by Ian Bradley
Paperback
Ian Bradley's companion to the Fife Pilgrim Way, a route through the history of medieval pilgrimage to St Andrews. It is as much a book about the places and people along the route as a practical guide, with nearly 100 colour illustrations, and the publisher describes it as suitable for walkers, drivers, cyclists or armchair readers.
5
I'm Off Then : Losing and Finding Myself on the Camino de Santiago
by Hape Kerkeling
Paperback
Hape Kerkeling's account of walking the Camino de Santiago, written by a well-known German entertainer. It has been translated into eleven languages and reads as a personal, often funny story rather than a route guide. Read it for the human side of the Camino: the blisters, the company and the changes of heart.
6
Travels With a Stick : A Pilgrim’s Journey to Santiago de Compostela
by Richard Frazer, Alastair McIntosh
Paperback
Richard Frazer's account of his pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, with Alastair McIntosh. The theme is that a journey made with an open and hospitable heart can change the traveller, wherever it is made. A reflective, absorbing read for anyone wondering what walking for weeks is actually like.
7
The Santiago Pilgrimage : Walking the Immortal Way
by Jean-Christophe Rufin
Paperback
Jean-Christophe Rufin looks at the walk that tens of thousands of pilgrims, backpackers and cyclists make to Santiago de Compostela each year, and at those who still go the medieval way on horseback. It is a more literary treatment of the Camino than most of the memoirs, and it suits readers who like history alongside the walking.
8
Roads To Santiago
by Cees Nooteboom
Paperback
Cees Nooteboom's Roads to Santiago is not a walking guide. It is a many-sided meditation on Spain, taking in ten centuries of its history, politics, art, literature and architecture along the way. Read it before you go, or instead of going, if you are interested in the country the Camino crosses as much as the walk itself.
9
Wayfarer : Love, Loss and Life on Britain's Pilgrim Paths
by Phoebe Smith
Paperback
Phoebe Smith's account of walking Britain's pilgrim paths, shortlisted for the Edward Stanford Travel Book of the Year 2025. It begins as a work assignment and becomes a book about love, loss and finding a way forward on foot. A good starting point for anyone who did not know Britain has pilgrim routes at all.
10
On This Holy Island : A Modern Pilgrimage Across Britain -- A FINANCIAL TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR
by Oliver Smith
Paperback
Oliver Smith sets out to widen what pilgrimage means in Britain, retracing sacred travel routes across the country. It was named a Financial Times Book of the Year. Choose it if you are curious about the older, stranger side of British pilgrim travel, rather than looking for directions.
Frequently Asked Questions
For planning, Lonely Planet's Journey Camino de Santiago: Camino Francés covers the best-known route. For the experience, Hape Kerkeling's I'm Off Then and Richard Frazer's Travels With a Stick are personal accounts.
The St Francis Way, or Via di Francesco, is a walking pilgrimage of about 518 km from Florence to Rome, through Tuscany and Umbria, by way of La Verna, Assisi, Gubbio and Spoleto. Cicerone's guide describes it in 27 stages. See our St Francis Way page for the guide.
Yes. The Fife Pilgrim Way in Scotland is covered by Ian Bradley's companion guide. For wider accounts of British pilgrim paths, read Phoebe Smith's Wayfarer or Oliver Smith's On This Holy Island.
If you are planning to walk a route, buy the guidebook for its maps and stages and check that it is a recent edition. If you are deciding whether to go, or want to understand a route better, start with one of the narratives.