What is the path like?

All the routes are varied, from footpath to metalled highway. Some of the footpaths are gravelled, some remain deep mud, some are strewn with boulders. Some road stretches remain (though local authorities along the Camino francés have made big efforts to create separate pilgrim footpaths alongside the highway).

The pass over the Pyrenees from St Jean-Pied-de-Port reaches 1400 m, as do the Montes de León and the pass at O Cebreiro. For the height profiles of the le Puy route, the Paris route, the Camino francés, and the Via de la Plata, click here.

The southern part of the Via de la Plata follows the old roman road from Seville to Astorga. Many sections of it are exposed; you cross several roman bridges, and the many of the roman mile-stones are still visible.

The standard waymarks on all the Spanish routes are yellow arrows, painted on walls, trees, telegraph poles and rocks. They are generally plentiful, and it's hard to get lost.  Sometimes you will see the standard Camino de Santiago shell symbol as a sign or tile, or local variants of this.

The standard waymarkers on the routes in France are the Grande Randonnée red and white stripes, as here: