Over the Pyrenees to Pamplona

The Pilgrim Information Office on Rue de la Citadelle is the formal starting point for pilgrims on the Camino Francés. Housed in the heart of Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port's old town, this is where you register your pilgrimage, receive or validate your credencial (pilgrim passport), and get your first stamp — the sello that will fill page by page all the way to Santiago. Critically, the office provides up-to-date information on mountain conditions for the crossing ahead, including whether the high Route Napoléon is open or whether walkers should take the lower Valcarlos alternative. Staff are experienced and multilingual. Allow around 45 minutes here: there may be a queue in peak season, and it is worth absorbing the maps and advice on offer. This small office, rated 4.7/5, carries significant practical weight — decisions made here shape your first and most demanding day.

Refuge Orisson sits roughly 8 km and 500 metres of climbing above Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, clinging to the hillside above the D428 road on the Route Napoléon. It is the only accommodation on the high mountain stage before Roncesvalles, and for many pilgrims it marks the first real test — the legs are burning, the altitude is evident, and the Pyrenean panorama opens up in all directions. Orisson functions as both a refuge (lodging) and a restaurant, making it a natural rest and resupply point even for those pushing on to Roncesvalles the same day. For those breaking the crossing into two stages, an overnight here reduces the brutal first-day climb into a manageable half-day, leaving a long but more straightforward descent to Roncesvalles for the morning. Rated 4.1/5 across over 650 reviews, it is a working pilgrim refuge — expect bunk-room intimacy rather than comfort.

Collado Lepoeder is the high point of the entire Pyrenean crossing — a mountain pass at the Spanish border ridge where the Route Napoléon crests before the long descent into Navarra. The moment you step through the pass and look south, the character of the Camino changes: behind you, France and the Atlantic foothills; ahead, the forested slopes dropping toward Roncesvalles and the beginning of the Iberian plateau. Pause for 20 minutes here if conditions allow. This is the geographical and psychological turning point of the opening stage — the highest and most exposed point on the route, and the place where many pilgrims feel the weight of what they have undertaken settle into something purposeful. The terrain underfoot becomes rocky and steep on the Spanish side; trekking poles come into their own on the descent.