Camino Aragonés: the quiet crossing via Somport

Most pilgrims crossing the Pyrenees from France go through Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port. A quieter, older crossing goes through Somport Pass — and the route it begins is one of the most underwalked on the entire network.

The Camino Aragonés starts at Somport, a high mountain pass on the French-Spanish border at 1,632 metres. Where the Napoléon route drops steeply into Roncesvalles through Basque country, the Aragonés descends more gradually through the Pyrenean valleys of Aragon — a different landscape entirely, drier and more dramatic, with the high peaks visible for days.

The first major stop is Jaca, a fortified medieval city with a Romanesque cathedral that dates to the 11th century and a citadel that has barely changed since the 16th. Jaca sits at the foot of the Pyrenees and was once a major staging post for medieval pilgrims coming south from France. Walking into it feels like arriving somewhere that has been receiving pilgrims for a very long time.

From Jaca the route continues through Aragon — smaller villages, fewer pilgrims, more space — before joining the Camino Francés at Puente la Reina after around 165km. At that junction, Aragonés walkers merge into the main flow and continue to Santiago with everyone else. But the first week has been entirely different.

The Aragonés is for the pilgrim who wants the Pyrenees crossing without the crowds, the medieval Camino history without the tourist infrastructure, and the particular satisfaction of arriving somewhere via a route that most people have never heard of.