Sending your bag ahead on the Camino

You don't have to carry your bag every day. Most pilgrims don't know this is an option until someone tells them at an albergue on day three.

Luggage transfer services — known on the Camino as mochila transfer or simply "sending your bag" — exist on all the main routes. Leave your pack at your albergue or hotel before you set off in the morning, and it will be waiting at your destination when you arrive. You walk free.

The most common provider is TopSantiago and it typically costs €7 to €14 per stage and arrives by early afternoon at the next stop.

When does it make sense? On a day with a difficult descent that's been troubling your knees. When you're recovering from a blister and need to walk lighter. On a long stage with no intermediate stops. Or simply when you want to walk fast and light for a day, coffee in hand, no straps.

Some pilgrims consider it cheating. They're wrong. The Camino has no purity code. What it has is 800km of trail, and the people who finish are the ones who made smart decisions along the way.

Sending your bag doesn't make you less of a pilgrim. It makes you a pilgrim who will still be walking next week.