Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port › Roncesvalles

🗺️ Stage Map

📖 Stage Description

You've been warned. But it doesn't quite prepare you: that first kilometre climbing out of Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, pack on your back, sun not yet up — it hits hard. A beautiful hit, but still a hit.

The Napoleon Route climbs without any real let-up for fifteen kilometres. At the refuge of Orisson (km 8), the panorama opening across both slopes begins to make the effort worthwhile. Higher still, wild horses roam the ridgelines, griffon vultures circle overhead, and on clear days you can see Spain on one side and France on the other.

The Col de Lepoeder at 1,440 metres: a cross, a cairn, and a lot of wind. This is where you officially cross the Pyrenees. The descent to Roncesvalles is long and technical — watch your knees and the wet stones.

The monastery of Roncesvalles, 25 kilometres and 1,450 metres of climbing later, has a solemn air. You eat there, sleep in a shared dormitory, and understand that from this point on, everything is Spain. The language, the food, the landscape — all of it changes. The Camino continues.

🌄 Walking Conditions

Sun exposure and terrain type over 25,1 km

☀ Sun Exposure

🥾 Terrain

⏱️ Estimated Time for You

Estimate your walking time based on your profile — calculation based on Naismith's rule and the stage elevation.

📍 Villages and Waypoints

• 0km

  Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port · Start

  Altitude : 175 m · 🇪🇸 Spain

• 2.9km

  Honto · 230 m

  Waypoint on Stage 33.

• 7.4km

  Orisson · 790 m · Legendary refuge

  Waypoint on Stage 33.

• 15.3km

  Col de Lepoeder · 1440 m · Highest point

  Waypoint on Stage 33.

• 24km

  Roncesvalles · End

  Altitude : 900 m

⚠️ Practical Information

• ⚠️
  Difficulty / Alerts

  ⚠️ The hardest stage on the entire route: +1,450 m of climbing over 25 km (pass at 1,430 m).

  Napoleon Route closed Nov–Apr in snow or fog — the Valcarlos variant is then compulsory.

  Leave before 7 am. Orisson (km 8): last accommodation before Roncesvalles — book ahead.
• 💧
  Water points

  Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port (start)

  Orisson (km 8)

  Roncesvalles (km 25,1)
• 🛒
  Supplies

  Roncesvalles km 25,1 · Tienda · Bar
• 🏕️
  AccommodationPilgrim hostels / albergues (5–15€), private rooms (30–60€).
• 🌿
  Monuments & Heritage

  Porte Saint-Jacques — Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port km 0 · UNESCO-listed medieval gate, the last step on French soil before the climb begins

  Col de Bentartea km 12 · Pyrenean pass at 1,338 m, France–Spain border, views across both slopes on clear days

  Col de Lepoeder km 15.3 · Pass at 1,430 m, highest point of the stage, with an exceptional panorama over Navarre

  Cruz de Thibaud km 8 · Cross marking the entry into the Basque mountains, a place of quiet reflection for pilgrims

  Colegiata Real de Roncesvalles km 25 · 13th-century royal collegiate church, heart of the Pyrenean pilgrimage, Gothic chapel and cloister

  Capilla de Santiago, Roncesvalles km 25 · 12th-century chapel, former charnel house for pilgrims who died on the road, a moving place of remembrance
• 🚕
  Taxi / Retreat options

  Taxi Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port — 05 59 37 06 80

  Taxi Pamplona (ES, 48 km) — 948 23 23 00

  Gare SNCF Saint-Jean