How much weight to carry for Camino de Santiago?

The Camino de Santiago is not a wilderness hike, as such, carrying weight is not as big a deal on many other hikes where you have to bring a tent and everything that goes along it. In this blog post, I share the recommended weight for your backpack and some examples.

The weight of your backpack on the different Camino’s should not exceed about 10 to 15% of your body weight. You can however carry more or less depending on what you need or are used to. Mine weighed a bit more than 9 kilos altogether on the Camino Frances, but that was mostly because I had to carry a laptop and charger to do some work. Limiting your pack weight to around 6 kilos with the right gear and decisions is easily reachable.

Big items that will way you down the most are what is going to decide that end result, and can be for example:

Sleeping bag or liner
Backpack itself
Toiletry bag
Jacket & clothing
Water

If you invest in a good lightweight sleeping bag you can often save a lot of weight in your pack, and the backpack itself is often overlooked. Look at different backpacks and take a look at the 40-liter range in stores. Osprey is the unofficial sponsor of the Camino and you will see a lot of them when hiking the Camino. I carried for both the Portuguese coastal Camino and the Camino Frances a MacPac Torlesse 65, that is what I already had. But you really have space in anything over 40 liters.

With clothing, I recommend going the minimalistic route and going for a hiking outfit and an albergue outfit. You can wash clothes nearly every day. And bringing clothing that you’re not going to wear is a waste of space and weight.

Toiletries can also be a hidden weight gain that can quickly add up, remember that toiletries can always be resupplied along the way. And anything you miss can be added. Be critical and weigh every item you want to take. Just make sure to take any medication that you need. For more information read my Hygiene and Personal Care article.

Water can be refilled every single day, only 1 stage excluded, multiple times a day. It is however vital to keeping you healthy and performing well. From my personal experience, I drink a lot, and I like to start out with 2 liters when setting off most days.

I carried one 1-liter platypus water bag and 1.5 liters from a gas station water bottle that I used for the whole Camino Frances. On shorter days I just stuck with the 1.5 liter bottle and kept filling it up on every water tap that I encountered. 1 liter of water weighs one kilo or 1000 grams. Easy maths.

Aim for a dry weight (without food or water) of 5 to 6 kilos and most people are going to be good for the Camino. Think twice before carrying a big camera, books, laptops, or other non-essential items. And weigh every single item that you’re going to put in your pack. Small stuff adds up fast.

Take a look at my full packing list for the Camino for more specific information, and let me know if you have any more questions in the comments below!

Happy hiking and Hike for Purpose!