“I made Compostela, and you?” repeat the pilgrim to the shell. Hundreds of thousands walk each year on the paths to Santiago de Compostela.

New routes are signposted, attracting tourism and commerce. How to choose from this complex network which borrows the names of ancient Roman roads? Where to find the last moments of emotion or loneliness?

Here are some favorite hikes and ideas for new walks on the main French and European routes to Compostela.

Via Turonensis or chemin de Tours

A mainly urbanized route where heritage takes all its importance. Here are some stretches that are particularly worth exploring.

Crossing Paris

Porte de la Villette – Porte de Vanves, 11.5 km, white red and yellow red markings

The way to Paris brings together the routes from northern Europe to become the way from Tours to Paris. The route enters the Porte de la Villette and the footsteps of St. Martin in the channel, the suburb and the street bearing the name of the first evangelizer in 4th century to reach the Tour Saint-Jacques. Pass by Notre-Dame cathedral to go up the Saint-Jacques and Faubourg-Saint-Jacques streets, marked with shells. The old hospice of Saint-Jacques du Haut-Pas leads to the Porte de Vanves. Ultreïa! there is still 1,500 km.

GR 655 Bruxelles-Tours, ed. FFRP

The meeting of Tours

Tours-Sorigny-Sainte-Catherine de Fierbois, 40 km, white-red markings

After the rough crossing of the Beauce, the jacquaire way crosses the tomb of Saint Martin in Tours. In the hit parade of pilgrimages from the early Middle Ages, it was Saint Martin who won …

After visiting the many treasures of the capital of Touraine, descend by the Veigné mill, the church and the stained-glass windows from Sorigny to Sainte-Catherine-de-Fierbois, where Jeanne d’Arc stopped off.

GR 655 Tours-Mirambeau, ed. FFRP

Fantastic bestiary in Saintonge

Aulnay-en-Saintonge – Saint-Jean d’Angély, 24 km, red white markings

The imagination of the Roman builders’ overflows on the portals and capitals, making dream or laugh. A donkey plays lyre on the church of Aulnay-en-Saintonge. There are 14 in France Chimera, griffins and elephants come from the imagination of a brilliant unknown. Research continues along the Boutonne valley to reach Saint-Jean d’Angély, where the museum will teach you how to mold Romanesque animals.

New stretches and favorites on this Burgundy and limousine route where the jackets remain pure walkers.

The painters of Crozant

Gargilesse – Lac Chambon – Crozant, 30 km, white-red signposted
George Sand liked to go to these wild banks of the Creuse gorges. Romanesque church and craftsmen animate this “beautiful village of France”, before continuing in the undergrowth towards the mill of Châteaubrun and the Pont des Piles. The lake Chambon and the beach of Ferns will stop before nature to admire the ruins of the fortress of Crozant, which attracted the Impressionists, including Claude Monet and Armand Guillaumin.

GR 654 Vézelay-Périgueux, ed. FFRP

Limousin legends
Bénévent-L’Abbaye – Saint-Leonard-de-Noblat – Limoges, 42 km, white-red signposted

Old oaks and mossy stone walls surround the Romanesque Abbey of Bénévent, wonder of the Creuse. In Saint-Goussaud, plant a nail in his wooden foot if you want to get married. Megaliths and romantic streams towards Saint-Léonard-de-Noblat, reputed to free prisoners of all kinds. Countryside and small churches up to Limoges.

GR 654 Vézelay-Périgueux, ed. FFRP

Namur – Dinant, 45 km, marked white red

Belgian extension of the Way of Saint-Jacques, the Via Gallia way joins in Dinant-sur-Meuse the French way GR 654 towards Vézelay. From the Saint-Jacques church in Namur, cross the countryside to reach the meanders of the Meuse defended by the castles of Godine and Evrehaille s. The Leffe abbey, dear to beer lovers, then the Saint-Jacques coast lead to the collegiate church of Dinant-sur-Meuse, belvedere of the valley.

GR 654 Namur-Vézelay, ed. FFRP

Rorschach – Herisau, 25 km, marked yellow brown

Connecting Germany and the Catholic countries of the East, the Swiss Jacobi makes it possible to reach Geneva then the GR 654 heading towards Vézelay. It is signposted from Rorschach.

After a magnificent panorama over the Bodensee or Lake Constance, reach the painted houses of St. Gallen and its collegiate domain listed by Unesco. The old town of Herisau takes the place of a market, before sinking into the Alpine massif of the Appenzell, then Geneva to join the GR 654 Genève-Vézelay.

Via Podiensis or chemin du Puy

The Grand Chemin, traveled from 950, remains the most classic of the routes to Compostela, with a few winks as a bonus.

The Meygal massif
Araules – Le Puy-en-Velay, 35 km, marked white red.

The Chemin du Puy crosses the Alps from Geneva, the vineyards of Savoie, the Rhône valley, then the Velay. In the solitary massif of Meygal, the pastures surround Araules. Note the bells of the assembly houses of the “Beatics”, secular and social nuns. The basalt organs of Queyrières are a taste of the panorama of Le Puy-en-Velay and its volcanic needles.

GR 65 Geneva-Le Puy, ed. FFRP

The Quercy vineyards

Cahors – Lauzerte, 58 km, white-red signposted

Under the three fortified towers of the Valentré bridge in Cahors, the little devil of the entrance stack testifies to the construction of the legendary bridge. The cathedral and secret gardens rest before climbing through the Cahors vineyards. Murettes, bastides and calvaries enliven the attractive Quercy plateau of Lauzerte.

GR 65 Figeac-Moissac, ed. FFRP

The path of Rocamadour
Rocamadour – Figeac, 48 km, red white markings

Deviation requires! The GR 6 honors the fabulous site of Rocamadour, perched on its cliff. Best to do in mid-season, away from the crowds. Along the Alzou and Ouysse, it crosses the Causse de Gramat and the fortifications of Lacapelle-Marival and Cardaillac. The half-timbered alleys and pink brick of Figeac vibrate with a very regional atmosphere during the big monthly markets. Sin of gluttony guaranteed.

GR 6 in GR 65 Le Puy-Rocamadour-La Romieu, ed. FFRP

Aubrac and the Pays d’Olt in Aveyron

Aumont-Aubrac – Estaing, 76 km, red white signposted

Flowering summer pastures in Aubrac, unforgettable heritage in the Pays d’Olt, it is better to avoid the transhumance of the cows of Aubrac in June: the crowd does not resist their soft eyes… From Aumont-Aubrac, the last burons of Nasbinals lead at the great Draille de l’Aubrac. The bell of the Lost recalls the lost in the event of fog. Descending towards the country of Olt, the churches and chapels are adorned with the most beautiful Romanesque sculptures along the Lot in Saint-Côme, Perse, Espalion, Saint-Pierre-de-Bessuéjouls and Estaing. Listed monuments and bridges, we don’t know where to turn.

GR 65 Le Puy-Figeac, ed. FFRP

The meeting of the Basque Country

Stele from Gibraltar – Ostabat – Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, 30 km, white red

Pilgrims from the north and north-east once gathered by the thousands in Ostabat, in the Basque Country. The Gibraltar stele symbolizes these days today. The mystical atmosphere of Harambeltz and its discoid stelae under the age-old oaks dominate the village of Ostabat, asleep on its glorious past. A single path, the GR 65, then leads through the Calvary of Galzetaburu to Larcevau at the red sandstone ramparts of Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port. One last stop before crossing the Pyrenees towards Roncevaux.

Via Tolosana or Chemin d’Arles

From Arles, the Romanesque portal of Saint-Gilles-du-Gard and Toulouse, it crosses the Pyrenees at the Somport pass. Upstream, it is joined by Via Alta from the Alps.

The Via Alta des Alpes
Briançon – Mont-Dauphin, 45 km, red white markings

In the footsteps of Via Domitia, or Alta route, this alpine route descends from the citadel of Vauban in Briançon to that of Mont-Dauphin, along the Durance valley through mountain hamlets. Superb!

GR 653-D Montgenèvre-Arles, ed. FFRP

The path of Arles in Languedoc

Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert – Lodève, 30 km, red white markings

A rocky route if ever there was one, where the beauty of the landscapes and flora deserves. Drailles and steep slopes rise from the hilltop village of Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert and its Pont du Diable, over the foothills of Larzac via Saint-Jean-de-la-Blaquière and the curious tombs of Usclas-du-Bosc. Dolmen and pine forests to Lodève.

GR 653 Arles-Toulouse, ed. FFRP

The path of the Pyrenean Piedmont

Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges – L’Escaladieu, 50 km, white-red markings

This new route runs along the Pyrenees, parallel to the Chemin d’Arles which it crosses in the Aspe valley. A favorite to admire the stalls, but also the crocodile naturalized in Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges, the magnificent Romanesque sculptures of Valcabrère, the Roman remains of Nestier, prehistory in Esparros and the abbey of L’Escaladieu.

Camino in Spain

Camino Francès: on the other side of the Pyrenees, walkers on the Tours, Vézelay and Puy routes meet in Roncevaux. It is only at Puente-la-Reina, south of Pamplona, that the path becomes one with those who came via the Arles path, the Somport and the Aragonese path. There is still around 700 km to go on this Camino Francès, sometimes difficult along the roads or overheated on the Meseta de Castille.

Cathedrals and churches compete in beauty. Impossible to make a choice. It depends on the time, the climate, the meetings and your tastes.

But don’t miss: the octagonal Navarrese church of Eunate lost in the corn, the cathedral-museum of Burgos, the rooster and the hen of Santo Domingo de la Calzada. And again, the ghost steeples of the Meseta in Castrojeriz, the stone to add to the Cruz de Ferro in the Maragateria, the mountains of Bierzo beaten by the wind in the snow in winter, and so many other favorites.

The final meeting will be in front of the splendid portal of Glory in Saint-Jacques-de-Compostelle. A board, the city jackfruit in January-February, illuminated at night and deserted, is a real magic.

The new Backgammons

Less frequented, here are some little-known jacquaire paths, subject to markup.

In Spain

The most enduring will go for a dip at Cape Finisterre or Muxia, from Compostela to the coast. Topoguide Lepère by Éd. The father

Historians will take the Primitive path from Oviedo to Compostela. Guidebook El Pais-Aguilar

Solitude seekers will prefer the northern route, known as the Bayonne route, which runs along the coast to the Coruna, off the beaten track. The San Adrian (Lizarrate) tunnel is simply fascinating, between Alava and Guipuzcoa. The Romans crossed this natural passage on horseback without even lowering their heads. Topoguide Lepère by Éd.

Heritage lovers will take the Silver Route, or Via de la Plata, from Seville. Lepère guidebook

Athletes will follow the Levant path, which links Valencia to Compostela, via Toledo, Zamora and Ourense, over 1,200 km. Topoguide Lepère by Éd. The father

In Portugal

The Via Lusitana connects Lisbon to Compostela by Fatima, Coimbra and Porto. Calm and serenity in a Mediterranean climate, on 29 partly marked stages. Topoguide Lepère by Éd. The father

Spain Visa for Singapore citizens and foreign nationals living there.