Camino documents
The document you need to sleep in the pilgrim hostels and to earn the Compostela. It's free in Santiago and available at hundreds of points across Spain and the world. Here's what it is, how to use it and where to get yours.
The credential is the official document from Santiago Cathedral that proves you're walking the Camino as a pilgrim. It's an accordion-folded card where you collect the stamps of the places you pass through. It has two uses: it gives you access to the pilgrim hostels and it's the proof you need to earn the Compostela when you reach Santiago.
It isn't required by law, but in practice you'll need it: almost every public and pilgrim hostel asks for it before letting you stay, and without it you won't get the Compostela. Get it before you set off or at the first point on your route.
It's the most common mix-up for first-time pilgrims. The credential is the document you carry and get stamped along the Camino. The Compostela is the certificate they hand you in Santiago when you finish.
To earn the Compostela you need to have covered at least the last 100 km on foot or on horseback (or 200 km by bike), stamp the credential at least 2 times a day on that final stretch and do it with a religious or spiritual motivation. If your motivation isn't religious, they give you a welcome certificate instead.
Get the credential stamped along the Camino at hostels, churches, town halls, tourist offices, bars or cafés. At the start one stamp a day is enough; but in the last 100 km you need at least 2 stamps a day to qualify for the Compostela.
Not sure where to get stamped on your stage? On each stage page we show you the specific stamping points on that stretch: hostels, churches, town halls and tourist offices. check the stages and where to get stamped.
Don't laminate it
Stamp ink only takes on the card. If you laminate it, you won't be able to get it stamped. To protect it from the rain, use a sleeve you can slide it out of or keep it in a zip-lock bag.
If everything's closed, there's still a stamp
If you arrive late and the hostel or church has already closed, ask for the stamp at a bar, a café, a pharmacy or a petrol station. Almost every business on the Camino has its own.
Watch out for the 2 daily stamps from Sarria
In the last 100 km (Sarria on the Camino Francés) you need 2 stamps a day, not one. Many pilgrims find out too late. Get a stamp when you arrive and when you leave each stop so you don't fall short.
If it fills up, ask for another
If you run out of boxes before arriving, don't worry: at the Pilgrim's Office in Santiago they give you a second credential free and you keep stamping from where you left off.
In Santiago it's free at the Pilgrim Reception Office. Elsewhere you get it from the Friends of the Camino associations, at parishes, brotherhoods and at many hostels at your route's starting point. From abroad it's issued by each country's Jacobean associations, usually by post.
The free option
Oficina de Acogida al Peregrino
📍 Rúa Carretas 33, Santiago de Compostela
✆ +34 981 568 846
Free, no surprises. Open every day.
Prefer the digital version? Download the official credential app for Android · iOS
Search by province or country. At the Santiago office it's free; associations usually charge a token postage fee. Many local associations have no public website: contact them by phone or drop by the parish or hostel in your area.
credencial.dirNota
Plenty of people confuse the pilgrim credential with the youth hostel card. They're different things. The credential is the Camino one, the one we explained above. The youth hostel card is a discount card for the REAJ / Hostelling International network of youth hostels. Here's the difference, no fuss.
It's the membership card of REAJ (the Spanish Youth Hostel Network), linked to Hostelling International: it gives you access to around 320 youth hostels in Spain and more than 4,000 worldwide, plus discounts on museums, activities and services.
It's around 5 € for under-29s and 10 € from 30 up, with occasional promotions. Physical or digital at the same price and valid for a year. You get it online or at more than 200 points of sale across Spain.
Do I need it for the Camino?
For the typical Camino, no. Pilgrim hostels (parish, municipal, donation-based and most private ones) run on the credential, not on this card. It only pays off if you're going to sleep in REAJ network youth hostels —there are some on a few routes— or if you travel often and will make use of the worldwide hostel network. At 5-10 € it's cheap, but many pilgrims don't renew it once they finish.
| Pilgrim credential | Youth hostel card (REAJ) | |
|---|---|---|
| Essential for the Camino? | Yes | No |
| Cost | Free or up to ~5 € | 5-10 € a year |
| What it's for | Sleeping in pilgrim hostels and earning the Compostela | Discounts at REAJ youth hostels and across the worldwide hostel network |
| Useful once the Camino's over? | Mostly as a keepsake | Yes: access to more than 4,000 hostels around the world |