Before you walk the Camino: phone, insurance, luggage, money and credential

What a pilgrim coming from abroad buys or prepares before leaving, with the official data and the date I checked it. For anyone starting in Tui, Porto, Sarria or any Camino in Galicia.

Checked on 18/10/2026

Mobile data · Insurance and healthcare · Luggage transfer · Money · Credential and Compostela · Plugs and time

Mobile data

If your SIM is from a European Union country, in Spain you use your plan as at home (“roam like at home”): the EU Council has extended the scheme until 2032. Your operator may cap data on unlimited or very cheap plans, but it has to tell you the limit beforehand and warn you at 80 %.

From the United Kingdom it depends on your operator (read on their websites on 18/10/2026). Vodafone: £2.75 a day to use your plan (up to 25 GB), or passes of 8 days for £16 and 15 days for £21; many plans already include Europe. O2: no daily charge in its Europe Zone, with a 25 GB cap if your plan has more, and meant for occasional travel (more than 63 days in 4 months is charged at £3.50 per GB). Three: “Go Roam in Europe”, £2 a day if you signed up between October 2021 and December 2025, and £2.75 a day for new contracts, up to 12 GB. EE does not publish the figure in a form I could read: check it in your account.

From the United States: T-Mobile includes data abroad on Experience Beyond (15 GB at high speed, then 256 kbps; calls at $0.50 a minute) and Experience More (5 GB); Essentials includes no data. Verizon: TravelPass, $12 per line per day (5 GB fast, then slow). AT&T: International Day Pass, $12 a day ($6 for additional lines), capped at 10 daily charges per cycle.

The alternative is a data eSIM you install before leaving (your phone must support eSIM and be unlocked). Prices on their websites on 18/10/2026, in US dollars: Saily (affiliate link · same price), Spain 10 GB for 30 days at $15.99 and 20 GB at $22.99; its Europe plan (35 countries, Spain and Portugal included) 10 GB at $35.99. Airalo (affiliate link · same price), unlimited plans only: Spain 15 days $43 and 30 days $63; Europe 15 days $49 and 30 days $71. Holafly, unlimited: Spain 15 days $45.90 and 30 days $66.50. If you start in Portugal, a Spain-only plan is no use: take a Europe plan covering both countries.

Buying a physical SIM in Spain requires ID with a passport or identity document: Law 25/2007 obliges operators to keep a customer register. That is why an eSIM is bought with no paperwork.

Insurance and healthcare

If you are insured in an EU country, bring your European Health Insurance Card: it entitles you to the healthcare that becomes necessary during your stay, on the same terms as a Spanish insured person. It is not valid if you travel for treatment, and co-payments are not refunded.

From the UK, the GHIC (free, valid 5 years; an EHIC remains valid until it expires) covers state healthcare that cannot reasonably wait. It does not cover repatriation, private healthcare or mountain rescue. It takes up to 15 working days to arrive: apply in good time.

From the United States: the State Department reminds that Medicare and Medicaid do not cover expenses abroad and strongly recommends insurance including medical evacuation; private hospitals usually require payment or proof of insurance.

If you want travel insurance, three that sell it online (prices on their websites on 18/10/2026): Heymondo, Spain from $1.97 a day on the basic medical cover; SafetyWing, Essential $62.72 for 4 weeks at ages 10 to 39 (other ages in its calculator); IATI, a Spanish insurer, price in its calculator. Check that it covers hiking and medical transport.

Emergencies in Galicia: 112, free, 24 hours, answered immediately in English, Portuguese, French, German, Italian, Chinese, Arabic, Romanian and Russian. Medical emergencies: 061. Outside health-centre hours, the Punto de Atención Continuada (PAC) is open Monday to Friday from 15:00 to 8:00 the next day and 24 hours on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays. What to do in each case: I have a problem on the Camino.

Luggage transfer

If you do not want to carry your backpack, companies move it from albergue to albergue. Prices published on 18/10/2026: Pilbeo, from €6 per stage; packages Tui–Santiago (6 stages) €42, Sarria–Santiago (5 stages) €30 and Porto–Santiago €84. Caminofácil, from €6 per stage on the French Way and from €7 on the Portuguese Way from Porto; also Primitivo, Inglés, Sanabrés and Espiritual. The Spanish post office does the same with Paq Mochila, booked before 20:00 the day before: Correos Paq Mochila page.

Money

The Xunta public albergues cost €10 per person per night, no booking (caminodesantiago.gal). I could not confirm that all of them take cards: carry cash for those nights.

In bars and shops Visa and Mastercard are accepted almost everywhere, but a minimum spend of about €10 may be required for cards (Turespaña). Tipping is not compulsory, service is included; if you want to tip, 5 to 10 % is usual.

Cash machines: there are some in the centre of each town, not in every hamlet the Camino passes through. Take out money where the stage ends.

Credential and Compostela

For the Compostela you must prove at least 100 continuous km on foot or horseback (200 km by bike) towards Santiago on one single route, stamping at the start and end of each stage with the date. That is why Tui and Sarria are the most common starting points.

The credential is issued at the Pilgrim’s Office and by authorised associations, parishes and albergues. From your country, before leaving: American Pilgrims on the Camino (USA), minimum donation $5, free for members, 4 weeks’ delivery in the US and 6 elsewhere; Confraternity of Saint James (UK), £6 for non-members; Camino Society Ireland, €10; Deutsche St. Jakobus-Gesellschaft (Germany), free with a suggested €10 donation, up to 3 weeks; Confraternita di San Jacopo (Italy), free, an offering is welcome. What happens on arrival: the Compostela, step by step.

Plugs and time

Plugs are type C and F (two round pins), 230 V and 50 Hz, in Spain and Portugal: from the UK or the Americas you need an adapter. Time: Spain is one hour ahead of Portugal all year; if you start in Porto, put your watch forward one hour when you cross the Miño at Tui.

What I do not tell you

Which eSIM or insurance to buy: I have not tested them and I will not tell you. EE’s rates and IATI’s prices I could not read, so they are not here. Prices are what each website showed on 18/10/2026 and they change: check them before paying.

And when you arrive

The albergues of every town, public and private, with phone and official hours: albergues town by town. The stages and the albergues ahead of you on each Camino: the Caminos in Galicia. And what is still open at the time you reach Santiago: Santiago, now.

Quick questions

Will my phone work in Spain?

With an EU SIM, yes, on your home plan, until at least 2032. From the UK and the US it depends on your plan: Vodafone, Three, Verizon and AT&T charge per day; O2 and the higher T-Mobile plans include data. Otherwise a data eSIM for Spain costs from about $16 for 10 GB (Saily, 18/10/2026).

Do I need travel insurance for the Camino?

With the European Health Insurance Card or the UK GHIC the Spanish public health service treats you like a local insured person, but they do not cover repatriation or private healthcare. For the US, the State Department recommends insurance with medical evacuation because Medicare does not cover you abroad.

How many kilometres do I need for the Compostela?

At least 100 continuous km on foot or horseback, or 200 km by bicycle, towards Santiago on one single route, with stamps at the start and end of each stage and at least two a day over the last 100 km (Pilgrim’s Office).

Can I pay by card in the albergues?

The Xunta public albergues cost €10 a night and I could not confirm that all of them take cards: carry cash. Bars and shops take Visa and Mastercard, sometimes with a minimum of about €10.

Sources

Every fact on this page comes from here, read on 18/10/2026. If something has changed and I do not know yet, write to me.

There are no ads. If you buy through some links, the brand gives me a share. You pay the same as buying directly from them, and it does not change what I tell you.

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