Credencial: essential for a successful pilgrimage
What is the Credencial and why is it essential?
Your passport to the pilgrimage
The Credencial is much more than just a document: it validates your status as a pilgrim on the Pilgrim's Way to Santiago de Compostela, opens the doors of the Santiago de Compostela hostels and, on arrival in Santiago de Compostela, enables you to obtain your Compostela and/or your Certificate of Distance.
This ‘Pilgrim's Passport’ certifies your identity and your commitment to walking this thousand-year-old route.
At each stage, a stamp in your Credencial will prove your progress, making this document the logbook of your journey.
These stamps can be found in Jacobean gîtes, but also in parishes, inns, hotels, campsites, tourist offices, town halls, town councils, etc. along the Pilgrim's Way to Santiago.
Each stamp must indicate the place and date (fecha in Spanish) of passage.
How to obtain your Credencial?
A symbolic first step
To obtain your Credencial, first join the Belgian Association of Friends of Santiago de Compostela.
For members who have paid their annual subscription, the Credencial is offered free of charge.
There are 2 ways to request and receive your Credencial:
In person: at our information meetings, where it will be given to you in person.
Online: on our website, to receive it by post within approximately ten working days.
When filling in the form, please provide us with your membership number or, if you are not yet a member, join our association beforehand and pay your annual subscription.
Please also provide us with the required information (*), as mentioned in the terms and conditions below.
We will then send you your Credencial within a minimum of 10 working days; make sure you apply for your Credencial as early as possible before your departure date.
Apply forcredencial manually
What is the Compostela and how do I get it?
The completion of your quest
La Compostela is the certificate awarded on your arrival in Santiago, proof that you have completed your journey.
To obtain it, you must have covered 100 kilometres on foot or on horseback, or 200 kilometres by bike (unless you have an electric bike), or 90 nautical miles under sail, in which case you must have completed your pilgrimage on foot.
In all cases, your Credencial must be duly stamped on a daily basis to certify your journey. Please refer to the conditions for granting de la Compostela
Path
taken
Means of travel
The last X km before Santiago…
Start
at…
Camino Francès
100 km
200 km
Sarria
Ponferrada
Camino Primitivo
100 km
200 km
Lugo
Berducedo ou la Mesa
Camino del Norte
100 km
200 km
Abadin
Almunia
Camino Portugues
100 km
200 km
Tui
Porto
Camino Inglès
100 km
Ferrol
Path taken
Camino Francès
Means of travel
The last X km before Santiago…
100 km
Start at…
Sarria
Path taken
Camino Francès
Means of travel
The last X km before Santiago…
200 km
Start at…
Ponferrada
Path taken
Camino Primitivo
Means of travel
The last X km before Santiago…
100 km
Start at…
Lugo
Path taken
Camino Primitivo
Means of travel
The last X km before Santiago…
200 km
Start at…
Berducedo ou la Mesa
Path taken
Camino del Norte
Means of travel
The last X km before Santiago…
100 km
Start at…
Abadin
Path taken
Camino del Norte
Means of travel
The last X km before Santiago…
200 km
Start at…
Almunia
Path taken
Camino Portugues
Means of travel
The last X km before Santiago…
100 km
Start at…
Tui
Path taken
Camino Portugues
Means of travel
The last X km before Santiago…
200 km
Start at…
Porto
Path taken
Camino Inglès
Means of travel
The last X km before Santiago…
100 km
Start at…
Ferrol
What is the difference
between the Credencial and the Compostela?
The passport and recognition
The Credencial is your ‘pilgrim's passport’, your booklet on which you will receive stamps during your stages. These will certify your journey.
This passport is needed from the start and throughout your journey, while the Compostela is recognition of the completion of your pilgrimage and is issued in Santiago. Only in person at the Pilgrims' Office.
Can non-members obtain a Credencial? Your membership is mandatory.
The Credencial is issued free of charge to members of our association who are up to date with their subscriptions, emphasising the importance of the inner quest and of sharing the values of Santiago de Compostela.
Conditions for granting
the credencial
The Belgian Association of Friends of Santiago de Compostela is authorised by the Chapter of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela to issue a maximum of 2 Credenciales per year and per person:
- To members of the Association who have paid their individual membership fees;
- To members of the Association who have paid their family membership fees, as well as any minor children living under their roof;
- Who undertake the pilgrimage to Santiago as part of a personal spiritual (or) religious journey, and in any case in a spirit of pluralistic openness and inner search.
The Credencial must include :
- The surname, first name and full address of the holder;
- The e-mail address and telephone number of the holder;
- The date and place of departure of the pilgrimage;
- The mode of pilgrimage (on foot, by bicycle, on horseback or with a donkey, under sail and possibly as a disabled person);
- The nationality and number of the holder's identity card, permanent resident card or valid passport.
Conditions for granting the Compostela and/or Certificate of Distance
The Compostela is drawn up and issued individually by the Chapter of Santiago Cathedral to the pilgrim who applies for it at the Oficina de Acogida al Peregrino in Santiago de Compostela, Rua das Carretas 33 and has completed the pilgrimage in compliance with the required conditions, namely :
- It is a religious, spiritual or, at the very least, an inner quest.
-
Have travelled a minimum distance on one of the routes to Santiago de Compostela :
- For pilgrims on foot, horseback or with a donkey, they must have walked or ridden at least 100 kilometres.
- For the pilgrim cyclist (with a non-electric bicycle), to have cycled at least 200 kilometres.
- Sailing pilgrims must have sailed at least 90 nautical miles and completed the last few kilometres on foot.
- Present your duly stamped Credencial at each stage, and at least twice a day, including at the start and finish of the stage, if you are covering the minimum distance.
- In any case, we advise pilgrims to stamp the Credencial twice a day on the last 100 or 200 of the way to Compostela.
A Certificate of Distance can also be issued, for a small fee, by the Oficina de Acogida al Peregrino (or Pilgrims' Welcome Office - sometimes called simply Oficina del Peregrino) in Santiago, to pilgrims who request it and have complied with the same conditions as those required for the Compostela. The distance taken into account will take into account the rule of 2 stamps per day.
In response to the growing number of pilgrims over the years, the Oficina de Acogida al Peregrino has introduced a computerised procedure using a QR code: an alphanumeric code is allocated to pilgrims who register shortly before their arrival at Rua das Carretas.
To consult the latest details of the Compostela on the Oficina del Peregrino website, click on this lien
Planning to walk
the Pilgrim's Way to Santiago de Compostela?
Our next information meeting is the perfect place to start.
