plan your route
Plan your route based on the number of days you want to spend and the level of difficulty you want to take on.
The stages average about 21 kilometres each and can be broadly classified into 3 difficulty zones:
The most difficult are in the northern area and are those that go from the towns of Sant Llorenç de la Muga to Roses. They run through the easternmost part of the Pyrenees: the Albera Natural Park and the Cap de Creus Natural Park.
The easiest stages are located in the central part of the Empordà, which is also flatter. These are the stages that go from Roses to Peratallada and from La Bisbal to Sant Llorenç de la Muga. In this area you will find the remains of the two main Indiketes towns: Empúries and Ullastret with their respective museums open to the public.
In the southern part there are the stages classified as moderate, which go from the town of Peratallada to La Bisbal, passing through the coastal area, mostly along the so-called Camí de Ronda and then crossing Les Gavarres, an area considered to be of great natural interest.
We do not dare to recommend doing some stages over others, since they are all very entertaining and beautiful.
If you choose to do the 8 stages in the northern area (Sant Llorenç de la Muga to Roses) they add up to a total of 175 kilometres with a positive gradient of 11,385 metres.
The longest stages are number 20 from La Jonquera to Cantallops (27.2 km), number 22 from Espolla to Llançà (27.3 km) and number 1 from Llançà to Cadaqués (27.1 km) which some hikers take more slowly and divide into 2 days, sleeping in the towns of Le Perthus, Rabós/Vilamaniscle and Selva de Mar/Port de la Selva respectively.
The 8 easiest stages total 189 kilometres with a positive gradient of 676 metres. They are ideal for touring on a bicycle.
They can be done in a clockwise circular fashion, joining stage 7 with stage 13 in the southern part of the route (since there are only a few kilometres between Peratallada and La Bisbal) and adding one more stage in the northern part between Sant Llorenç de la Muga and Roses, sleeping in the pretty town of Peralada, where there was an Indiketa village.
Here you can see marked in yellow how to do these easy stages in a circular fashion and in this link you can download the tracks to make the connection between Sant Llorenç de la Muga and Castelló d’Empúries or Roses.
And in this other link the connection between Peratallada and La Bisbal.
In the photo below you can see in more detail what the section that links the towns of Sant Llorenç de la Muga with Castelló d’Empúries and Roses looks like, passing through the beautiful medieval town of Peralada, which was the county capital:
Finally, the 6 stages considered moderate add up to 113.4 km with a positive gradient of 5,173 metres. It can also be a circular route simply linking the town of La Bisbal with Peratallada, (the tracks of this small connecting section can be downloaded here).
If you want to do the 22 stages of the route, we recommend starting in Roses (stage 3), leaving the most difficult stages for the end, so that the body and muscles become stronger.
It is not a bad option to start with stage 1 in Llançà, but this stage is considered difficult due to its distance of 27.1 km and also due to the accumulated positive gradient of 1,726 metres. In any case, there are people who divide this stage into 2 days.
In the coastal towns there will be no problem finding a hotel, hostel or any other type of accommodation where you can sleep, whatever the time of year. The towns marked as the end of the stage where there may be the most difficulties in finding accommodation are Colomers, Lladó and Espolla, but there is always the option of sleeping in a nearby town and getting there by taxi or public transport.
