About Us
Here at CaminoWays, we all share a common passion: the Camino de Santiago. As one of the most loved tour operators for the Camino, we have been helping pilgrims discover its joy for more than 10 years.
There is no intermediary when booking with us. We have great connections and relationships with local businesses along the Camino, and we book local hotels, taxis, and guides for you directly. This is the belief on which CaminoWays has been built, and this personal touch gives our clients a high degree of satisfaction.
We are a team of knowledgeable and enthusiastic travel professionals from different countries and continents. We are proud to be part of the Camino journey for many pilgrims from all over the world every year.
We believe that travelling enriches personal experiences and the people you share the journey with or meet along the way. But mostly, we believe that travel is about opening yourself up to new perspectives. This is one of the many reasons to experience the Camino de Santiago.
The Company
At CaminoWays, we specialise in walking and cycling holidays in the Camino de Santiago and the Via Francigena in Italy. Our staff has extensive travelling experience, so we know what makes a holiday great. We offer alternative holidays, a break from the usual beach or resort trips, giving our clients a real opportunity to experience nature with their friends and family.
Our philosophy is that a holiday is not just about seeing a new destination and ticking it off your list. It’s about experiencing the unique culture of a region and the aromas and flavours of traditional food, for example. Travel broadens the mind, and so a Camino de Santiago adventure will not only improve your cultural awareness but also get you out in the fresh air.
At CaminoWays, we take all the stress out of researching, planning, and booking your holiday and take care of every other aspect of organising a holiday. All fitness levels are catered for, so everybody can choose their perfect Camino and the right difficulty level through our simple walking grades.
Our Team
CaminoWays’ team has over 10 years of experience organising and booking Camino Holidays. Our sales, customer care, product, and reservations teams are based in Dublin, while our ground operation is in Santiago (Spain). They ensure that your holiday runs smoothly.
Our staff knows every trip intimately, from the route to each Camino hotel. Every team member has personal experience of the route; some have even been Camino tour guides before! CaminoWays staff are also offered an extra week of paid holiday every year to travel our Camino Routes and improve their knowledge. This is why customising your tour to your needs and requirements isn’t challenging for us; it’s our speciality.
Safety always comes first on your holiday, but we also respect local people and customs. We value our relationships with locals and always harmonise your holiday with nature and local traditions. This is part of our ethics, and we take great pride in our ability to achieve it. We hope you share these simple but strong values with us, and we look forward to helping you plan your Camino. See our team profile below:
Our Spirit In Six Words
- Safety: We provide informative notes for your self-guided walking adventure and certified guides on our Camino guided walking holidays.
- Pleasure: Leave your daily routine behind and discover the joy of the Camino.
- Authenticity: Indulge in the best local food in traditional accommodations along the Camino.
- Respect: We respect the local people’s environment, culture, and traditions.
- Nature: Wander at your own pace through beautiful, unspoiled landscapes.
- Discovery: Take the time to discover a region. Unleash your curiosity and be open-minded about the local customs and culture.
Our spirit is not just an abstract concept; it’s what you will discover when you take a holiday with us. The journey is just as important as the destination, and all of our trips have been designed to the highest standards, with your pleasure, satisfaction and safety at the core.
Our Commitments
- Quality – We are permanently striving for the best itinerary, the most beautiful views and the best experiences for our customers. Our holidays are personally designed by professionals and experienced certified guides who have first-hand knowledge of the Camino routes. On a real-time basis, we have assessed approximate timings and based them on an average walker, considering the difficulty levels. Your comfort is important to us, so we select the most suitable Camino hotels and delicious Camino meals to ensure you get the most from your holiday.
- Fair Prices – Our prices are adjusted to our quality criteria for your holiday. We appreciate your business, so we offer loyalty discounts for returning customers and those who plan their holidays early. Finally, yet importantly, our prices also represent equitable pay for our staff and the local people who work for us on the ground.
- Customer Care – We are happy for you to contact us by phone or email, and we will endeavour to reply to your query within 48 hours. You can use our website to discover your adventure and book it whenever you like. Upon your departure, we will provide you with a 24/7 assistance phone number to guarantee your peace of mind.
Feel free to contact us by your preferred method if you want more information about planning your Camino, extending your stay or letting us know about your dietary requirements. Our Agents can advise you about other queries like visas, trekking permits, etc.
About Us – A Timeline Of Our Story
It all started in 2011 when our director and committed globetrotter, Roland Monsegu, founded Greenlife Tours Ltd and its first brand, CaminoWays.com. Here’s a little insight into our story so far:
2002: This is the year Roland moved from his native France to Ireland. Little did he know it would become his new home… but not yet!
2004-2006: Roland took his backpack and travelled the world for two years. During this time, he travelled across Asia, Europe, and most of South America. It was during this time that he first discovered the Camino de Santiago.
2006: After his big, around-the-world adventure, Roland returns to Dublin and decides he wants to work on what he loves most: travel and hiking. He sets up his first adventure travel company in Dublin, organising walking and cycling tours, including trips on the Camino.
2011: CaminoWays.com was founded to specialize in walking and cycling tours along the Camino de Santiago routes.
2012: At the beginning of the year, our team was as big as three people, and we moved to a small office in Dublin’s city centre.
2013: In that year, we launched tours on the Camino’s little sister, the Via Francigena, another medieval trail to Rome. Our team has grown to 10 people, and it’s time to move to a slightly bigger office in Dublin city centre.
2014: IrelandWays.com is the new arrival to the CaminoWays.com family, specializing in trails across Ireland. 2014 is also the year we first met Justin and Patrick from I’ll Push You and helped them on their extraordinary Camino adventure. We organise the first Camino walking festival in Ireland to celebrate St James Day in July.
2015: Inspired by Justin and Patrick’s journey, we launched the CaminoWays Fund to support responsible travel and other inspiring projects. In December, we moved to our new office in Blackpitts, Dublin 8.
2016: We join the newly formed Kerry Camino festival in the West of Ireland.
2017: We have a shiny new CaminoWays.com logo and a superb new website. We also won silver at the Irish Blog Awards and the Digital Media Awards for Best in Travel.
2018: The CaminoWays team has grown to nearly 40 people from all corners of the world. We are an adventurous and multicultural bunch. Together, we can speak 10 languages so that it can get a bit rowdy around lunchtime!
2019: We launched our new CaminoWays website in Spanish.
2021: Following the COVID-19 pandemic, we returned to uninterrupted travel on the Camino and are delighted that the travel industry is recovering. We also went completely paperless.
2022: We launched our newly revamped website and improved Camino Planner as we continue to improve our product for you, our customers.
2023: We consolidated all our systems into the Toureo Reservation System, introducing new functionalities for our clients and enhancing their experience.
2024: Thanks to Toureo, we introduced an improved Camino Planner to make planning and understanding the Camino easier. Personalize every detail to tailor your Camino trip.
We love what we do and look forward to continuing to help you plan your perfect Camino de Santiago adventure. Please don’t hesitate to contact us with any questions.