So you’ve made it. You’ve got your Compostela certificate, you’ve celebrated your journey and your incredible achievement, but don’t rush off just yet. Santiago is such a special place, and after weeks of walking, you deserve time to really enjoy it. So book an extra day in Santiago to experience the city. Here are ten things I’d do with that day.

You probably took your photos in the square in front of the cathedral when you arrived, but do take time to really experience it. The good news: it’s free to enter. Entry is now through a side door, not the front. There might be a queue, but it moves fast. You can’t bring your backpack in, but there’s a small place right across the street where you can leave it.

Take off your hat as you enter and enjoy the atmosphere inside. Don’t forget to hug Saint James; just join the small line behind the main altar.

If you can, though, pay for a guided tour (€15–€20). You skip the line and get an incredible two-hour history tour through the museum and inner courtyards. You’ll see a replica of the Codex Calixtinus (the original is safely stored away), the old pilgrims’ bath that once held 15 people, where pilgrims had to bathe before entering, and you can climb to the roof for stunning views of the city.

You can book online on all the usual sites, Booking, GetYourGuide, TripAdvisor or in the square, just look for the guides with coloured umbrellas. I joined the one with the orange umbrella, and it was excellent.

There are four Pilgrim Masses each day at the Main Altar, 7:30 am, 9:30 am, 12:00 noon, and 7:30 pm. The 12:00 noon Mass often includes short prayers or readings in English, French, German, Italian, or other languages, depending on which pilgrim groups are in town that day. The priest usually gives a warm welcome to pilgrims from each country who’ve arrived in Santiago in the past 24 hours.

The Botafumeiro, the huge incense burner that swings through the air (a real sight to behold), doesn’t fly at every Mass. It’s saved for special occasions or when a group or individual sponsors it, which costs around €400, so you could always do a whip-around with some fellow pilgrims to arrange it. If you’re interested, email botafumeiro@catedraldesantiago.es

It’s also used on a few fixed feast days each year, and there’s a notice board inside the Cathedral that’ll tell you if it’s scheduled to fly that day.

Santiago is made for walking, narrow stone streets, little squares, and almost no cars. You can join an organised tour or just make your own route.

Start from the Cathedral, walk back through the tunnel where the bagpiper plays, past the monastery on your left, up Rua Cervantes and its open-air book market. Pop into the oldest bookshop in town, then wander down Pregunta Street past my favourite cake shop, you’ll know it by the queue of locals outside. Continue past the Mercado de Abastos, through Plaza de la Plata, and circle back to the main square.

This food market is one of the best little secrets in Santiago, where locals shop for their daily produce and pilgrims wander in for the atmosphere and great food. The market is usually open from 8:00 am to 3:00 pm (closed on Sundays).

You can wander the stalls selling fresh seafood, meat, cheese, fruit, wine, and local Galician specialities like empanadas and pimientos de padrón.

If you buy seafood or meat from one of the vendors, several nearby bars and small restaurants, especially Mariscomanía, will cook it for you right there. They usually charge a small fee (around €5 per person) to prepare.

Small tip: the older Galician women selling vegetables really don’t like having their photo taken. I found that out the hard way. 😧

Santiago is full of small artisan shops and boutiques, not your usual tourist-trap stuff, but genuine local crafts. My favourite was a little chestnut shop that sold everything imaginable made from chestnuts: bread, honey, liqueur, even soap. The only thing missing was chestnut cigars.

One of my favourite little traditions in Santiago, and one most people never hear about, is visiting the Benedictine convent just beside the cathedral, the Monasterio de San Paio de Antealtares. Around 12:30 each day, and sometimes again about 3:30, a small gate opens into the monastery, and inside you’ll find a tiny hatch in the wall where the cloistered nuns sell their homemade Tarta de Santiago, the traditional almond cake with the cross of Saint James on top. It’s such a sweet, simple moment and somehow feels far more meaningful than buying one in a shop. Bring a bit of cash and a quiet voice, it’s a working convent and that’s part of what makes it so special.

Spread across three floors, this free museum walks you through the history of the Camino, from medieval times to today. It’s well worth a visit. If I could add one thing, though, it’d be a floor about the modern Camino revival, the yellow arrows, the films, the books, and how to keep it sustainable for the future.

As the sun sets, it’s time to eat. Sure, Santiago has its Michelin-starred places, but the real fun is along Rúa da Raíña and Rúa do Franco. Just wander, hopping from bar to bar and trying a tapa or two at each stop. Some of the oldest and most atmospheric bars in town are here. I love O Gato Negro (The Black Cat), it’s old school, noisy, and full of character, or pop into Bar Orella next door, where a drink often comes with a plate of boiled pig’s ears. An experience, let’s say. You can also book a tapas tour, which is a great option if you’ve arrived in Santiago on your own. I booked one through Booking.com with a local guide, Alex, who’s actually from France, and it was brilliant fun.

There’s a great live music scene in Santiago, from traditional Galician bagpipes and fiddles to jazz and blues. Check out A Casa das Crechas, just off Plaza da Quintana. It’s lively, welcoming, and always full of pilgrims.

Just off Plaza da Quintana (also known as the “Square of the Dead”), near the monastery, look carefully at the stone columns at night. The light from a nearby lamp casts a perfect shadow of a pilgrim on the wall, hooded, waiting, motionless.

Local legend says a young monk and a nun fell in love and planned to run away together. The monk disguised himself as a pilgrim and waited in the square, but the Mother Superior discovered their plan and locked the nun away. The shadow, they say, is the monk still waiting for her. Once you see it, you can’t unsee it.

And finally, if you’re thinking about marking your Camino forever, Santiago has plenty of tattoo studios where many pilgrims drop in for their first (or fiftieth) tattoo, maybe a scallop shell, a yellow arrow, just a little reminder of that time you walked across Spain. (Confession, I havent been brave enough yet)

Whatever you do, take your time. Sit in the square, listen to the bagpipers, watch new pilgrims arrive. Santiago isn’t just the end of the Camino, it’s part of it. You’ve earned the right to wander one more day, without a backpack, without a schedule, just enjoying where you are.

Buen Camino. 💛

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