Curated Itinerary
The Via Francigena: Canterbury to Rome
Sigeric’s road from Canterbury to the Alps: Laon, Reims and Châlons, the Langres plateau, Besançon’s citadel loop, Lausanne and the Great St Bernard Pass.
This itinerary follows the northern Via Francigena, the medieval road from Canterbury to Rome first recorded stage by stage in Archbishop Sigeric’s diary of 990. Eight anchor stops carry it from Canterbury Cathedral through the cathedral cities of Picardy and Champagne — Laon, Reims, Châlons — to fortified Langres, Vauban’s Besançon, Lausanne, and the Great St Bernard Pass, the alpine hinge where the road turns Italian.
Unlike the Camino, the Francigena was a corridor rather than a single road, and today it is a Council of Europe Cultural Route whose northern stages remain remarkably quiet. The route’s logic is Sigeric’s own: one plausible day-chain of the places a tenth-century traveller actually slept.
Sample it in stages — Kent, a Champagne week, or the alpine leg from Lausanne to the pass (summer only on foot). Accommodation is thinner than in Spain; plan ahead and enjoy having a European pilgrimage route almost to yourself.
Before you go
A word from your host
This is the anti-Camino: same centuries, none of the crowds. Walk a Champagne stage between two cathedral towns midweek and you may not meet another pilgrim before dinner. The pass at the end is the reward — take the extra day there.
Getting around
Trains parallel almost the whole northern route, so any stage can be walked point-to-point. The Great St Bernard Pass is walkable July–September; the road tunnel keeps the crossing open the rest of the year. Book beds ahead — pilgrim lodging exists but is thin.
Step by step
Download for tour navigation
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