Women have reported facing sexual harassment whilst making pilgrimage in France, Spain and Portugal.

Pilgrims walking routes along the Camino de Santiago trials have reported being stalked, masturbated at and even groped – including by fellow pilgrims.

One woman told The Guardian that a man had pulled up alongside her in a minivan and urged her to get in.

The Camino de Santiago pilgrimage routes connect churches in parts of rural France, Portugal and Spain. Last year more than 230,000 women walked the route.

But instead of a time of spiritual reflection and peace, for many the pilgrimage has become a time of terror.

In 2015, an American pilgrim was murdered after a Spanish farmer placed false route markers along the paths, luring her to his farm.

Portuguese police say they received five reports of harassment in 2023, which is likely to be an underreporting of the true scale of events due to pilgrims from overseas not knowing how to file reports while abroad.

Charlotte Soluary is the creator of the pilgrimage guide website La Guide de voyage and told We Demain: “We are less likely to file complaints in a country that is not ours."

Johnnie Walker, admin of the Camino de Santago All Routes Group online forum said that as the number of pilgrims has grown, so have reports of men exposing themselves to participants. 

His group advises travellers to download the AlertCops app but says that Spanish, Portuguese and French governments must take stronger action:

“There’s always the balance to be struck between warning women and causing alarm… many of us feel this issue now needs to be addressed more forcibly and coherently across the country.”

In a statement to The Guardian, Portuguese police said they had ramped up patrol efforts for peak tourism season between May and October.