10-12 days on the Camino Frances (end portion) in May

The answer depends on how far you intend to walk each day. If walking 20-30km (12-18mi) per day, then Astorga or Foncebadón match your number of days. If you increased your daily mileage by 5km (3mi), then you could start in León, at the Parador. I used the stages identified in linked site to determine a starting location.

Thanks! Yes, I should've indicated my preferred distance per day. I don't want to plan for more than 20-30km per day, so I'll take your advice on those towns mentioned.

Personally, I don't like to walk more than 20km per day and prefer around 15km.
Use this website to plan your distances, moving backwards from Santiago. Do plan on at least one day in Santiago too. There are many small towns to stay in, where you will end up avoiding the crowds that are staying in the popular towns after Sarria. For instance, walking from Samos to Barbadelo allows you to walk almost alone in the morning for several hours before the folks from Sarria catch up. Towns like Eirexe, Portos, Morgade, Ventos de Naron, are all lovely places to stay.

https://godesalco.com/plan/frances

This website is really good too as you also get lodging suggestions and links:

https://www.caminodesantiago.me/camino-guides/en#camino-frances

Let me know if you have any questions. Have walked the Camino Frances 4 times and the Camino Portuguese twice.

@ Ms. Jo, thank you for the link to the camino planner website! I'd been looking for a resource on distances between each down. This is so helpful!

I will likely try to stay more in the 20km per day range. While I'm fit, I've never done a days long walk. I'm trying to plan with that in mind.

Following up here, after a few days researching. I do think traveling at a pace of 15-20km/day will be best. My partner will be walking with me, and neither he nor I have ever done a days-long walk before. I consider myself to be in shape, but I also know that working out for an hour each day (and hiking here and there on trips) is not equivalent to walking several hours per day, for several days, with a backpack, on different inclines/declines (+ weather considerations). Even though we're doing this for my dad, the more I read about the Camino, the more I think I could get really into these sorts of trips (a huge contrast from our typical urban travels). And the wise part of me is saying, don't bite off more than you can chew on your first go at it. I think we'll use this trip to learn about our walking styles and preferences, with the hope that it doesn't destroy us to a point of never wanting to do it again, but rather making us excited for the next. :)

Walking any of the Camino routes is addictive. Once you go, you will want to do it again. Good luck and feel free to ask any questions you might have.

Thank you again, Ms. Jo! I can see how it all is addictive -- just getting into the planning of it has become addictive for me, and so quickly.

We'll likely either do the last 150-160km of the Camino Frances, OR, due to an apparent recent rule change, I'm looking into doing the first stretch of Camino Frances (beginning in SJPdP) - walking from there for 8-9 days, then "fast forwarding" to do the last stage into Santiago. I guess they are now allowing people to earn their Compostela by completing any 100km of a route (not necessarily the last 100km), plus the last stage into Santiago. Given that my dad's dream was the do the entire Camino Frances, I'd love to experience/share the buzz of those first few stages. It'd involve a long train and/or bus ride across Spain, but it'd allow me to use the time I have to walk "from" and "to" the places he dreamed of going.

I suggest you increase your daily mileage before you go. You can use your weekends. I started off slowly in March and worked up to consecutive 9+ mile days by May. I had to wait for the snow to melt before really getting into a routine before March. Keep in mind while your walk might only be 20 KM, you have other mileage that accumulates, unless you wake up and sleep directly on the trail and never move in between. My happy place was 15 to 20 KM, which generally is 10 to 13 miles on the trail, but my days on my Fitbit actually ran the gamut up to almost 18 miles per day. I was in my late 60's at the time, for reference.

Sarria to Santiago is lovely. If you leave a little later than the crowd, you can have the path almost to yourself.

Are you carrying all everything on your back? Or are you using a luggage forwarding company. It made all the difference for us when we did our walk this past September. In fact, by the second day most of us ditched anything on our backs and used Fanny packs. My water bottle was also secured around my waist.
Also, I wish we had brought with us good walking sticks/poles. We waited till we got there and they mostly had cheap ones which did not hold up, they kept collapsing at the worst times. They really can help on the way down those hills.

@Wray: Thank you for the training tips. We are limited here in Minnesota as well. Hopefully we'll get an early spring! I've done marathon training in an earlier life, and this is bringing back memories is building training plans - this time, for walking!

@Barbara: We're planning to carry our belongings, but are going to try to pack very light, especially given our shorter journey. Great advice on the hiking poles - we'd prefer not to check our bags on the flight over, but it may be worth it, to travel with good hiking poles. I also read on a forum someone's tip about checking the poles in a poster tube, which seems like a great way to keep your main belongings still with you on the flight.

Or, buy a cheap pair of poles when you arrive so you don’t need to check anything.

If you are planning on mid-May, you really should get your reservations for those first few nights set, especially at Borda or Orisson, so you can break up that walk to Roncesvalles. Reservations at Roncesvalles, Zubiri and Pamplona are advisable too. If you want to cut a couple of those days down, you could stay in Lintzoain and Zabaldika.

I like walking early in the morning at sunrise. Staying in towns that aren't as popular means you skip all the crowds.

You can reserve poles at one of the stores in SJPDP, or of course send them in a tube. I have cheap, Z-fold poles that only cost 39€ and they work great. Cork handles are advised on poles if you can get them.

@Ms. Jo - We just grabbed a bunk at Orisson! Feeling lucky to have gotten that, given the late planning. I'd rather take our time through the Pyrenees - not overdo it, and enjoy the scenery for longer.

Popping back in to comment on my planning progress for this adventure. I've decided I'm going to try to walk the entire Camino Frances, in segments over multiple trips (as my schedule allows) as quickly as I can. Maybe that means I get it finished within the next year, maybe within the next 5 years -- who knows. But since I am doing this for my dad, who dreamed of completing the entire journey from SJPdP to Santiago, I want to complete the entire trip (even if it needs to happen over time, for logistic reasons).

My question is this: Do I just get a credential in SJPdP at our start, get stamps along the way, and then whenever I'm able to come back over to Spain and begin the next leg of the journey, just bring that same credential with me and resume getting stamps within it? The time between doesn't matter, I can use the same credential for the entire journey?

Yes, you can get your pilgrim pass in SJPDP and you can use it for the entire way.
They just changed the rules last year and you have to get 2 stamps per day, so at some time, you will need a 2nd pass.
May is a busy month, so you may want to get a few more places booked at the beginning up to at least Pamplona or even Puenta la Reina.
Buen Camino!

Thanks, Ms. Jo! I didn't think about needing to get another credential given the new rules. I suppose under the "old" rules, most Camino Frances pilgrims weren't as diligent about 2 stamps every day?