Pilgrimage treats the act of travel itself, not only arrival, as part of religious practice, and traditions differ considerably in how they structure that journey. The Hajj follows a fixed, detailed sequence of rites performed at specific sites around Mecca over several days, required of Muslims who are physically and financially able to undertake it at least once in their lifetime, and marked by the wearing of simple, unstitched garments (ihram) that erase visible distinctions of wealth and status among pilgrims.
The Camino de Santiago and comparable Christian routes instead emphasize the walked journey over an extended distance, often taking weeks, with arrival at the shrine as a culmination rather than the entire content of the practice. Japan's Shikoku pilgrimage links eighty-eight temples associated with the monk Kukai in a circuit traditionally walked in white pilgrim's dress, combining devotional visits with the discipline of the journey itself.
Hindu pilgrimage, exemplified by the periodic Kumbh Mela gatherings at sacred river confluences, centers on ritual bathing at an astrologically determined auspicious time and place, drawing gatherings that number among the largest religious assemblies in the world. Across these varied forms, pilgrimage traditions generally treat hardship, whether physical exertion, expense, or the disruption of ordinary life, as meaningful rather than incidental to the practice, understanding the difficulty of the journey as part of what the pilgrimage accomplishes.