How long does it take to read Don Quixote?
Miguel de Cervantes · Ormsby translation
At an average reading speed of 250 words a minute, Don Quixote takes about 27 hours to read. As an audiobook, expect about 43 hours at 1x.
Don Quixote is two books published ten years apart: Part I in 1605 and Part II in 1615. Together they have 126 chapters, averaging about 13 minutes each. It's the fourth-longest single book in our study.
Average is about 250 WPM. Measure yours in two minutes and every time on this page recalculates.
How much to read a day
At 250 words a minute, to finish the book:
Have a deadline in mind? The pages-per-day calculator works it out for any date.
How we measured it
Method: counted text. We used the Project Gutenberg text (#996), John Ormsby's translation, from Part I, Chapter I to the end of Part II. Part II's prologue and dedication are included; image captions aren't. Word counts differ between translations.
Part of our study of the 100 most popular books, last checked November 2026. Reading times assume steady reading; editions, translations and your own pace all move them.
See how long it really takes you
Log it in Parch as you read. It tracks your pages, sessions and streak, so you'll know your real pace, and how long the next one will take.
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to read Don Quixote?
About 27 hours at an average reading speed of 250 words a minute: 34 hours at 200 and 22 hours at 300.
How many words are in Don Quixote?
402,909 words.
How many pages a day to finish Don Quixote in a month?
About 49 pages a day, or 54m of reading a day at an average pace. That assumes about 1,465 pages at 275 words a page; real page counts vary by edition.
How many chapters does Don Quixote have?
126: 52 in Part I and 74 in Part II. They average about 3,200 words, roughly 13 minutes of reading each.
Can I read only Part I of Don Quixote?
You can. Part I was published on its own and holds the best-known episodes, the windmills among them. Part II is the longer half, and many readers think it the better one.