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Travel agency suggestions?

kallsop

New Member
Time of past OR future Camino
April 2025
Looking for pro/cons of the travel agencies I know about ... Macs, SantiagoWays, Orbis, GaliWonders, TuBienCamino. And any others I haven't found. The prices vary quite a bit for, on paper, similar services.

We are planning our St. Jean Pied de Port to Santiago de Compostela pilgrimage starting April 2025 and want to book soon. I tried forum search but didn't have much luck. If there are some good threads on this topic, please post the links.

Thanks.
 
The one from Galicia (the round) and the one from Castilla & Leon. Individually numbered and made by the same people that make the ones you see on your walk.
Hello and welcome
Plenty of threads here on the topic and I'm sure that someone will post links to some.
Suffice to say that a prevalent thought is tgat you don't need a travel agency and with a bit of homework and patience you can figure it all out and do it yourself saving perhaps 30-50% of the cost meanwhile
You can start by checking out sites as Rome2Rio for travel ideas, Godesalco for planning the route and Gronze for albergues along the way.
Good luck and Buen Camino
 
Suffice to say that a prevalent thought is tgat you don't need a travel agency and with a bit of homework and patience you can figure it all out and do it yourself saving perhaps 30-50% of the cost
Also when you do it this way you are in control of your Camino, not a tour company. If you decide that you need to slow down or speed up you can change your bookings.
 
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Hi!
Whatever your comfortable doing go for that ;it's your Camino ignore everyone.


But half the fun of do it yourself is the planning!
The other half is being in control and saving shed loads of money and the third half is knowing the whole thing is your baby!!🤣
It really is pretty straight forward and not as big a thing as you imagine honest!

I stay in private rooms with bath in all types of places.
Some i book myself through info in Gronze with the property; but mainly Booking.com. (you can see images and reviews which help choice)
The advantage with Booking.com is free cancellation if needed up to a couple of days before arrival.
Last May i had to cancel 27 hotels on my trip 3 days before i flew and i got a voucher from my airline!
All i lost was a taxi transfer paid in advance.
With a company they want almost 3 times the cost to do a Camino than doing it yourself for not very much!
 
To actually answer your question... ;) ...

I used CaminoWays in 2021 for Sarria- Santiago for me and my husband, and was quite satisfied. I had no apps on my smartphone at the time ( not even this forum, as I hadn't learned about it), and only a copy of the Brierley guide, which did its best but couldn't handle all the Covid changes. I printed the written directions to each day's lodging, and even I didn't get lost. Lodging was on the Camino or 0.4 km away, with one exception (Amenal), and the was clearly marked as " go to the Hotel Amenal, have then transport you to their sister property"


I wouldn't personally recommend half board ( two meals / day) again. but YMMV. You'll have better flexibility if you just pick breakfast.

We met lots of travelers to Santiago in each night's stay, and many more on the Way. Then again, this was the week before the Feast of Saint James, July 25th. Depending on when you go, YMMV.

I did not use a tour company for my second Camino in 2023 at all, which is what is being recommended to you. I would not have been comfortable doing that for my husband and I the first time.
 
Looking for pro/cons of the travel agencies I know about ... Macs, SantiagoWays, Orbis, GaliWonders, TuBienCamino. And any others I haven't found. The prices vary quite a bit for, on paper, similar services.

We are planning our St. Jean Pied de Port to Santiago de Compostela pilgrimage starting April 2025 and want to book soon. I tried forum search but didn't have much luck. If there are some good threads on this topic, please post the links.

Thanks.
First, I hope that you will find what you think is waiting for you!
Next, here is what I have to say:
I was very fortunate to have a friend from Pamplona who did all the planning in 2006. We used a Spanish website, Consumer.es to plan the stages.
We used what were known as refugios, albergues...the cheapest possible way of traversing the almost 800 km from Roncesvalles to Santiago in a form of pilgrimage. At that time, many Spanish people began from Roncesvalles.
We banked two days as free days, and two stops in hotels or whatever, but they are still in the bank!
I do realise, as you might, that since 2006, things have changed somewhat.
😇
What are you actually looking for?
A pilgrimage?
A kind of Sheen trek?
Decide that first.
If you think you want to experience the walking, and without the communal aspect, and prefer private accommodation, go ahead, look at Consumer.es or Gronze and select options stage by stage, and book ahead. Or the commercial companies. Over to you.
If you can cope with playing it by ear, arrive at your starting point. Be prepared with contact details in case you find you are bedless!
Spain, and particularly the Camino Frances, is no wilderness.
Proper planning will offer you guidance re access to communications so if you need a taxi, you have a number to call. If you need to book, you have a number to call. There are many online resources, but also, paper resources.
I will bravely mention Brierley,
Some people do not say they appreciate him.
I do.
He did the Camino a wonderful service, and his daughter continues the tradition. I have no doubt at all that his eyebrows are still arching, and his face still smiling!
I can add: I was no expert, nor am I yet.
However, there are people here on this forum who are awake in every section of the 24 hour clock who will be there for you if you experience a problem. Save your money for the splurge at the end, or give it away to others at home.. and set off to Ithaka... metaphorically speaking.

Ithaka​

BY C. P. CAVAFY
TRANSLATED BY EDMUND KEELEY
As you set out for Ithaka
hope your road is a long one,
full of adventure, full of discovery.
Laistrygonians, Cyclops,
angry Poseidon—don’t be afraid of them:
you’ll never find things like that on your way
as long as you keep your thoughts raised high,
as long as a rare excitement
stirs your spirit and your body.
Laistrygonians, Cyclops,
wild Poseidon—you won’t encounter them
unless you bring them along inside your soul,
unless your soul sets them up in front of you.

Hope your road is a long one.
May there be many summer mornings when,
with what pleasure, what joy,
you enter harbours you’re seeing for the first time;
may you stop at Phoenician trading stations
to buy fine things,
mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
sensual perfume of every kind—
as many sensual perfumes as you can;
and may you visit many Egyptian cities
to learn and go on learning from their scholars.

Keep Ithaka always in your mind.
Arriving there is what you’re destined for.
But don’t hurry the journey at all.
Better if it lasts for years,
so you’re old by the time you reach the island,
wealthy with all you’ve gained on the way,
not expecting Ithaka to make you rich.

Ithaka gave you the marvellous journey.
Without her you wouldn't have set out.
She has nothing left to give you now.

And if you find her poor, Ithaka won’t have fooled you.
Wise as you will have become, so full of experience,
you’ll have understood by then what these Ithakas mean
 
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