Bookings necessary on the Arles route?

[alansykes]

I've got to go to the midi for work and have managed to skive off some extra time to do 4-5 days on the Arles route. I've never walked a camino in France (or in high season) and wondered if I'd need to book/ring ahead for such albergues as there are? In particular I'm planning to arrive in St Gilles on a Sunday and I'll also be en route on May 8th, when the French have a holiday to celebrate winning the war.

 

[Deleted member 3000]

Call ahead. Places fill up, or close down spontaneously. Without calling ahead you will not know until you get there. In most cases you cannot just walk on another 5km; it can be quite some distance, and public transportation is surprisingly sparse except around cities. Almost every village has an abandoned rail station from the day when trains were common and utilized. There are some active rail to trail programs in France because the French love to walk (and fill up gites on the weekends).

 

[Sixwheeler]

Get the Miam-Miam-Dodo guide for the best list of available accommodation then phone ahead to be certain. Enjoy, it's a great walk.

 

[MaryLynn]

I agree with the comments above...I would add that when we walked from Toulouse to Puente La Reina last July, we were surprised at how small some of the accomodations were. Some places only slept 4-6. It is very different than the Camino Frances - we only encountered six people in the first six days of our walk and sometimes we were the only ones at the gite. It was very beautiful, but different. I'm sure you will enjoy it!

 

[newfydog]

The only place we booked in late April was St Guilhem le Desert on a weekend. We called a day ahead and it took a number of calls to find something. Everything else was walk-in, no problem.

 

[Felipe]

If possible, always make a reservation in France; a day before will do it. "Le randonnage" is a very popular activity, and there are clubs that sometimes occupy the whole of an hostal/gite. Also, some albergues don't have a full time hospitalero, but just a "benevole" that open it upon previous demand.

 

[AJ]

Phoning ahead gives peace of mind and the tourist office will do it for you. Having said that, I don't think I booked ahead on the Arles route in May/June 2012

 

[Kanga]

We occasionally booked ahead one night, but not usually.

 

[julian fms]

I've got to go to the midi for work and have managed to skive off some extra time to do 4-5 days on the Arles route. I've never walked a camino in France (or in high season) and wondered if I'd need to book/ring ahead for such albergues as there are? In particular I'm planning to arrive in St Gilles on a Sunday and I'll also be en route on May 8th, when the French have a holiday to celebrate winning the war.

This is a bit late to help Alan. I walked "le midi" the second half of April, 13th to 28th, 2012, from Toulouse to Somport. I met hardly any other pilgrims and was usually the only pilgrim in the Albergue. I had to phone ahead to get someone to open the place up. Julian, in Glasgow