For those walking the
Camino Frances right now, or recently, how is the bed situation?
Any difficulty finding a bed?
Are people booking ahead more?
I'm sure the regular 'choke points' like Zubiri are still a challenge, but what about elsewhere?
For those who walked pre Covid, would you say the numbers are now 'back to normal' or even higher?
(recognising we are not through Covid yet of course)
Just curious what it's like as I probably won't get back out there till next year.
I’m on the CF right now, and the bed situation is bad, very bad. It’s my third time, always walked during very popular times, and I have never seen anything like this. I have never walked during a holy year, however.
We (hubs and I) are pragmatic and have no qualms about booking ahead if we have to. In the past, pre-Covid, we always just booked one night ahead without any problems. This time, however, we have had trouble finding anything - dorm bunks, hostal, casa rurales, hotels, anything at all - if looking two or three nights out. Fortunately, we have not had to look for the next night, because we saw what was going on and jumped on it, but let me tell you, accommodations are tight. We have been okay booking 5-7 nights out so far.
I can’t really speak for others, but from what we have heard, there is general consensus among pilgrims that beds are scant. I don’t think it’s really a ‘bubble’ situation, either, because we were going quite slowly, and then rented bicycles for the meseta and sprinted ahead. If it’s a bubble, it’s a huge one.
A couple of unexpected choke points were Atapuerca and Agés, where there was nothing, nothing, nothing. Many people we spoke with couldn’t find a room or a bed, and one person we had spent a lot of time with quit at that point out of frustration. Another just jumped ahead to Sarria to end his Camino early.
Another unexpected choke point was Bercianos. When we looked two days ago for tonight, I called every place listed on Gronze, at least a half a dozen, and nobody had anything. That’s why we’re in Sahagún tonight, where we felt lucky to find bunks at the Santa Cruz monastery. Very nice place.
I can’t comment on numbers other than an impression that it’s at least as busy as it was other popular times. The shortage of beds is something new, and I think the closing of albergues due to Covid is a huge factor. We walk by closed ones every day it seems, and I think some of the choke points we have seen, like in Atapuerca, have resulted from the municipal in Villafranca being closed, so the private one there is full every night, and more people have to walk further to get to Agés and Atapuerca, and a big logjam is created. BTW, we resolved that problem by walking just a few extra km to Santovenia, where a small and lovely albergue was one third capacity. We then continued on the alternative route into Burgos, parallel to and south of the main route.