Camino in spring or in fall ?

[Breugel]

Bonjour à tous.
I am planning for my camino in 2015 but am wondering what would be the best period ? Spring or Fall ?
I will walk from SJPdP to Santiago.
Looking forward to your thoughts and experiences on this.
Bien à tous
Gijs.

 

[RobertS26]

Bonjour à tous.
I am planning for my camino in 2015 but am wondering what would be the best period ? Spring or Fall ?
I will walk from SJPdP to Santiago.
Looking forward to your thoughts and experiences on this.
Bien à tous
Gijs.

Spring has better colors, but more rain. Fall is more dry, but the crops have been harvested and the fields are shades of brown and tan. Also, there are wine festivals in the fall. I vote fall, but it's a close call.

 

[David]

Ah, what a great choice to make! They do say that the spring refugios are all cleaned and bug free and that the hospitelaros are not exhausted, but there is more chance of rain - even snow in a bad spring. Autumn is gentle but still warm and sunny - I would like to hear what others think ...
here is a pic of pilgrim stats for St Jean so you can work out how busy/quiet it would be - Weekly and monthly stats . Buen Camino!

.

 

[tpmchugh]

Did both last year. Pamplona to Burgos at Easter and Burgos to Santiago in September. Enjoyed both even though the Meseta was a nightmare walking all day in ankle deep mud in March. Mornings were not great in September as it gets darker each morning and I was walking for up to two hours in pitch black. Luckily I did not miss any waymarks but I met a few people standing about wondering which way to go as they could not see the arrows and heard of some taking wrong turns. One thing both seasons have in common is fine weather most days with no extremes of temperature being the norm

 

[Breugel]

Spring has better colors, but more rain. Fall is more dry, but the crops have been harvested and the fields are shades of brown and tan. Also, there are wine festivals in the fall. I vote fall, but it's a close call.

And what season would you choose if the wine festivals are not an issue ?
-)

 

[Breugel]

Ah, what a great choice to make! They do say that the spring refugios are all cleaned and bug free and that the hospitelaros are not exhausted, but there is more chance of rain - even snow in a bad spring. Autumn is gentle but still warm and sunny - I would like to hear what others think ...
here is a pic of pilgrim stats for St Jean so you can work out how busy/quiet it would be - Weekly and monthly stats . Buen Camino!

.View attachment 9691


View attachment 9690

Very helpful these stats.

 

[jassy]

Did both last year. Pamplona to Burgos at Easter and Burgos to Santiago in September. Enjoyed both even though the Meseta was a nightmare walking all day in ankle deep mud in March. Mornings were not great in September as it gets darker each morning and I was walking for up to two hours in pitch black. Luckily I did not miss any waymarks but I met a few people standing about wondering which way to go as they could not see the arrows and heard of some taking wrong turns. One thing both seasons have in common is fine weather most days with no extremes of temperature being the norm

why walk for up to two hours in pitch black? did you have a flight ?