Preplanning Your Stay at Albergues

[Monica A]

I've read that staying at albergues some require reservations and some don't. For those who've experienced this how did you plan on where you stayed? Did you just wing it and see if there's room or depending how fast/slow it's taking you did you call ahead. I'm aware of the albergues listings and have printed the PDF which was amazing by the way. Any information would be helpful. Thank you in advance!

 

[MaryLynn]

I recommend making a reservation in St. Jean - Belairi offers a wonderful experience and is located across from the Pilgrim's Office. Also reserve your second night at Orrison, ~8km up the 'hill.' Both are relatively expensive compared to the rest of the Camino, but provide good sleeping quarters, dinner, and breakfast. Other than reserving the first two nights, I have mostly stayed in municipal or parochial albergues as my first choice and they cannot be reserved ahead of time. Enjoy your planning!

 

[Monica A]

Thank you Ms. Marylynn certainly gives me a start!

 

[trecile]

Most albergues do not require reservations, and many do not accept them. An exception would be Orisson, where you do usually need to book well in advance.

 

[Waka]

I booked in SLPDP but in hindsightI really didn't need to, I arrived early 10am and there was a lot of options. the pilgrim office will find you somewhere if you haven't booked. This all depends on what time you are going to arrive.
If you wish to break the journey and go via the Napoleon route then Orrison is an option or Hunto, but both of these require booking.
If you decide to take the Val Carlos route then you'll probably get away without booking.
Another option is to walk through to Roncenvalles, no booking required.
The rest of the 500 miles or so just wing it and go with the flow, it's nice not to have any pre booked places.
Hope this helps.

 

[FLEUR]

you can book on a day to day basis if you wish . If you don't feel confident to make the phone call the hospitalera will usually make a call for you. If it's a big town / city then if one albergue doesn't have room another most likely will. Small places with just one or two places to stay might be more of a problem.

 

[Mark Lee]

I definitely recommend making reservations for your accommodations at both St Jean and Santiago. Not saying it's a must, but both those cities can get quite busy and beds go fast.
As far as the rest of the Camino, up to you. If you have the means to do it, and you know exactly which town you want to stop in? Sure. Nice to have that option sometimes.
The pilgrim's office in St Jean will also give you an updated list of albergues on the Camino, with telephone numbers and other information about them.

 

[Tony Dickin]

All the comments above are great advice. I'm an independent trekker and have only, on exceptions, booked ahead. That's the great fun of being a long distance walker, the surprises of the unknown
On such a popular route, I feared it would be 'standing room only' at the end of every day! Wishing everyone a fantastic and healthy 2017.

 

[Anemone del Camino]

To be clear, because you have gotten all sorts of info that may have your head spinning: no albergue requires a reservation and some do not take them (municipal and religious ones mostly).

Should you book in private ones? It depends first and formost on the time of the year you are walking (May to September is high season), it depends on how late jn the day you plan on walking (if you want to walk until 6pm in May, then I would say yes), also what is more important to you: will you be distraught if you get to your destination and find out the village is full and you have to walk another 3 or 4 km or will you be on edge all day not knowing for sure where you'll find a bed?

 

[Urban Trekker]

I've read that staying at albergues some require reservations and some don't. For those who've experienced this how did you plan on where you stayed? Did you just wing it and see if there's room or depending how fast/slow it's taking you did you call ahead. I'm aware of the albergues listings and have printed the PDF which was amazing by the way. Any information would be helpful. Thank you in advance!

Made reservation for the first 3 days of our April May 2016 journey. After that we winged it. Had several guides down loaded but bought the Michelin Camino de Santiago guide in Saint Jean. All we used and all we needed for 500 miles.

Buen Camino

Happy Trails

 

[Tony Dickin]

To be clear, because you have gotten all sorts of info that may have your head spinning: no albergue requires a reservation and some do not take them (municipal and religious ones mostly).

Should you book in private ones? It depends first and formost on the time of the year you are walking (May to September is high season), it depends on how late jn the day you plan on walking (if you want to walk until 6pm in May, then I would say yes), also what is more important to you: will you be distraught if you get to your destination and find out the village is full and you have to walk another 3 or 4 km or will you be on edge all day not knowing for sure where you'll find a bed?

Thanks Ivar, all good and sage advice. Tony

 

[Tony Dickin]

Made reservation for the first 3 days of our April May 2016 journey. After that we winged it. Had several guides down loaded but bought the Michelin Camino de Santiago guide in Saint Jean. All we used and all we needed for 500 miles.

Buen Camino

Happy Trails

Nothing like voice of experience. Thanks Urban Trekker. Tony

 

[clearskiescamino]

I never felt the need to book ahead however if you want to do so, you can do a day in advance. I prebooked in St Jean and Zubiri to avoid stress and never needed to plan after that.

 

[Tony Dickin]

Thanks Ivar. Have also been watching the youtube videos from Lindsey Cowie, who has done the Camino several times. This young lady is sharp and has some great tips on all aspects of the trek. I'd recommend any prospective Camino trekkers to have a look. Best, Tony

 

[Monica A]

Thank you all for your comments. You all have provided me with a lot of information in not in an overwhelming way. I think what we'll do is make a reservation in SLPDP and possibly check out Orrison and then from there just wing it. Still have some time to finalize everything. Also, I'll make sure to look for the Michelin Camino de Santiago guide. I'm experiencing a lot of change and transitioning in my life and for me this journey is about growth and experiencing the unknown. I've accepted that I will not have every detailed planned out nor would i want that. I appreciate the fact that I'm not in this alone and I can ask all of you who have taken this journey on.

 

[Deleted member 3000]

https://www.amazon.fr/dp/2067148052/

 

[FLEUR]

I have this Michelin book in English and although it gives a map and an idea of the profile of each day it does not contain a lot of detailed information about the albergues. Perhaps this edition is a later one than mine and therefore more up to date. I still use this one because it usufully indicates each day as Red = difficult Orange=medium green= easy and that is worth having. John Brierley's books I find have more general information re places to stay maps and so on.

 

[Saint Mike II]

@FLEUR - the Michelin book is a good "general guide" which just "shows the way". I doubt the editors even envisaged it as a replacement for Brierley. Its light weight and happily goes in your pocket for quick reference.

To supplement the Michelin there is a list of all the albergues on the Camino Frances at the top of this site. You just down load it to tablet or smart phone (or print it if you need a hard copy). The only thing you then be missing is the maps of the towns that Brierley does include. Hope this helps. Cheers

 

[FLEUR]

Yes I'd agree with your comments. Just checked my book and it was printed. 2010. On my final Camino walks I took the Michelin book and had the Brierley map book and his Sarria to Santiago and Muxia book on my phone.

 

[Annalisa]

I am arriving into St Jean to hike for two weeks on June 25 and I did not want to have use my phone unless for emergency so I pre booked my rooms.

 

[Gareth Griffith]

I had a big debate with myself whether to stop over at Orisson or not. My recommendation is that you should take the opportunity.
1. Have an easy first day!
2. You should be first in the queue for Roncevalles the next day. Having got a head start on those heading up from SJPdP.
3. If you don't experience it you will always wonder what you missed out on.
4. It has a limited number of beds and can't accommodate everyone, people who want to stay because they're knackered but haven't booked will be turned away.
SJPdP and Orisson was the only two that I booked in advance. Other than that go with the flow.

 

[Anemone del Camino]

3. If you don't experience it you will always wonder what you missed out on.

If I may, if this is your thought process on the Camino you will be miserable. There are so many albergues (and Orisson is just that, an albergue like any other) that realistically you will only experience a very small percentage of them.

One could also argue that by opting to stay in Orisson you will out on the exhilleration of arriving in Roncesvalles with those you were with in SJPP and who challenged themselves to make the full walk in a day.

If you over think things, all you will achieve is missing out on things.

(And when you say staying at Orisson would make for an easy day, well, the hike up there is grewling, but short, so it would still make for a difficult day, but also a bery boring one watching others walk by for hour after hour, after hour).

 

[Gareth Griffith]

If I may, if this is your thought process on the Camino you will be miserable. There are so many albergues (and Orisson is just that, an albergue like any other) that realistically you will only experience a very small percentage of them.

One could also argue that by opting to stay in Orisson you will out on the exhilleration of arriving in Roncesvalles with those you were with in SJPP and who challenged themselves to make the full walk in a day.

If you over think things, all you will achieve is missing out on things.

(And when you say staying at Orisson would make for an easy day, well, the hike up there is grewling, but short, so it would still make for a difficult day, but also a bery boring one watching others walk by for hour after hour, after hour).

Whilst appreciating that you can't have everything in life and that you have to make choices all the way though your life, is there any other albergue on any camino that has so much discussion as to whether to stay there or not?

 

[Anemone del Camino]

Whilst appreciating that you can't have everything in life and that you have to make choices all the way though your life, is there any other albergue on any camino that has so much discussion as to whether to stay there or not?

This one gets talked about only because people going on the Camino have fears and anxieties due to the unknown. If they didn't you wouldn't hear much about it. Granon and San Anton certainly get a lot of air time here, and not because of anxieties.

 

[Gareth Griffith]

This one gets talked about only because people going on the Camino have fears and anxieties due to the unknown. If they didn't you wouldn't hear much about it. Granon and San Anton certainly get a lot of air time here, and not because of anxieties.

I would dispute your assertion that it is only because of fears and anxieties that people stay at Orisson. It wasn't the reason I stayed there.
Grañón is great too.
PS I didn't have a miserable camino either.
PPS. Are the discussions about Grañón and San Anton whether to stay there or not?

 

[trecile]

(And when you say staying at Orisson would make for an easy day, well, the hike up there is grewling, but short, so it would still make for a difficult day, but also a bery boring one watching others walk by for hour after hour, after hour).

There is no need to start early from SJPDP if you are stopping at Orisson. I left around 11:00 and arrived early afternoon, which was perfect.

 

[Gareth Griffith]

Like Trecile I too took my time to have a wander round Saint Jean Pied de Port which is very picturesque. It seemed a shame to rush off when I'd only arrived the night before. I and my companions, bought a picnic to eat "en route". We set off about mid-day and enjoyed the sunshine and views arriving in time for a well deserved beer, but hardly a gruelling trip. It was great to sit in the sunshine on their veranda, eat our pic-nic and chat with other pilgrims also starting on their adventure.
It was sad to say that whilst we were in the bar there were a couple of pilgrims that did enquire whether they could stay the night and were given the sad response, "sorry we're full". It was not the answer they wanted given that the Napoleon route was not officially open until the following morning.

 

[wally]

part of your decision process is based upon what time of year you are making the pilgrimage
I definitely recommend having a date/reservation in place for when you start and when you end your camino
As but one example, I rode the camino frances this past september. When I pulled into each of the villages I would find one or two that were fully booked but most of the time there were a few beds/bunks available.

If you find yourself heavily scheduled for places to stay, and then something happens to gum up the trip (e.g. blisters, knee problems) you don't find yourself in the process of the camino but, rather, you might push yourself to move on and stick to your albergue reservation schedule when you need to rest, heal, and reflect on the purpose of the camino.

buen camino

 

[ChloeRose]

I didn't make any reservations in Santiago or SJPDP, and those were the only places where I felt my day would have ended on a better note had I booked in advance. Otherwise, there was plenty of room! I walked in high season

Of course, if you don't want to stay in the albergues with 200+ people, reservations will be more important.

Buen Camino!

 

[Texas Walker]

What Anemone del Camino said upstream is very important. DH and I tried to start hunting for a bed about 1:30 PM or 2:00. This worked great. The only places it didn't: el Burgo Ranero (arrived 3:30 pm and all 4 or 5 albergues were full. Stayed in a pension there, watched an infomercial about the spin mops, a full on thunderstorm rolled in about 10 pm, I woke about every other hour during the night, heard the patio furniture blowing around outside the window and prayed: "Dear God, please don't let it be raining when we have to leave!" and about 0300 the storm stopped) and Santiago. Santiago is a big city, but everybody and his brother comes there to visit the Apostle, and so we have concluded that about 2 or 3 days out we need to make a reservation. Though the first year, Santiago Himself found us beds for the night! As I have told some people locally, it's not only the Spanish police that are watching over the pilgrims on the Camino.