Sleeping Bag

[Daphne24]

Hello! I'm starting the Camino Frances this week from Burgos. Do I need a sleeping bag?
I did the Camino Frances from St Jean Pied de Port to Burgos 6 years ago, but I cannot remember if I took a sleeping bag with me. I am taking a silk liner, but wasn't planning on taking sleeping bag - do the hostels provide blankets/bedding?

Thank you
Daphne

 

[SabsP]

Hello! I'm starting the Camino Frances this week from Burgos. Do I need a sleeping bag?
I did the Camino Frances from St Jean Pied de Port to Burgos 6 years ago, but I cannot remember if I took a sleeping bag with me. I am taking a silk liner, but wasn't planning on taking sleeping bag - do the hostels provide blankets/bedding?

Thank you
Daphne

Hi Daphne, I would take a lightweight sleepingbag with me. It can get really cold in this time of the year at night. And not all albergues have blankets. Also with " end of season" most of the blankets will be less than clean I fear....

 

[Michael Caleigh]

I agree to take a lightweight bag or a liner with you. I am not sure how cold you might get at night but I was sweating a lot with a one season bag on the Primitivo the last two weeks.
Most of the albergues had clean blankets for some extra money but I never used them.

 

[BonitaHolland]

Hello! I'm starting the Camino Frances this week from Burgos. Do I need a sleeping bag?
I did the Camino Frances from St Jean Pied de Port to Burgos 6 years ago, but I cannot remember if I took a sleeping bag with me. I am taking a silk liner, but wasn't planning on taking sleeping bag - do the hostels provide blankets/bedding?

Thank you
Daphne

I would say yes to sleeping bag or here's a thought (my friend did this) buy a blanket/pashmina (near the tills) from Zara in Burgos for €10 warm lightweight and useful for a wrap in the evenings....

 

[SYates]

Hello! I'm starting the Camino Frances this week from Burgos. Do I need a sleeping bag?
I did the Camino Frances from St Jean Pied de Port to Burgos 6 years ago, but I cannot remember if I took a sleeping bag with me. I am taking a silk liner, but wasn't planning on taking sleeping bag - do the hostels provide blankets/bedding?

Thank you
Daphne

Yes, absolutely if you don't stay exclusively in hotels and pensions! Not all albergues have blankets and not all blankets have been washed recently. Both the meseta and the mountains of Leon and Galicia can/will be cold at night and heating is a bit of a hit and miss in many albergues. Buen Camino, SY

 

[MTtoCamino]

Yes your weather will only get cooler

 

[trecile]

I brought this super light down blanket and used it with my silk liner if I got cold. It's not very big, but if you slip it inside the silk liner it works great.

http://www.montbell.us/products/disp.php?cat_id=1206&p_id=1124593

It was one of the best things I took on the Camino

 

[Mark Lee]

I say yeah, but bring the lightest, compact sleeping bag you can find.
Also, I used the blankets in the albergues all the time (quite a few of them provided blankets) when I walked the Camino. Never had an issue with them. Smelled clean. Looked clean. Kept me warm. All that this simple country boy needed.

 

[Daphne24]

Thanks guys!!! Looks like I'll be getting myself a sleeping bag before I fly out tomorrow then :-D xxx

 

[Older Guy]

I think there are better options than a sleeping bag.

When I was assembling my ultralightweight Mountaineering gear for glacier mountain climbing around 2010, I spent some time with a local climbing legend. He told me it had been about 5 years since he last took his winter weight down UL sleeping bag with him up a mountain. He convinced me to go with a variation on what we use to do 40 years ago, when I climbed Mt Rainier. He suggested a bivy bag and ultralightweight belay pants weigh a lot less and are warm enough. Your silk liner and belay pants would be more than adequate for indoor camping and can also warm you during the day as extra pants. I took a pair of Montbell belay pants and a Nike thermal fleece long sleeve shirt and was never worried about being too cold this May. Belay pants take up a lot less pack room.

Since you are a woman I will provide a link to women's ultra light belay pants. There are some even lighter if you are wiling to pay more. http://www.backcountrygear.com/montbell-u-l-down-pants-women-s.html

 

[Daphne24]

I think there are better options than a sleeping bag.

When I was assembling my ultralightweight Mountaineering gear for glacier mountain climbing around 2010, I spent some time with a local climbing legend. He told me it had been about 5 years since he last took his winter weight down UL sleeping bag with him up a mountain. He convinced me to go with a variation on what we use to do 40 years ago, when I climbed Mt Rainier. He suggested a bivy bag and ultralightweight belay pants weigh a lot less and are warm enough. Your silk liner and belay pants would be more than adequate for indoor camping and can also warm you during the day as extra pants. I took a pair of Montbell belay pants and a Nike thermal fleece long sleeve shirt and was never worried about being too cold this May. Belay pants take up a lot less pack room.

Since you are a woman I will provide a link to women's ultra light belay pants. There are some even lighter if you are wiling to pay more. http://www.backcountrygear.com/montbell-u-l-down-pants-women-s.html

I think there are better options than a sleeping bag.

When I was assembling my ultralightweight Mountaineering gear for glacier mountain climbing around 2010, I spent some time with a local climbing legend. He told me it had been about 5 years since he last took his winter weight down UL sleeping bag with him up a mountain. He convinced me to go with a variation on what we use to do 40 years ago, when I climbed Mt Rainier. He suggested a bivy bag and ultralightweight belay pants weigh a lot less and are warm enough. Your silk liner and belay pants would be more than adequate for indoor camping and can also warm you during the day as extra pants. I took a pair of Montbell belay pants and a Nike thermal fleece long sleeve shirt and was never worried about being too cold this May. Belay pants take up a lot less pack room.

Since you are a woman I will provide a link to women's ultra light belay pants. There are some even lighter if you are wiling to pay more. http://www.backcountrygear.com/montbell-u-l-down-pants-women-s.html

Thank you for your advice! I've never come across those before. I have a 100% merino wool top for sleeping in. Unfortunately I think I've left it too late to get my hands on the belay pants ... I'm flying tomorrow evening!

 

[Older Guy]

You will be fine even if you don't have a bag. Get some thermal underwear bottoms, it is inside camping, you are not going to be sleeping on a glacier. If worse comes to worse, you could put on a couple of pair of pants and put extra insulation over yourself in bed and crawl into your silk liner you might be cold, but you will survive the night and be able to take a hot shower in the morning. Not an option on a glacier in a storm.

In the larger Spanish cities there are mountaineering/climbing shops and there are lots of European top quality climbing outfitting manufacturers. So you have options.

The principal advantage of belay pants is that all the insulation (and hence weight) is placed directly next to your body and not wasted in pockets of cloth far from your body where it does little to reduce body heat loss. I was lucky to find some great ultra-lightweight wilderness experience mentors. Buen Camino!

 

[whariwharangi]

No ... you don't need a sleeping bag.

You are allowed to be uncomfortable on your camino.

If you want to know what its like, try sleeping without a blanket in a room with an air conditioner down to 5 celcius.

 

[traveler]

Yes, absolutely if you don't stay exclusively in hotels and pensions! Not all albergues have blankets and not all blankets have been washed recently. Both the meseta and the mountains of Leon and Galicia can/will be cold at night and heating is a bit of a hit and miss in many albergues. Buen Camino, SY

Last December we stayed exclusively in casa rurals, pensions, and hotels and we're glad we brought sleeping bags that we could fold out and use them like blankets/quilts. The rooms were often cold and the blankets sparing.

 

[xin loi]

Yes--take a Sleeping Bag. Walked in August and September--finished last week---and we all used sleeping bags many nights. Still pity the Polish girls who mailed their sleeping bags home because the Camino-lites told them they weight too much---they were COLD.

lot of BAD information out on the camino.

 

[Anniesantiago]

The honest answer is yes and no.
It really depends on you (do you run hot or cold?) and where you sleep. Some places are like an oven with all those pilgrims, even in winter, and others are freezing in June! Personally, I wouldn't go anytime between September and June without my down sleeping bag/blanket. But I tend to get cold. If you have an ALTUS poncho, you can use it as a blanket if it's cold. Works like a charm! MOST (not all but most) albergues will have blankets - but not all - and my experience has been its the coldest dang ones that don't give you blankets. Plus the added attraction of bedbugs in albergue blankets makes me happy to have my own bag.

Lastly, if you don't have time to get one, you can purchase one in SJPP or in Zubiri or in Pamplona - though the first night you'll need it will be in Roncesvalles, which can be chilly.

Good luck and Buen Camino!

 

[Wnccamino]

I brought a 0 degree(Celsius) bag with me. And I can say it has been a lifesaver literally. When I arrived in Najerra late one night and could not find an open albergue..... No problem set my sleeping bag under a tree right past town on a Stoney hill and slept under the stars. Also a few times when the snoring in albergue was too much for me I just took my bag into courtyard and slept there. I am currently in Burgos on my last rest day and before I leave town I plan to buy a sleeping pad so it will be more comfortable on those nights since cement or bricks are tough on the hips.

 

[domigee]

I brought a 0 degree(Celsius) bag with me. And I can say it has been a lifesaver literally. When I arrived in Najerra late one night and could not find an open albergue..... No problem set my sleeping bag under a tree right past town on a Stoney hill and slept under the stars. Also a few times when the snoring in albergue was too much for me I just took my bag into courtyard and slept there. I am currently in Burgos on my last rest day and before I leave town I plan to buy a sleeping pad so it will be more comfortable on those nights since cement or bricks are tough on the hips.

Try looking in albergues for abandoned sleeping pads.
Buen camino

 

[Angel-hart]

Sleeping bag is a definite yes. My Girlfriend and I found on many days after walking she liked an brief afternoon nap. The sleeping bag was a great quick cover and proved invaluable in places were heat is lacking. In general we found if heat is provided it was on for short periods. We asked in early spring /April May.

 

[West Coaster]

You'll be sleeping on fairly thick mattresses so you don't need any insulation underneath you. A blanket will do, but you don't want to rely on the ratty cloths provided at the alberques. I use a Therma Rest Tech blanket.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AWQLTCK/?tag=casaivar02-20

 

[Sarah Olson]

You'll be sleeping on fairly thick mattresses so you don't need any insulation underneath you. A blanket will do, but you don't want to rely on the ratty cloths provided at the alberques. I use a Therma Rest Tech blanket.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AWQLTCK/?tag=casaivar02-20

Thank you! I have been trying to figure out what I need to carry, and this sounds perfect (and not the investment of a sleeping bag!).

 

[MargLav]

I am in Villa Franca del Bierzo at the moment. The mountain regions have been cold at night (I.e. 6 degrees Celsius) .It really depends on whether you stay in hostels or Albergues. We were in an Albergue last night in Ponferrada that provided a light blanket - definitely needed my sleeping bag as a blanket. Tonight we are in a hostel with big thick blankets in the cupboard - and we will need them! Think about where you intend to sleep versus the weight you want to carry! I personally can't sleep in full clothing so bedding is important. Buen Camino!!

 

[Bernice Radomski]

Hello! I'm starting the Camino Frances this week from Burgos. Do I need a sleeping bag?
I did the Camino Frances from St Jean Pied de Port to Burgos 6 years ago, but I cannot remember if I took a sleeping bag with me. I am taking a silk liner, but wasn't planning on taking sleeping bag - do the hostels provide blankets/bedding?

Thank you
Daphne

HI Daphne. I just arrived in santiago. Some places do provide blankets others didnt but I started early Sept so things may change as weather gets colder. I wouldn't bank on it. I slept in my clothes many nights until I borrowed a blanket. Also heat still not on in some albergues. Buen Camino. Bernice

 

[Smallest_Sparrow]

You'll be sleeping on fairly thick mattresses so you don't need any insulation underneath you. A blanket will do, but you don't want to rely on the ratty cloths provided at the alberques. I use a Therma Rest Tech blanket.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AWQLTCK/?tag=casaivar02-20

For what it's worth , I liked having a layer of something between me and mattresses of uncertain age. Also note this blanket is for warm camping weather or tossing over your shoulders around a campfire (per seller) so be sure that matches the weather you expect. Whatever you choose, use it for at least a week with your thermostat set to the coldest expected temperatures for your trip and wear what you expect to wear to bed. Try to do this at least month or two prior to your trip so you can get something different if needed and try again
When I walked in April the albergues were not heated and the windows were kept open through rain and snow

 

[BARBARA Souter]

Hello! I'm starting the Camino Frances this week from Burgos. Do I need a sleeping bag?
I did the Camino Frances from St Jean Pied de Port to Burgos 6 years ago, but I cannot remember if I took a sleeping bag with me. I am taking a silk liner, but wasn't planning on taking sleeping bag - do the hostels provide blankets/bedding?

Thank you
Daphne

Finished T Jean to Santiago 2 weejs ago and yes i needed my sleeping bag. Getting colder.