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Santiago is VERY busy...book ahead

JohnnieWalker

Nunca se camina solo
Hi - the city remains very busy indeed. Yesterday at different times I met 6 pilgrims who had arrived hoping to find albergue beds only to find all albergues are full. The Seminario Menor has been full by late morning. Even out in San Lazaro the albergues have been full earlier in the day. An option is to stop in Monte de Gozo or to book ahead.

This week has been particularly busy with the Feasts of the Assumption and San Roque and weekends are generally busier in any event.

If you want to a bed in an albergue you should consider booking. The alternative is Booking.com for a hostal/hotel or Airbnb.

Good luck!

John
 
St James' Way - Self-guided 4-7 day Walking Packages, Reading to Southampton, 110 kms
I was just there a few days ago, and had fortunately booked ahead. I met a man who ended up walking back to Monte de Gozo for a bed.
 
Get a spanish phone number with Airalo. eSim, so no physical SIM card. Easy to use app to add more funds if needed.
Nothing changes in heaven and earth - especially on the Camino!

In his Pilgrim's Guide to the Camino de Santiago published in 1985, Don Elias Valina Sampedro included a list of Hotels on the Camino de Santiago as well as albergues. In the foreword he gave this warning:
"Do remember that some hotels, fondas and refugios that appear in this guide may operate for only part of the year. For this reason and to avoid unpleasant surprises, it is best to telephone ahead especially if travelling out of season." (There are ± 135 hotels, fondas, hostales etc and 100 albergues listed in the guide.)

By 2002 there were about 160 albergues listed in the CSJ UK guide book. In May/June 2002 we spent a number of nights on the floor of crowded albergues. We were also put up in abandoned halls, a couple of new building sites and even what looked like a concrete bunker! The overcrowding wasn't because of too many pilgrims, but because of too few albergues. (In 2002 68 952 pilgrims got a Compostela.)

I walked the Camino 4 times without booking rooms ahead but by 2009 the race for beds became a problem for me - a fairly slow walker - and so I started booking ahead whenever possible. It made a huge difference to my state of mind! I could get up later, saunter along at my snail's pace, stop for a leisurely breakfast and have a siesta under a tree if I wanted to. I could wait for the church of Eunate and at Santo Domingo to open and visit a museum if I felt so inclined. It is much easier to slip into a Zen Zone if you know that you have a bed waiting for you at the end of the day!
 
Nothing changes in heaven and earth - especially on the Camino!

Just to be contrary I think I should say that things have changed on the Camino in my experience. On my first Camino Frances in July and August 1990 I also used Valina's 1985 guide book. I never came across a full refugio anywhere between St Jean and Santiago. On most days I never saw another pilgrim while I was walking and for many nights I had refugios completely to myself. On my first night there were 9 people staying at Roncesvalles. I never saw anywhere so overcrowded again :) Even Burgos felt quite busy with 6 people staying in the municipal albergue. Although I did not keep a count I would be surprised if the total number of pilgrims I met along the entire Frances was much greater than 30. Unless you set out as part of a group then walking the Camino was very much a solitary and individual act. When I returned in 2002 to walk the Frances again I was initially very surprised at how busy the Camino had become and how so many and luxurious albergues had been built in the meantime. I wondered even then if the Camino was becoming a little too popular.... :)

In 1990 a sum total of 4,918 Compostelas were issued. By the time @sillydoll and I walked in 2002 that number had already multiplied more than ten times to 68,952. But most startling of all is that 5,401 were issued in just two days recently. Things have changed!
 
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€2,-/day will present your project to thousands of visitors each day. All interested in the Camino de Santiago.
The simple fact is that the numbers of arriving pilgrims processed for compostelas the the pilgrim office is up by more than 10 percent over the same period last year. This creates a ripple affect on demand for all services in Santiago, including lodging.

What these numbers do NOT reflect however, is the huge surge in Santiago de Compostela as a tourist destination. My evidence is based on empirical observation while I was there for a month working at the Pilgrim Office. My overall impression is that there are far more and larger groups of tourists in the city than in prior years. They are even getting groups from cruise ships docked at Vigo.

More tourists means fewer commercial lodging options for arriving pilgrims. Pilgrims are pushed to lower cost hostals and albergues, filling these up as well. Places that traditionally have not filled up, like Seminario Menor, are now regularly oversold.

Yes, as others have already said, book ahead!

I hope this helps.
 
Feel fortunate that I have walked all my Camino's in early April before the crowds hit for the season. I have never had a single accommodation issue at all the last four years while walking in April. That said, we have noticed that this year was certainly busier than previous years. I also noticed way more tour groups while in Santiago this year as well.
 
Get a spanish phone number with Airalo. eSim, so no physical SIM card. Easy to use app to add more funds if needed.
[...]What these numbers do NOT reflect however, is the huge surge in Santiago de Compostela as a tourist destination. My evidence is based on empirical observation while I was there for a month working at the Pilgrim Office. My overall impression is that there are far more and larger groups of tourists in the city than in prior years. They are even getting groups from cruise ships docked at Vigo.[...]
In tiny Costa Rica the Es TV is having, since a few weeks, a series on the Camino de Santiago on Tuesdays. From many quarters I hear about people having visited, or planning to visit, the Camino in Spain. As tourists, not on a pilgrimage. :eek:
We are soon to have our "own" camino (still in process of developing) with CaminodeCostaRica.org. :cool:
 
Thank you Mister Fraluchi for the information on El Camino de Mar a Mar -- went to the website to check things out, this is a great idea and I will add this one to my to-do list. Good luck y que la luz de Dios alumbre su camino.

p.s. Correction: El Camino de Costa Rica [vice El Camino de Mar a Mar].
--- We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming of "Santiago is VERY busy...book ahead" --
 
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"Just to be contrary I think I should say that things have changed on the Camino in my experience."

You are right - things have changed.

When Linda Davidson and David Gitlitz took their student groups on the Camino in 1974 they did not see even one other pilgrim. In 1979 they met a Frenchman on his way back to France.

Forty years ago the pilgrimage was just a relic, practically forgotten for over 300 years. They - and Edwin Mullins - write about pouring over army maps, asking farmers and others where the old paths might be. They had no yellow arrows, no albergues, no menu-del-peregrinos; and like Walter Starkie 30 years before them and Georgiana Goddard King 30 years before him, no guide books to tell them where to walk.
 
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The numbers are increasing but so also has the number of beds - so much so that the ayuntamiento has imposed a temporary restriction on any new Albergue beds being opened - there is always a tension between the hostals and the Albergues.
But I think the issue is a little more complex. ALL of the Albergues in the centre are private albergues and they don't care whether their clients are pilgrims or tourists - and there is a positive financial incentive for them to accept reservations for multiple days. And so the albergues fill up quickly and stay that way. The only municipal albergue is away out at San Lazaro just beyond Monte de Gozo On the way into Santiago.
It is a strange thing to say but I think Santiago has to start prioritising the needs of pilgrims!
 
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I'd qualify that @JohnnieWalker by saying "walking pilgrims"! I've met lots who I would classify as pilgrims but who come with vehicle support. With a vehicle it is not so important to be physically close to the centre. Last time I was in Santiago with a car we stayed in the camping site at As Cancelas.
 
The 2024 Camino guides will be coming out little by little. Here is a collection of the ones that are out so far.
I'd qualify that @JohnnieWalker by saying "walking pilgrims"! I've met lots who I would classify as pilgrims but who come with vehicle support. With a vehicle it is not so important to be physically close to the centre. Last time I was in Santiago with a car we stayed in the camping site at As Cancelas.
And I would then add long distance walkers. o_O

Any concerns that this rocks the boat with San Martin Pinario?
 
How do you define a "long distance walker"? And what about 88 year old Erika, who only walks the last 100km, at the rate of about 8km a day, with arthritis, genuinely believes in the pilgrimage, is kind and gentle and wonderfully helpful and friendly to everyone she meets? I'd give her bed space anytime in preference to a fit young aggressive self-centered person who has walked from northern Europe!
 
How do you define a "long distance walker"? And what about 88 year old Erika, who only walks the last 100km, at the rate of about 8km a day, with arthritis, genuinely believes in the pilgrimage, is kind and gentle and wonderfully helpful and friendly to everyone she meets? I'd give her bed space anytime in preference to a fit young aggressive self-centered person who has walked from northern Europe!
And here I was sure I had put a o_O at the end of my post. I must be starting to imagine things. :eek:
 
A selection of Camino Jewellery
[...]It is a strange thing to say but I think Santiago has to start prioritising the needs of pilgrims!
This raises the question as to whether any institution in Santiago is able to define, comprehensively, the (unsatisfied) priority needs of today’s pilgrims. Would it not mean to argue (again) about who is a pilgrim, which kind of needs are to be met, where and when, consider short and long-term alternatives and, ultimately, pinpoint potential investors?

Information technology enables any traveler, including pilgrims, to plan a journey in detail. Long check-in lines and delays at airports, endless queues on motorways, slow service at restaurants, limited accommodation and high prices can be avoided when proper decisions are taken by the individual. Up to the logical point of deciding not to undertake a journey. Nobody should feel obliged to walk from Sarria to Santiago during Easter week or to arrive in Santiago on the 25th July.:(
 
I blame the Urban Legend that Camino pilgrims should only stay in albergues.

This evening I saw a post on Facebook "... the descent from Alto del Perdòn took more of a toll on my knees than I realized. We decided to treat ourselves to a nice hotel in Estella (very un Camino like) to get a good night's sleep and recuperate."

Why do some pilgrims feel guilty for staying in a hotel? Why do the majority of pilgrims feel entitled to a bed in a pilgrim albergue every night, in every place where they chose to stop? Why do pilgrims expect to be accommodated in a cheap hostel bed when they arrive in Santiago?

Johnny wrote "The only municipal albergue [in Santiago] is away out at San Lazaro just beyond Monte de Gozo On the way into Santiago". That is exactly how Don Elias Valina Sampedro, who was put in charge of albergues, and the others at the AMIGOS founding conference in 1987 planned it.

According to the minutes of that meeting, it was agreed that, as most large towns and cities had many places for pilgrims to stay, only one albergue would be established and these would be primarily for pilgrims who might not be able to afford fondas, hostales, pensiones etc. The albergues were not meant to compete with or undermine the established hospitality industry. It was never the idea that all pilgrims should only stay in albergues.

15 years ago there were two albergues in Pamplona - Refugio Iglesia San Cernin with 24 places (open May to October) and albergue Amaiur with 70 beds (only open July and August). If you walked in May like I did, and you arrived at the albergue later than mid-day, chances were that the COMPLETO sign would be up when you got there. Then you moved on and found a room elsewhere. Nobody complained. That's just how it was.

Many places still only had one albergue - Estella, Logrono, Santo Domingo and Najera. The 'albergue' in Burgos was a group of wooden lodges in the Parque Parral situated on the outskirts of the town (almost as though they were trying to keep the dusty, smelly pilgrims away from the city!)

The only albergue in Santiago was the 94 bed Seminario Menor de Belvis outside the old city. One could stay there for 3 nights but it came with a warning of thefts of bicycles and backpacks! Just as it was in the Middle Ages, locals met pilgrims as they entered the city, advertising a room or rooms in their homes, pensiones, fondas, hostales etc. If you didn't want to risk the Seminario or be restricted by the curfews, you found a room.
 
I do agree @sillydoll but I think there are also lots of us who can't afford to stay in hotels every night. When I was working I could, but did not have the time, now I have the time, but only a retirement income. Which I think is the case for a lot of older people.

When I walk with my husband, or a friend, we get rooms in hotels or pensions, because we can share the cost, but walking alone? Too expensive.

Perhaps it is selfish of me to keep coming back.

Edited to make it clear I was only referring to myself being selfish!
 
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The 2024 Camino guides will be coming out little by little. Here is a collection of the ones that are out so far.
Perhaps it is selfish to keep coming back.

I have walked the Camino Frances three times now. There was a gap of 12 years between Caminos 1 and 2, and of 14 years between Caminos 2 and 3. I do not feel that I have been monopolising the route and denying others a chance to walk. Are you suggesting that we should never walk the same route twice?
 
I don't know the solution but I think the whole question comes back to the old gnarly debate of 'Who is a real Pilgrim' and should those who are not 'Real Pilgrims' always stay in the albergues. Many medieval pilgrims walked to Santiago more than once and just like us, some decided not to stay in the dedicated pilgrim hospices and opted for inns and monasteries instead.

Many of us who keep going back love the Camino for itself, and for the journey - not for the destination. That is why so many people go back time and again and walk the many different routes - for the sheer enjoyment of the routes themselves, not to arrive at the cathedral and revere the relics of Sant Iago . The cathedral website clearly states that walking the Camino is not the goal. The goal is to arrive at the cathedral and revere the remains of the saint in the crypt.

So, if our goal of returning to the Camino is to relive the journey, are we entitled to always use the shelters that were established for 'pilgrims' - not for hikers, wanderers, fans of the Camino? Should we leave the albergues for first time pilgrims?

All my research on the establishment of the albergue system shows that they were never meant to cater for all pilgrims. Refugios were established in remote places where there wasn't sufficient accommodation and these were meant for all pilgrims. But, AMIGOS decided to only establish one albergue (for the less affluent pilgrims) in towns and cities where alternative accommodation was plentiful.

This is from the Roncesvalles website:

"Ninguna localidad del Camino de Santiago tiene la obligación de disponer de plazas de albergue para todos los peregrinos y más si hay hoteles en la misma localidad.

"No town in the Camino de Santiago is required to have hostel places for all pilgrims if there are hotels in the same location."

I walked the Camino 4 times between 2002 and 2009 and understood that 'to be a real pilgrim' I had to stay in the albergues. By 2009 the bed-race had become ridiculous and I realised that, as I wasn't a 'real pilgrim' in the religious sense (I'm not a Christian, not Catholic, do not revere old bones), there was no reason for me to stay in albergues if I didn't have to. There are a few traditional albergues that I really love and will always try to get a bed in them if possible. They need a few paying guests to keep going otherwise they won't be able to pay for electricity, water, toilet paper, gas for the stove and will all have to close.

Perhaps those with financial limitations could plan shorter walks to fit their budget? Although this could also exclude you from staying in the albergues after FICS decided that long-haul walkers should have first choice in staying in the albergues. When it was suggested that some people with very good reasons and motives for walking the pilgrimage to Santiago can't do long distances the reply was :

"Running for a role with just effort? It's your problem. We are not interested. The only thing we want is not to break the pilgrimage by the absurd massification of the last 100 km. Nothing else. But nothing less. Is it so hard to understand? "

As I said, I'm not sure of the solution but to answer Johnny's suggestion, I don't think the private albergues should have to bear the responsibility of housing poor pilgrims when the original plan was not to have more than one albergue in each city.
 
When I walk with my husband, or a friend, we get rooms in hotels or pensions, because we can share the cost, but walking alone? Too expensive.
.
On both caminos 1 and 2 I sometimes shared hotel/pension rooms with pilgrims I had just met...:eek::D
 
St James' Way - Self-guided 4-7 day Walking Packages, Reading to Southampton, 110 kms
As I said, I'm not sure of the solution but to answer Johnny's suggestion, I don't think the private albergues should have to bear the responsibility of housing poor pilgrims when the original plan was not to have more than one albergue in each city.

I am sure what you say is true but I do not believe that Don Elias and the early groups of Amigos who developed the modern Camino Frances ever imagined that the numbers walking the route would reach the astronomical levels seen today. A the time of Don Elias's death around 5,000 pilgrims were walking annually. This year looks set to come to close to 300,000. A pattern established for the 1980s and 1990s cannot be expected to work in 2017. I agree that it would be right to move a great deal of the wealthy tourist traffic away from albergues and into private accommodation. But I doubt that by doing so the remaining core of religiously-motivated and low-budget pilgrims could be accommodated in the modest infrastructure of twenty years ago.
 
Yep - you are right. Just the numbers are a bit short!

It was estimated a few years ago that only 1 in 5 pilgrims on the Camino routes in any year will receive the Compostela. Many walk for a week or so each year; many sustain injuries and go home; others don't claim a Compostela. (I have walked to Santiago 9 times and have a 2002 certificate, a Welcome Certificate and a Compostela in someone else's name).

"One day in 1982, with fears of terrorism rife, the sight of yellow arrows painted on trees along a Pyrenean road aroused the suspicion of the Guardia Civil. Following the trail, they came upon a battered white van. A small, smiling man got out. When prompted, he opened the van's back doors to reveal tins of bright yellow paint and a wet paintbrush.

"Identification!" barked the Guardia.
"I'm Don Elías Valiña Sampedro, parish priest of O Cebreiro in Galicia."
"And what are you doing with all this?"
"Preparing a great invasion…"
(Johnnie Walker’s blog)
 
Yep - you are right. Just the numbers are a bit short!

True! The Compostela numbers are bound to be a massive understatement of the numbers of walkers for all sorts of reasons. But they are the only vaguely reliable and readily accessible year-on-year comparison figures I am aware of and I think they paint a pretty clear picture of the phenomenal rate of growth.
 
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I wasn't sure about staying in hotels rather than refugios until I stayed at the Parador in Leon. I justified it by saying it had freed up a bed in a refugio . . .
Seriously though, I've reached a stage in life where a good night's sleep means more to me than the comradeship of sharing with a dozen snoring pilgrims so, as long as I can afford it, it's hotels and hostales for me.
 
I do agree @sillydoll but I think there are also lots of us who can't afford to stay in hotels every night. When I was working I could, but did not have the time, now I have the time, but only a retirement income. Which I think is the case for a lot of older people.

When I walk with my husband, or a friend, we get rooms in hotels or pensions, because we can share the cost, but walking alone? Too expensive.

Perhaps it is selfish to keep coming back.

Not selfishness, perhaps a yearning for that "perfect" Camino? I know that's why I keep saying "never again" and then do the opposite!
 
The one from Galicia (the round) and the one from Castilla & Leon. Individually numbered and made by the same people that make the ones you see on your walk.
I do not feel that I have been monopolising the route and denying others a chance to walk. Are you suggesting that we should never walk the same route twice?

Whoops! I was thinking of myself, and feeling guilty because I do stay in albergues. I have edited my post.
 
Hi - the city remains very busy indeed. Yesterday at different times I met 6 pilgrims who had arrived hoping to find albergue beds only to find all albergues are full. The Seminario Menor has been full by late morning. Even out in San Lazaro the albergues have been full earlier in the day. An option is to stop in Monte de Gozo or to book ahead.

This week has been particularly busy with the Feasts of the Assumption and San Roque and weekends are generally busier in any event.

If you want to a bed in an albergue you should consider booking. The alternative is Booking.com for a hostal/hotel or Airbnb.

Good luck!

John
Yup! When I decided 10 days ago to walk next month I thought I would "just check in case" about SDC accommodation. I was amazed to find everywhere in the centre (under 4 *) fully booked! I have kept checking and with great relief I eventually found a room for the two nights I will be there. I have also noticed that the price of rooms has increased significantly in the 5 years I have been visiting SDC. As mentioned above, a room is relatively dearer for a solo traveller. Maybe I should get into the habit of "adopting a pilgrim" along my travels"?:):)
 
As mentioned above, a room is relatively dearer for a solo traveller. Maybe I should get into the habit of "adopting a pilgrim" along my travels"?:):)

Honestly, it works, Al! When walking on my own the first time, I sometimes booked a room with 2 other lady pilgrims I had met on the way. Oh the luxury of a bath and fluffy towels, for very little (if anything) more than an albergue.
Another year there were 3 of us but we 'adopted' another fellow and he became my room mate if/when booking a hotel :)
 
The focus is on reducing the risk of failure through being well prepared. 2nd ed.
I have only shared with someone on two occasions and incurred the costs many other times. Yes, "real" towels are a luxury, especially as I use a chamois leather normally! (I have a bit of a thing about not enjoying carrying weight I can avoid :()
 
Because I plan to be in Santiago on April 29th next year I decided to book from Tui on April 21st 2019. So six nights on the Camino. In two cities I discovered that the albergues I planned to stay in were already full and in Tui I got the last bed in a dorm in my albergue of choice.. this was in May, eleven months in advance!!! It is Easter week which is always a busy one, but I really was surprised.
 
In two cities I discovered that the albergues I planned to stay in were already full
In a country where no one buys green bananas and the transportation schedules are posted only two to three months in advance, you may be putting too much reliance on accommodations operating their reservation schedule ten months in advance! I think most of them will show "nothing available" in next April until late winter of next year. However, it is good that you found some places to reserve. Buen camino.
 
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