10 days till the Grand Depart! Accommodation query

[Martin Moorman]

Afternoon Camino-ites,
We head to St JdPdP on 30 March and hope to stay in the Albergue de Peregrines de St Jane Pied de Port which has 32 beds. I don't think you can prebook a hostel that night. My 2 boys and I already have 'Credentials' but my nephew, walking with us for first 11 nights and my sister, 'Logistics Queen' for one night only: (she lives near Albi and is driving over to Biarritz to pick us up and drive us up to St Jean. I have an epic little sis!) don't! As they both have no Credential, will they be ok to hostel it as well? Also, will 5 of us be ok to rack up to St Jean 7pm in the evening and still find hostel accommodation without difficulty? I don't think you can pre-book. Or will a hostel owner cut up rough? I would presume hostel owners would be supportive.....am I correct?
Muchos Gracios for anyone who can advise.
Martin

 

[mspath]

Martin,

If you and your friends arrive in SJPdP without a reservation go to the Pilgrim Office for help in finding a place for the night. The SJPdP Pilgrim Office is located on the camino at 39 rue de La Citadelle.

The office is open every day and in season from early in the morning until late at night ie after the arrival of the last bus/train. The helpful multi-lingual volunteers can provide Credentials and stamps if needed, as well as a list of major albergues and current weather/ trail conditions.

They can also help locate beds/bunks for the night. They keep an up to the minute list of all available spaces in albergues as well as regular tourist facilities and will telephone to find you spaces.

Most importantly the office is a great spot to meet/ greet other pilgrims. ...Do plan to stop and chat!

 

[dougfitz]

@Martin Moorman, if you check on the gronze website, the Albergue de peregrinos is listed as exclusively for pilgrims. There is other albergue accommodation in SJPP that is not exclusively for pilgrims, and which can be booked. As @mspath suggests, if you don't want to pre-book, then visiting the Pilgrim Office first would be a good first step to find out what places have spaces available.

 

[Martin Moorman]

Martin,

If you and your friends arrive in SJPdP without a reservation go to the Pilgrim Office for help in finding a place for the night. The SJPdP Pilgrim Office is located on the camino at 39 rue de La Citadelle.

The office is open every day and in season from early in the morning until late at night ie after the arrival of the last bus/train. The helpful multi-lingual volunteers can provide Credentials and stamps if needed, as well as a list of major albergues and current weather/ trail conditions.

They can also help locate beds/bunks for the night. They keep an up to the minute list of all available spaces in albergues as well as regular tourist facilities and will telephone to find you spaces.

Most importantly the office is a great spot to meet/ greet other pilgrims. ...Do plan to stop and chat!

Thanks for the advice mspath and dougfitz. I suspect though that the office will be shut by the time we arrive in St Jean on the Thursday evening as we are still JUST out of season, (by 2 days I think) and we will be wanting to be on our way the next day, before it opens I suspect. I think the tourist office opens at 0900 out of season?Just wondered as 3/5 of our group are credential holders and the other 2 have very good reasons for being with us, whether that hostel would be ok with them bunking down for the night as well. I may get my sister to ring them. Cheers though for taking time to reply
Martin