1st trip to Santiago

[Westcorkcouple]

We are planning our first trip to Santiago de Compostela in September 2013 as it is our 25th wedding anniversary and we thought this was a good way to mark and celebrate the occasion. We have been advised by friends to start at Sarria and walk to Santiago over 7 nights/6 days. I have been looking at companies that organise your trip, luggage, transfers, hotels etc but they seem to be very expensive. I think we would like to stay in private accommodation with en-suite facilities along the route and ideally have our luggage transferred for us - is it possible to book our accommodation and luggage transfer ourselves before we go or should we do it when we get there? As I said its our first trip and a special one so we want to get it right. Would appreciate any advice from travellers.

 

[fraluchi]

We are planning our first trip to Santiago de Compostela in September 2013 as it is our 25th wedding anniversary. I think we would like to stay in private accommodation with en-suite facilities along the route and ideally have our luggage transferred for us.

Starting in Sarria, your accommodation requirements can be satisfied in the larger towns such as Portomarín, Palas de Rei, Melide, Arzúa, O'Pedrouzo and Santiago itself. If you are adventurous, you will find many places along this route where you might fancy to stay instead. From any of these destinations, owners/managers will assist you in having your luggage transported to your next destination.
Should you book anywhere in advance? Yes for the first night. Then plan according to how you feel, what the weather is like and what your host suggests within your financial (and walking!) capacities.

 

[Deleted member 3000]

This site will show you accommodations under lodging.

http://www.mundicamino.com/ingles/ruta. ... es=Lodging

To see albergues, look under Refuge.

Have fun!

 

[colinPeter]

Hi Westcorkcouple,
Welcome to the forum.
As mentioned, there are a number of bigger towns between Sarria & SDC, where there is usually plenty of accommodation options. If you would prefer to book before you left home, you could probably book your "stages" via booking agencies like booking.com etc. However, that could make your week a bit inflexible. Another option is to book the first night (as already suggested in fraluchi's post), then take a list of phone numbers, some basic spanish on a piece of paper (requesting a double room), then ring ahead for tomorrow's accommodation. The owners/managers are very good at dealing with simple Spanish enquiries. As also mentioned, getting your packs transported to the next accommodation is not difficult.
Hope you have a wonderful walk & celebration.
Buen Camino
Col

 

[Westcorkcouple]

Hi everyone - thanks for the help - I will look into these suggestions and will probably be back to you with more questions. Thanks again - much appreciated.

 

[Former member 9735]

I think we would like to stay in private accommodation with en-suite facilities along the route and ideally have our luggage transferred for us - is it possible to book our accommodation and luggage transfer ourselves before we go or should we do it when we get there? As I said its our first trip and a special one so we want to get it right. Would appreciate any advice from travellers.

WestCorkCouple,
Two of my friends , girls, walked May 2012, from Sarria to Santiago, and just booked the flights.
They then booked a few hotels to stay.
I had given them a list of reasonable priced hotels to stay, and they booked those hotels directly.
Prices approximately Eu 40 a night.
They found the Hotels booked their luggage to next hotel for Eu 3 each time.
I walked this route 2005 on my own using same method of booking hotels directly.

I have never stayed in Albergues, but I believe it is a big rush every day to check in.
Why not lie in and enjoy the trip.

Flights from Dublin to Santiago via Aer Lingus are reasonable so far.
I notice some flights are Eu 55. Book to stay 8 to 10 days.
Don’t delay, prices rise quickly. Remember Easter Sunday is 31 March 2013 this year,
and this is a very busy time.

I have built up a list of recommended list of accommodation on this route, from personal experience, and from other pilgrim recommendations.
PM me if you want this list.

Here is an alternative option
http://www.travelnet.ie
for walks 2013

with guide Michael Grainger
http://michaelgraingercaminowalking.com/

Camino ways http://www.caminoways.com/ are giving talks in January 2013 on Camino at Sports outlet 53 Degrees North
at Carrickmines, Dublin, Tue Jan 22 at 7pm and
might suit West Cork couple
in Cork at 53 Degrees North on Wed Jan 23 at 7pm.

I like booking the hotels directly, instead of giving discount to an internet company.

 

[Avian]

I know that this question was posed a couple of years ago but just in case there are others out there with the same query I would like to add that we have just finished the Camino. Due to varying circumstances our departure was rushed and ill prepared so we ended up with CaminoWays as a means of getting us on the road. My warning to all is that we were charged as if walking High Season when in fact November is very much the low season and more than half of our journey took place in this month. When we approached them about this discrepancy it turns out that they have one price for all year (even though both their written and verbal advice to us was that we were travelling in the high season). This is definitely misleading to say the least as in the low season the hotels have dropped their prices significantly, significant number of places are closed for the season and everyone of the operators indicated the season was over. Unless you are happy to subside the peak season travellers, you should take the time try to book your own trip independently-- very easy to do that these days with the Internet and it is easy to organize the transfer of your luggage with Jacotrans who are reliable and much cheaper if you book yourself without paying CaminoWays the extra.

 

[SYates]

Or you could just walk the Camino on your own, without pre-booking anything. Hardly necessary in November anyway. Unless you have special health problems/ travel requirements, there is really no reason to use a package deal on the Camino Francés. Buen Camino, SY