about 3 weeks to walk - Burgos or Logrono?

[Adelice]

Hello,

I'm off to my first camino in July and I can't decide whether to start in Burgos or Logrono. I'm flying to Barcelona and both places seem to be connected by buses quite well. Anybody had an experience?
Is the easily doable from Logrono in three weeks - I don't want to rush too much and don't have much experience with long distance walking. I also haven't found much info on Logrono. Is it easy to get the credential there?

thank you so much,

Adelice

 

[anniethenurse]

Hi Adelice! Welcome to the Forum!

I walked in 22 days from Burgos to SDC in April 2011.
From Logrono to Burgos it is about 4- 5 stages.

As you can see some stages were very short - I could have walked longer stages those days, but it was not necessary - I had a lot of time and didn´t have to hurry to catch a flight or whatever...

These were my stages:

Day 1 Burgos - Hornillos April 8 20.5 km 8/4 2011
Day 2 Hornillos to Castrojeriz 21 km
Day 3 Castrojeriz to Fromista 25.5 km
Day 4 Fromista to Carrion de las Condes 20.1 km
Day 5 Carrion de las Condes to Calzadilla de la Cueza 17 km
Day 6 Calzadilla de la Cueza to Moratinos 12 km
Day 7 Moratinos to El Burgo Ranero 27.6 km
Day 8 El Burgo Ranero to Arcahueja 28.3 km
Day 9 Arcahueja to Leon 8.4 km
Day 10 Leon to San martin 26.5 km
Day 11 San Martin to Astorga 23.5 km
Day 12 Astorga to Rabanal del Camino 21.4 km
Day 13 Rabanal to Ponferrada 33.5 km
Day 14 Ponferrada to Villafranca del Bierzo 23.7 km
Day 15Villafranca del Bierzo to O Cebreiro 30 km
Day 16 O Cebreiro to Triacastela 20.7 km
Day 17 Triacastela to Sarria 25 km
Day 18 Sarria to Portomarin 22.9 km
Day 19 Portomarin to Palas del Rei 26.1 km
Day 20 Palas del Rei to Arzua 28.4 km
Day 21 Arzua to Villamayor 31 km
Day 22 Villamayor to SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA 9 km 29/4 2011


Buen camino

 

[MariannaPankalla]

Hi, Adelice,
I'm also staring my first Camino, I also have 3 weeks - I decided to start in Logrono, perhaps I'll meet you along the way (I'll have blue backpack with Canadian flag).
Marianna

 

[camino_chat_medium]

I think it would be better to walk from Burgos, cause you can then take your time and if you end being quick you can spend a day or two in Santiago, which is nice with the people that you walked with or head on to Finisterie (Muxia) walking or by day bus trip.

Last year I planed a 31 day camino from San Jean to Santiago which i did it but booked a later flight so I could get my credential and hang about a bit. When to Oporto for a few days of being a tourist where it was hot and I hit the beech for a bit.

Paul.

 

[jpflavin1]

Adelice:

I would recommend Burgos. Burgos is 510km from Santiago, so if you averaged 25km you would make it in 21days. I believe this is easily doable for most people but each individual is different. If 25km a day is too much, I recommend you start in Catrojeriz. You can probably catch a bus or a cab from Burgos. If you start in Castrojeriz, I recommend you get out before sunrise. There is a steep climb just outside the town but if you get to the top before sunrise it is spectacular. Starting in Castrojeriz would also give you additional flexibility if you are slowed down by injury.

Remember pack light, start slow and the Camino will take care of the rest.

Ultreya,
Joe

 

[PaulM]

Hi, I have just completed the Camino. I am sure you will enjoy it . The suggestions posted to date are very good, although if 3 weeks is definitely your limit, travelling from Burgos will test your fitness (Just noted your comments). There are options such as buses and trains to save time. There is a lot of discussion on this site about whether a "real pilgrim" would use transport, but this is your decision. Just do what is right for you. I would recommend Finisterre (bus for your time allowance). However, the walk from there to Muxia is fabulous.

 

[Adelice]

hi,

great and thanks a lot for all suggestions, I think I'll start in Burgos and if I have any time left, I'll go to Finisterie. I'll see how it goes.


thanks,

Adelice

 

[williejn]

I know my reply is too late for the person asking, but in general I will suggest the following:
If you have the possibility and health to come back again,start as far away from Santiago as possible (St Jean Pie dePorte?) and do the camino in stages.If you do the final stages first, it is like a footballmatch where you score all the goals during the first 10 minutes and then just play ball the rest of the time.I have met people who spent many years completing their Camino,and I beleave they were more happy when arriving, than the pople who only made the final 100 kilometres.

 

[rosswall]

Start at st jean and walk for the 3 weeks
I guarantee you will return to finish it one day Then you will have had the full experience do not miss st jean to Pamplona! It is magic

 

[Sandie]

Hi there...I am planning this exact route! Where is the closest airport to Burgos? And any details on buses to catch would be so much appreciated!
Thank you xx

 

[MTtoCamino]

Hi there...I am planning this exact route! Where is the closest airport to Burgos? And any details on buses to catch would be so much appreciated!
Thank you xx

Burgose is large the airport is RGS the Camino is right outside its fence

 

[Castilian]

Where is the closest airport to Burgos? And any details on buses to catch

For practical purposes, to fly to Madrid would likely be your best bet. There are direct buses from Madrid airport to Burgos with Alsa (www.alsa.es/en). To fly to Bilbao may be an alternative but there aren't direct buses from Bilbao airport to Burgos so you would need to take a bus from the airport to downtown Bilbao and another one from downtown Bilbao to Burgos (the later with Alsa, being the former within the Bizkaibus network). From downtown Bilbao, a train (operated by www.renfe.com) is another alternative to reach Burgos but the train station in Burgos is more far away from the city center than the bus station.

The closest airport to Burgos? There's an airport in Burgos itself (code: RGS) but it doesn't have regular flights. The next closest airport is Vitoria (code: VIT) but I think there aren't regular flights to Vitoria airport either...
The closest airport with regular flights would be Logroño-Agoncillo (code: RJL) with a few flights (but not daily) and the next closest one would be Valladolid (code: VLL); this one with daily flights.

Burgose is large the airport is RGS the Camino is right outside its fence

...but there aren't regular flights to/from Burgos airport.

 

[MTtoCamino]

For practical purposes, to fly to Madrid would likely be your best bet. There are direct buses from Madrid airport to Burgos with Alsa (www.alsa.es/en). To fly to Bilbao may be an alternative but there aren't direct buses from Bilbao airport to Burgos so you would need to take a bus from the airport to downtown Bilbao and another one from downtown Bilbao to Burgos (the later with Alsa, being the former within the Bizkaibus network). From downtown Bilbao, a train (operated by www.renfe.com) is another alternative to reach Burgos but the train station in Burgos is more far away from the city center than the bus station.

The closest airport to Burgos? There's an airport in Burgos itself (code: RGS) but it doesn't have regular flights. The next closest airport is Vitoria (code: VIT) but I think there aren't regular flights to Vitoria airport either...
The closest airport with regular flights would be Logroño-Agoncillo (code: RJL) with a few flights (but not daily) and the next closest one would be Valladolid (code: VLL); this one with daily flights.



...but there aren't regular flights to/from Burgos airport.

Thank you for the clarification.

 

[whariwharangi]

ALSA operates buses to Burgos from Madrid Avenida de America.

Some but not all buses make a stop at Madrid Airport.

EMT Madrid bus #203 goes from Madrid Airport to Avenida de America.

As Castilian points out, if your destination is Burgos, Madrid Airport and bus is your best option.

The train is faster but the bus station Burgos is in the center of town ... so bus is better.

 

[november_moon]

We did Burgos to Santiago in 22 days - which is an average of 22km/day. We did take the train from Sahagun to Leon, which is around 50km, so if we hadn't, it would have taken us 2-3 more days.

 

[MTtoCamino]

Yes it really depends on what you walk & no one can determine that in the beginning. My average was 27.88 took me 18 days. I think if you are healthy & fit you could take November moon & my days and split the difference & as you can see it is very doable in 20 days. Even if you did not once you hit Astorgia you could decide if you need to bus ahead a day or 2