Accommodation question along the Camino

[Artistinclay]

Hi
Can anyone offer any advice with regards accommodation along the Camino. When I arrive at my destination of that day, should I be taking the first available bed or should I be looking at all availability in the area and making a choice after that. After reading posts on accommodation it seems as though places will be quite busy. I start my Camino May 2016.
Thanks
Nick

 

[HeidiL]

I like the csj handbook - it has pretty accurate descriptions of the refugios, hostales and pensiones. Read up in advance, then you'll know if there are many to choose from...

My method: If tired, grab the first bed - if energetic, have a quick look around. If I'm horribly wet and cold, I may choose something quite expensive from time to time.

 

[dougfitz]

Unless there was a specific place that I wanted to stay or didn't want to stay, I stayed at the first albergue I found with a bed available. In Apr, there were generally plenty of beds available anyhow, so I wasn't really expecting a problem. Then there were a couple of nights where I stayed in hotels and and one in a hostel. The hostel was little better than an albergue, but it did have a bath.

On a couple of occasions, I pushed on even when I had reached the place I had thought I might stay, and similarly, there were a couple of days where I decided to stop earlier when it would have been a struggle to push on.

 

[Artistinclay]

I like the csj handbook - it has pretty accurate descriptions of the refugios, hostales and pensiones. Read up in advance, then you'll know if there are many to choose from...

My method: If tired, grab the first bed - if energetic, have a quick look around. If I'm horribly wet and cold, I may choose something quite expensive from time to time.

Thanks for the advice

 

[Deleted member 3000]

In May, don't be too particular! If there is a bed in the first place, I suggest you take it; by the time you get stopped out of other places, it may be gone.

 

[Seabird]

Hi
Can anyone offer any advice with regards accommodation along the Camino. When I arrive at my destination of that day, should I be taking the first available bed or should I be looking at all availability in the area and making a choice after that. After reading posts on accommodation it seems as though places will be quite busy. I start my Camino May 2016.
Thanks
Nick

Great question, and I'l be following the advice as well.

 

[GreatDane]

I learned my lesson in Nájera. It was a very hot afternoon and I was walking and chatting with two women from Denver. As soon as we got into town we stopped for cold beer and tapas. They had reservations at a hotel and I did't. In the time that we took to drink a few cold ones, all the private albergues became completo!!! I circled around for a long long time. I ended up with one of the last bunks at the municipal. My rule then became -> bed first, beer later.

 

[Artistinclay]

I learned my lesson in Nájera. It was a very hot afternoon and I was walking and chatting with two women from Denver. As soon as we got into town we stopped for cold beer and tapas. They had reservations at a hotel and I did't. In the time that we took to drink a few cold ones, all the private albergues became completo!!! I circled around for a long long time. I ended up with one of the last bunks at the municipal. My rule then became -> bed first, beer later.

Good advice, sounds like bed first as you said, what are the municipal accommodations like (basic)?

 

[HeidiL]

Extremely varied, from basic mattresses on a cold cement floor to rooms that wouldn't look out of place in a two-star hotel. Some have washing machines and fully equipped kitchens, nicely furnished patios and lie right next to a cosy bar, some are in a building on the outskirts of town and you only find out once you're there that you have to walk two kilometres back through town to pick up the key which Conchita is supposed to have, but she is visiting her sister, so you have to track down Pedro...

 

[HeidiL]

(I noticed your status change: Horsell? You have lived in Horsell? We were there from 1994 to 1996!)

 

[Artistinclay]

(I noticed your status change: Horsell? You have lived in Horsell? We were there from 1994 to 1996!)

Small world

 

[Deleted member 3000]

what are the municipal accommodations like (basic)?

Yes, basic for the municipals. You can find newer and nicer accommodations in private albergues, some of which take reservations, and some of which have private rooms, but the municipal albergues are all pretty basic. After all, they existed before there was a private, profit motive for pilgrim albergues. To me, the perfect example of the private albergue is the Ferramentiero in Portomarin. It has 130 beds in a warehouse, and has made the owner the richest man in town (and one of the most disliked, perhaps for reasons of jealousy). It is open only during the prime months, has converted two nice cooking facilities into commercial food operations to increase profit, and has passport magnetic strip readers for an efficient sign-in!