Accommodations Coastal Route

[AKADR]

I want to start walking the Camino from Porto to Santiago next week on the 6th of June. Does anyone of you know whether the public hostels and accomodations/ albergues are already reopened after Corona restrictions ? Thanks !

 

[Pilgrim_95]

We are planning to start the Coastal one from Porto on the 2nd of July, I checked just Gronze so far (gronze.com). It seems that some albergues still have the "closed temporarily" badge. Yet Gronze also has links for Booking and the hostels/hotels seem to be open. I recommend going through the stages there, roughly plan your days, and either book via booking or call/email/contact via FB the albergues to see.

Our plan is to book ahead accommodation for the first 1-2 nights and then always book one or two days ahead for the upcoming days. It worked well last year in July during these COVID times, so I hope this system will work this year

I am not a big fan of booking in general on the Camino, yet it is highly probable that there will be more pilgrims on the Camino this year than people would think and if the municipal albergues stay closed, it might be a bit of a race. I heard that the people being a week behind on the Norte last year (late July) had real issues. We actually switched to Primitivo as the coastal paths are full of tourists and the demand might be quite high

If that's gonna be the case for the Coastal Camino don't forget, that you can join the original one at several places using some custom routes (there are a bunch of threads about it here on the forum on how to do that).

If you share some insights about how the situation is in real life on the Portugues I believe a lot of people would appreciate it.

 

[Iandvt]

Hi, I am starting from Vila do Condo on the 8th. 1st stop Apulia for a fishy dinner. I have the first 2 nights booked then plan to book a couple of nights ahead. If you see an old guy in a pink t shirt and blue shorts do say hello.
Has anyone found out where to get a PCR test in Porto or The airport for returning to the UK

 

[flewitheagles]

I last pilgrimed the coastal (technically the littoral) in 2019. I found booking.com and google maps to be invaluable. I regularly booked during the day for the night and also regularly found excellent deals and accurate info on booking. Google maps (and there are others) was extremely helpful in cities early in the morning. I'll not "do" another camino without them - at least not until they mess with my feeble mind!

 

[Laura Blue]

I last pilgrimed the coastal (technically the littoral) in 2019. I found booking.com and google maps to be invaluable. I regularly booked during the day for the night and also regularly found excellent deals and accurate info on booking. Google maps (and there are others) was extremely helpful in cities early in the morning. I'll not "do" another camino without them - at least not until they mess with my feeble mind!

I agree I've done many booking.com Caminos

 

[hunsta]

I am not a big fan of booking in general on the Camino, yet it is highly probable that there will be more pilgrims on the Camino this year than people would think and if the municipal albergues stay closed, it might be a bit of a race. I heard that the people being a week behind on the Norte last year (late July) had real issues. We actually switched to Primitivo as the coastal paths are full of tourists and the demand might be quite high

If that's gonna be the case for the Coastal Camino don't forget, that you can join the original one at several places using some custom routes (there are a bunch of threads about it here on the forum on how to do that).

If you share some insights about how the situation is in real life on the Portugues I believe a lot of people would appreciate it.

Great advice there. I would assume that once things begin to open faster than the camino's can. It will be difficult in some respects.
Leaving the coastal route for the inland in this case is a smart move. If the need arises.

 

[yourheromad]

I am interested in this aspect of the camino- the need for technology en route. My last camino was the Camino Frances in 2011 (10 years ago wow!), and back then I did it without even a cell phone! Since then, of course, smartphones are in everyone's hands and from my recent research for my upcoming trip, it seems that using them on the camino is commonplace (apps, online bookings, etc.) I will be doing the Coastal Route starting the first week of July and part of me wants to retain the romanic notions of not using my smartphone- this is part of the allure of walking the camino for me! But I also hope I do not get in trouble as the only one not booking ahead online, etc. Just some thoughts, a lot changes in 10 years!

I have seen people posting lists of open accommodations. This is a regularly updated site of places on the Camino Portugues. https://albergueperegrinosporto.pt/theway It seems there are some albergues and hostels on the list. Good luck!

 

[trecile]

I am interested in this aspect of the camino- the need for technology en route. My last camino was the Camino Frances in 2011 (10 years ago wow!), and back then I did it without even a cell phone! Since then, of course, smartphones are in everyone's hands and from my recent research for my upcoming trip, it seems that using them on the camino is commonplace (apps, online bookings, etc.) I will be doing the Coastal Route starting the first week of July and part of me wants to retain the romanic notions of not using my smartphone- this is part of the allure of walking the camino for me! But I also hope I do not get in trouble as the only one not booking ahead online, etc. Just some thoughts, a lot changes in 10 years!

I have seen people posting lists of open accommodations. This is a regularly updated site of places on the Camino Portugues. https://albergueperegrinosporto.pt/theway It seems there are some albergues and hostels on the list. Good luck!

I think that walking the Camino during a pandemic (yes, it's not over yet) will be very different from walking in a "normal" year. With albergues operating at limited capacity, and many closed, pre-booking may be necessary this year.