Advice on Albergues end of May

[Lirsy]

Hi all!!

I would appreciate a little advice on: How hard can it be to find an albergue around 4pm in the Roncesvalles-Pamplona area and in the León-Ponferrada area?

I am asking this because:

• I will start a new Camino with my son at the end of May. Unfortunatelly my son only has 8 days holidays and I only have 11 days. I am planning to start in SJPdP or in Leon.
• I have already walked the Camino Frances four times, but I have always walked it during the winter -> No problem finding albergue.
• I like to get up, have breakfast (once or twice ... twice better than one !!) and start walking around 8 AM. Even if I walk fast, I like to stop to visit the places, take some coffees in the bars along the camino, etc. which means that, on average, I arrive at the albergue around 3 1/2 - 4 PM.
• To make things a little more complicated, I do not usually reserve any albergue (except some very specific places). Usually, I arrive in a town, I drink a beer with a "pincho de tortilla", I check the distance to the next town ... and I decide whether to continue or whether to stay in that town.

Do you think that, walking in this way, it will be difficult to find albergues at the end of May/beginning of June? Easier at the beginning of the Camino (SJPdP-Logroño) or in the Leon - O Cebreiro area?

Of course, if we decided to start there, I would make reservations at SJPdP and Roncesvalles.

As you can see, even if I walk a reasonable average of 25/30 km/day, I like to make the Camino in a relaxed, unscheduled way and enjoying as much as possible of the monuments, restaurants, bars, villages, etc. that I find along the Camino !!

Thanks all for your help & Buen Camino!!!

 

[Michael; Camino-addicted]

At the beginning, many pilgrims want to sleep at the same places (Roncesvalles- Zubiri- Pamplona). During the way the stages of the different pilgrims will be much more different. But after every famous starting point (Leon, Ponferrada), it could be a little more full one day. But in this area, they have also much more Albergues than in a little village in the Meseta.

I would advice to download the list with the Albergues from the Resources, so you know the number of total beds in the different places. And you know, if there is an Albergue which is not in the Calle Major, because the Albergues you can walk in directly from the way are full at first.

If you arrive between 3 and 4 pm I would say, there will be no problem to find a bed for two pilgrims.