There are four reasons to stay a night at Refuge Orisson...first...lack of physical fitness or medical issues...second...not starting hiking early enough in the morning...third...bad weather on the Route of Napoleon crossing the Pyrenees Mountains...and fourth...the Camino Pilgrim communal experience.
Pros: Great Camino Pilgrim communal experience...particularly recommend the Pilgrim dinner...great bar to drink and socialize with other Pilgrims.
Cons: Five-minute coin operated shower...lack of a substantial breakfast...most difficult Albergue to sleep in during my personal Camino experience.
First...half a night sleep...I was not prepared the next day to cross the Pyrenees Mountains with half a night sleep...a European Pilgrim closed the door overheating the room...causing my dripping wet wakeup in the middle of the night and you can't take a second shower to cool off...also a lot of Pilgrims are anxious and wakeup and start preparing way before breakfast...while other Pilgrims wake up way too early because they are on the wrong time zone.
Second...Orisson breakfast...the large bowl is for coffee so that you can soak the hard bread in before you can eat it...but basically breakfast is coffee, tea, warm orange juice, warm milk, pastry, hard bread, dry cereal, and you can buy a cold coke and other drinks...the Orisson veterans brought instant oatmeal in packages and used the hot water for tea for something more substantial to eat...if you are lucky up near the La Croix Thibault there will be a roadside food van selling warm drinks, hard boiled eggs, and bananas.
Third...weather...the weather on the Route of Napoleon crossing the Pyrenees Mountains is unpredictable...the first day to Orisson was extremely hot, high humidity, direct sunlight, no wind, and miserable...the second day to Roncevaux/Roncesvalles included a constant 50-km/hr headwind all the way to the Spanish border making hiking uphill difficult...so my first time was also my last time for crossing the Pyrenees Mountains on the Route of Napoleon.
Enclosed are maps of the two Pyrenees Mountains crossings and Roncevaux/Roncesvalles...if the weather is bad please consider the much less used but safer lower route through Valcarlos...Refuge Orisson is at point #4 which breaks the climb nicely if you don't want to cross all in one day and the treeline is just after Refuse Orisson...also note that the only public water available before Refuge Orisson is near where the off-road trail connects back to the road before point #3 and is very easy to miss...almost all of the uphill hike is on narrow mountain road until the Croix at point #6 so many Pilgrims take a taxi or shuttle like Express Bourricot (
http://www.expressbourricot.com/persons-transport/) (15 Euros) to the Croix at point #6 and then hike from there...note that the worse place to encounter bad weather (wind and rain) is between Refuge Orisson at point #4 and the Croix at point #6...if you are lucky before the Croix at point #6 there will be van selling warm drinks, boiled eggs, and bananas...after the Croix at point #6 you go over the pass at the top of the hill and then the trail is not as exposed and actually goes through the woods and farther down the trail you climb to another pass with a sitting bench at point #9...basically from the Croix at point #6 to the sitting bench at point #9 the trail looks very similar to mountain trails in Colorado...at the sitting bench at point #9 I recommend the much lesser used dirt mountain road to the right towards Chapelle Roland at point #10...if you choose the much more traveled trail to the left after the sitting bench at point #9 which is shorter but you will learn not to like the Italian and Spanish mountain bikers that race down the mountain and pass close to you without any warning...in Roncevaux I recommend staying at either the Albergue #8 or Guest House Los Posada #10 which you will recognize from the movie...also Los Posada serves an excellent lunch my favorite was the omelet sandwich but don't miss their amazing Pilgrim Dinner and you need to buy tickets in advance (9 Euros) to make sure you will have a seat...the early Pilgrim Dinner at Los Posada is approximately 6:00 pm and the Pilgrim Mass with blessing at the Cathedral is at 8:00 pm...and the best breakfast buffet with eggs is at the Hotel #11 and I recommend you steal a couple of hard boiled eggs for lunch and this will be the last eggs you see for breakfast until you near Santiago...also make reservations in SJPDP, Refuge Orisson, and Roncevaux...other than that just keep following the yellow arrows and the rest is up to you. Buen Camino