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Best printed list of albergues on French camino

bkkboy

Member
Time of past OR future Camino
2021
I cycled the French camino last July. I assumed I could use my smart phone to look for albergues at the end of each day. This was a mistake, and finding accommodation late in the afternoon, when tired, was not easy and I often resorted to hotels. Walkers have an easier time since they are able to compare notes with other walkers, while cycling is a solitary activity until you register at an albergues. As I would now like to walk the French way, what is the best book or printed list of albergues?

Although I enjoyed cycling, met many interesting people and passed really beautiful locations. I feel that walkers get more out of the camino. Cycling solo I had the tendency to cycle as far as I could each day, and did not stop to view more attractive locations. Also, I did not meet as many pilgrims as I would have if I walked. Other solo-cyclists I met made the same observation.
 
Get a spanish phone number with Airalo. eSim, so no physical SIM card. Easy to use app to add more funds if needed.
Gronze

 
With "French Camino", do you mean the Camino Frances in Spain or the Chemin de compostelle / GR65 in France?


For the Camino Frances, you can get a list of albergues in St. Jean in the pilgrim's office. There is also one in the ressources section of this forum. Popular guide books I know of are from Brierley (english), 'outdoor' (german), 'Rother' (german) and the 'miam miam dodo' (french, but easy to understand for non french speakers). There are probably many more in different languages.

For the GR65 the miam miam dodo is the 'bible' of guide books. Nothing else needed.

Happy planning!

(Edit: link to ressources added)

 
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€2,-/day will present your project to thousands of visitors each day. All interested in the Camino de Santiago.
The pilgrims office in SJPP gives out a list of albergues, on one page. However, there are many additional private albergues that are not included on that list. Various apps and guide books provide those but the guide books are slower to respond to changes - especially the closures and re-openings after Covid.
 
The route will be from St Jean to Santiago, via Pamplona, Burgos and Leon. I agree there is a lot on the web, but with only a smart phone I found web based information inconvenient to access. A French pilgrim I talked with had a good guide, I assume the Miam Miam Dodo book.
 
The route will be from St Jean to Santiago, via Pamplona, Burgos and Leon. I agree there is a lot on the web, but with only a smart phone I found web based information inconvenient to access. A French pilgrim I talked with had a good guide, I assume the Miam Miam Dodo book.

If you're looking for a thourough list of accommodation mostly, then the miam miam dodo is really good. I haven't used the version for St Jean-Santiago, but the one for the GR65 lists every lodging option within 4kms of the camino route including camp sites and gives contact info and prices. I assume the version for the Camino Frances is similar.

The list from the pilgrim's office doesn't include all accommodation options, as was pointed out before, but it's still very useful. It focuses on the albergues, especially the parroquial and municipal ones, but lists some private albergues also. If you prefer private rooms / pensions / casa rurales / hotels of course that doesn't help much. I don't know if the miam miam dodo includes them, but I guess so.

The publishers of printed guide books usually offer additional new info / recent changes to their books on their website (often called "errata"). It's good to check these shortly before you leave for your trip and correct the info in your book. I just write it next to the faulty information by hand.

I also like the mentioned gronze website for planning at home, but prefer a printed book / accommodation list / printed maps when on the way.
 
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You can use https://godesalco.com/plan/frances to plan your stages of the frances (if in spanish there is a little EN in the top right corner).

However you plan it, on the third page you can click on "accomodation list" and it will produce a list of all albergues for the trip (not just start and stop of the stages).

For the complete camino frances i get the attached list. However, i have no idea how regularly they update the list, so there might be ones missing or ones closed. On the frances, that should be no big deal, since you get a lot of info from your fellow pilgrims (personally, at some point i just walked as far as i liked and looked for lodgings when i needed it, no planning needed)
 

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The first edition came out in 2003 and has become the go-to-guide for many pilgrims over the years. It is shipping with a Pilgrim Passport (Credential) from the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela.
I cycled the French camino last July. I assumed I could use my smart phone to look for albergues at the end of each day. This was a mistake, and finding accommodation late in the afternoon, when tired, was not easy and I often resorted to hotels. Walkers have an easier time since they are able to compare notes with other walkers, while cycling is a solitary activity until you register at an albergues. As I would now like to walk the French way, what is the best book or printed list of albergues?

Although I enjoyed cycling, met many interesting people and passed really beautiful locations. I feel that walkers get more out of the camino. Cycling solo I had the tendency to cycle as far as I could each day, and did not stop to view more attractive locations. Also, I did not meet as many pilgrims as I would have if I walked. Other solo-cyclists I met made the same observation.
I do not know how up-to-date the lists are but I found the peregrino reviews of the Albergues on this site very useful and it seems to be a definitive list. Buen Camino - https://caminodesantiago.consumer.es/
 
Hi there,
I have cycled the Camino and walked the Camino. I think cyclists often ride further and later and are reluctant to set off each day as early as the walkers' do. On the CF at least, walkers are able to get away with less planning because they usually start looking for a bed in the early afternoon (often earlier than that). Cyclists tend to keep going and so many beds are already taken.
I prepared bespoke printed lists of places to stay for my walking pilgrimages, with at least one preferred option for every small settlement. That way I could research facilities and reviews and select according to my criteria.
In the event of it getting busy I could book ahead. Otherwise I just turned up. If it was full I went elsewhere. On only one occasion did I have to resort to Booking.com.
Cicerone, Brierley or MMDD seem to be the best options for guidebooks.
 
The focus is on reducing the risk of failure through being well prepared. 2nd ed.
When I was Camino Frances in September I met pilgrims who only had the printed list of albergues from the Pilgrim Office in St Jean. This ofyen proved limited. Luckily I also had on my iPhone the apps, Frances, Buen Camino and Camino Places. I found accommodation lists under the apps which was not on the printed sheet.

Liam
 
When I did the Camino Portugues last summer, I used the Camino Ninja App quite a bit. It was very helpful in finding accommodations, as well as where there were bars/food to plan stops. I will say that the list of accommodations was often not up to date on whether a place was open or closed, though. It did have all the contact info, though, so I was able to call and double-check. The thing I loved best about CN was that it showed you if you had strayed off the Camino or not. Since I have gotten lost on my 2 previous Caminos, I relied on that aspect heavily, and I was incredibly thankful for that.
 
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