Do I have to reserve from Sarria onwards?

[Deanpf]

hi

I am in triacastela now and so tomorrow will be in and around sarria. I'm going to try and avoid the big stage ending towns but wondering if I have to reserve ahead of time. I've made it this far without.
I have no phone and my Spanish is poor at best so reserving is not always easy. And I also love not knowing where I am going to end up on a day. That said I don't want to be homeless for the last days.
Thanks for any advice.
Dean

 

[dougfitz]

There are xunta and some other albergues from Sarria on that cannot be booked. You make the decision about when to start looking for a place, and if there is a free bed whether it is worth the risk walking on to the next one and finding it full.

You might find leaving reasonably early so that you reach your preferred destination before it fills part of your pattern if you are not already doing that.

 

[Pingüigrino]

I would consider to walk tomorrow only the path to Samos if you have not problems with your return date. It is a short stage and there are wonderful landscapes there. This way you can avoid the main towns of the rute, resting between them, where usually there are much less beds demand, but still a lot of them available.
Buen Camino to you all, honest people.

 

[t2andreo]

After Sarria, several Camino routes converge, many pilgrims start their pilgrimages here, and the flow towards Santiago is logically much heavier. You are well-advised to make onward reservations, unless you are willing to take your chances on your first-choice of lodging being "completo" each evening.

You see, everyone else is going the same way as you, and everyone else wants what you do, a bed for the night. The good news is that it is only five or six days from Sarria to Santiago.

In your situation, one tactic that can work is finding someone who can speak Spanish, and who can use YOUR mobile to call ahead for reservations. The guide books have phone numbers for private albergues and hostals. if you do not have a mobile, someone else does, or the place you are staying may have a "land-line." If you have a guide book, consider a private albergue or hostal slightly before or slightly after you day's destination. I personally prefer slightly after, so I have less to walk the next day, in case it is wet, windy, and raw.

Absent having a walking companion who can help you, ask the hospitalero or hospitalera at your present lodgings (assuming they speak at least some English) to use your mobile (or theirs) to call ahead to book you a room. I have done this using gestures, a guidebook (pointing to the property or writing the name and number on a slip of paper), and my mobile. On some occasions, the person making the call for me had to call two or three places, but it still worked.

I have done this in my early Caminos, before I learned about Google Translate and Booking.com. IT WORKS!

Having said that, if you make a verbal booking this way, SHOW UP TIMELY! Usually the onward lodging will hold your room until about 1600. After that, you are likely to be dumped from the queue. Please, do act responsibly and with consideration and get there. If your plans change, DO find a way to contact the lodging and cancel the reservation so another pilgrim might have a place to sleep that night.

This will NOT work for public albergues. It usually only works for private albergues and hostals, on up...

I hope this helps.

 

[JillGat]

I am past Sarria and having no trouble getting a bed. I'm in Melide at Pereiro Albergue, it's 9pm and none of the top bunks are occupied in my dorm. There are also lots of albergues in small hamlets along the way.

 

[JillGat]

Or,

There are xunta and some other albergues from Sarria on that cannot be booked. You make the decision about when to start looking for a place, and if there is a free bed whether it is worth the risk walking on to the next one and finding it full.

You might find leaving reasonably early so that you reach your preferred destination before it fills part of your pattern if you are not already doing that.

Or, if you don't want to walk with the early crowd, plan to STOP early and get a bed.

 

[williamlittig]

hi

I am in triacastela now and so tomorrow will be in and around sarria. I'm going to try and avoid the big stage ending towns but wondering if I have to reserve ahead of time. I've made it this far without.
I have no phone and my Spanish is poor at best so reserving is not always easy. And I also love not knowing where I am going to end up on a day. That said I don't want to be homeless for the last days.
Thanks for any advice.
Dean

Fairly full but not 100% in Ribadiso. Hotels in Arzúa have been full the last two nights

 

[MarkyD]

hi

I am in triacastela now and so tomorrow will be in and around sarria. I'm going to try and avoid the big stage ending towns but wondering if I have to reserve ahead of time. I've made it this far without.
I have no phone and my Spanish is poor at best so reserving is not always easy. And I also love not knowing where I am going to end up on a day. That said I don't want to be homeless for the last days.
Thanks for any advice.
Dean

I didn't and had no problem finding Albergues, even when arriving late in the afternoon (6.30pm) I always found space, often lots of space. (This was from 9th to 14th October). Hope this helps

 

[FLEUR]

Not speaking Spanish and also being a slow walkers we often asked the hospitaleros to book the next place. Occasionally I did manage a phone call in very basic Spanish, amazingly I could make myself understood. (September 2016).