Finding meal in Roncesvalles on Wednesday night 4th of May

[Alasdair Kay]

Hi I'm hearing the traffic on the Camino is high at the moment. I fly out to Biarritz on Tuesday and have booked albergue and meal in STJPDP but where and how do you eat in Roncesvalles ? I assume the Monastery does not get full

 

[mspath]

There are several resto/bars in the Roncesvalles complex. Upon arrival you can book a special pilgrim evening meal. Furthermore the albergue offers a good kitchen/dining space for pilgrim use. In the albergue vending machines sell some food. However there is neither a food store nor a supermarket within the complex.

 

[SYates]

The restaurant serves the pilgrim menus in shifts, I haven't heard of them ever running out of food ;-) But the vending machines in the albergue might be a better and more flexible option, especially if you want to go to the pilgrims mass. Buen Camino! SY

 

[Alasdair Kay]

There are several resto/bars in the Roncesvalles complex. Upon arrival you can book a special pilgrim evening meal. Furthermore the albergue offers a good kitchen/dining space for pilgrim use. In the albergue vending machines sell some food. However there is neither a food store nor a supermarket within the complex.

Thank you so much for that I wasn't sure what you did for eating but I will go for the pilgrim menu as I won't want the hassle of sourcing food and cooking it after doing the Napoleon route I will just want to eat go to Mass and sleep I reckon... Pax et Bonum

 

[Alasdair Kay]

The restaurant serves the pilgrim menus in shifts, I haven't heard of them ever running out of food ;-) But the vending machines in the albergue might be a better and more flexible option, especially if you want to go to the pilgrims mass. Buen Camino! SY

Is the restaraunt in the monastery or do you go to Casa Sabine or La Posada if so any recommendations?

 

[domigee]

When you leave the monastery, the restaurant (one of them!) is on the road ahead of you, on the far left, I can't remember its name. You have to book it, there are 2 sittings and it is timed so you can attend Mass, too.

 

[SYates]

There is information in the albergue about where and how to book the pilgrims menu, which is more about the company then about the food ;-) I only went for this option but there is also an a la carte restaurant available. Roncesvalles is tiny, so everything is a cat hop (as we say in German) apart from each other. Buen Camino, SY

 

[Alasdair Kay]

When you leave the monastery, the restaurant (one of them!) is on the road ahead of you, on the far left, I can't remember its name. You have to book it, there are 2 sittings and it is timed so you can attend Mass, too.

fantastic can you book on arrival at the monastery? or do you need to book in advance ?

 

[mspath]

fantastic can you book on arrival at the monastery? or do you need to book in advance ?

Book the pilgrim evening meal when you arrive. You will see many signs/posters announcing this meal throughout the monastery complex.

 

[domigee]

After getting your bed at the monastery, simply walk down to the restaurant and book your meal at the bar. You can have a drink there too to recover

 

[Alasdair Kay]

thanks all of you

 

[KinkyOne]

In the albergue there are vending machines as already mentioned AND microwave ovens so your options aren't down to peanuts, chips and chocolate bars.

 

[Peter Fransiscus]

Hi I'm hearing the traffic on the Camino is high at the moment. I fly out to Biarritz on Tuesday and have booked albergue and meal in STJPDP but where and how do you eat in Roncesvalles ? I assume the Monastery does not get full

Hi Alasdair, all the answers are given so the only thing I have to do is to wish
you a wonderful journey and a Buen Camino, Peter.

 

[DanielH]

Is the restaraunt in the monastery or do you go to Casa Sabine or La Posada if so any recommendations?

there is a restaurant at Casa de los Beneficiados behind the monastery and adjacent to the church. Can't miss it.

 

[whariwharangi]

As I recall it the reserved meal had two sittings ... the first of which was at 1900 ... so there is that long period between time of arrival and dinner with naught else but the vending machines available. You can try to hustle some snacks at the bar ... but they don't serve full meals.

 

[mspath]

As I recall it the reserved meal had two sittings ... the first of which was at 1900 ... so there is that long period between time of arrival and dinner with naught else but the vending machines available. You can try to hustle some snacks at the bar ... but they don't serve full meals.

The Posada bar/restaurant did serve delicious hot sandwiches and large glasses of beer on tap!! Rumor has it that the ownership has changed and so, perhaps, have their menus. In the past served in the dining room their menus del dia were also very good, but not inexpensive.

 

[Artistinclay]

The Posada bar/restaurant did serve delicious hot sandwiches and large glasses of beer on tap!! Rumor has it that the ownership has changed and so, perhaps, have their menus. In the past served in the dining room their menus del dia were also very good, but not inexpensive.

 

[Kev]

Hi I'm hearing the traffic on the Camino is high at the moment. I fly out to Biarritz on Tuesday and have booked albergue and meal in STJPDP but where and how do you eat in Roncesvalles ? I assume the Monastery does not get full

I was there in September, and the Monastery was quite full, and the overflow hall and the overflow pods. If you suspect a bed might be a problem, no harm in reserving one ahead. (http://www.alberguederoncesvalles.com/reservas.php)
As stated many times above, there is a restaurant (or two). I do know that the night I was there, I barely made the 1st seating and they were doing (2) 7:00pm seatings on top of the later seatings, so a wait might be expected if they were full.

 

[Albertagirl]

When I got to Roncesvalles last October, the receptionist at the check-in for the monastery albergue was selling tickets for the evening meal at a restaurant which is, apparently, associated with the monastery. She was also selling breakfast tickets for the same restaurant. I bought a breakfast ticket, which involved a 20 min. wait outside in the rain, then a very rapid breakfast, since I still had to get my gear from the monastic guesthouse. If I had brought it with me my backpack would have had to be left out in the rain. There was no choice for breakfast, as La Posada did not open until 9 am. But I went to La Posada and ordered my evening meal there: an excellent meal at a table with other pilgrims and the same price as what the monastery receptionist was offering. No wait, no crowd. Take your choice.

 

[C2G]

Sorry to be a bearer of bad karma but we had reservations at the hostel posada on May 3rd, made by the TI in Roncevales. We had been in Pamplona before going to SJPDP and shared a taxi to SJPDP. The taxi driver got several calls requesting help transporting pilgrims who could not find a bed in Roncesvalles that evening, consequently we reserved. When we arrived at 5:30 after hiking from SJPDP we were told we did NOT have a reservation but they could give us a bed. I immediately asked about the pilgrim meal and was told it was full. Eventually, the young man located our reservation on a piece of paper which had not been put into the computer. Despite this, he could not accommodate us for s pilgrim meal. I asked him to call the hotel, ect to see if we could get in somewhere else, which he did but they were all full. It was during one of these phone calls that he discovered the paper with our reservation. Long story short, he said we could come at 8:45 and order a regular meal but not before. We were famished after the long hike so my husband went to see if he could find some other way to eat. After explaining the situation at the Hotel Roncesvalles they let us eat at 7:30 even though we were not guests there. We were very grateful. We did not get the pilgrim price but we were fed well by very harried staff who went above and beyond to help us. Just be forewarned; order your pilgrim meal right away.