Getting beds in August

[martin1ws]

I want to start my first Camino in August 2018 from SJPDP.
Sleeping pads are not necessary, see for example
https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/how-necessary-is-a-sleeping-pad-on-the-cf.48306/
If I get my training done, I want to go to Roncesvalles... otherwise to Valcarlos.

So I am interested in the situation in the albergues if you start at the beginning of August.

The real bottleneck is between SJPdP and Pamplona as beds are limited, after that things even out as there are more albergues. I would consider booking the first two nights (especially if you want to stay in Orrisson!) and then perhaps call ahead the day before until you reach Pamplona. After Pamplona, especially if you don't follow the typical stages, things will be a bit quieter.
Buen Camino, SY
https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/albergues-in-august.49172/

How many months in advance should I book (I have not decided on the route of the first day )?
If an albergue is full, where to look next? Must I have a plan or can I just ask the hospitalera for help?
Does the day of the week (starting date) in SJPDP matter (e.g. is Thursday (2.8.18) probably better / less crowded than Saturday (4.8.18)?

 

[dougfitz]

Other than the day you arrive in SJPP, and Orrison if you plan to stay there, I wouldn't be thinking of booking for more than the next day, that is if you decide to book ahead at all. This would be following the advice from @SYates that you have quoted here.

 

[Anemone del Camino]

The only places where booking months in advance is necessary is Orisson, between SJPP and Rocesvalles as well as San Martin Pinario, in Santiago.

A few weeks in advance is a good idea for SJPP, especially if you have a particular place you want to stay at.

For the rest lf the walk, booking the evening before should be just fine.

If you do not find a bed at the first albergue when calling the night before, just call the other albergues in town, or one a few km down the road (assuming you are walking the Frances which has many many options). Then, if you are still stuck ask the hospi for help. It is always best to be as resourceful as you can as hospies really have many people to look out for and plenty of chores already. Bring your guidebook, your phone and dial away.

As for busier starting days? In August which is vacation month in Europe, I would guess it would all be the same as people will,have the flexibility to leave on their walking holiday on any day of the week.

Best of luck.

 

[martin1ws]

Thank you for your answers!

...
If you do not find a bed at the first albergue when calling the night before, just call the other albergues in town, or one a few km down the road (assuming you are walking the Frances which has many many options). Then, if you are still stuck ask the hospi for help. It is always best to be as resourceful as you can as hospies really have many people to look out for and plenty of chores already. Bring your guidebook, your phone and dial away.
...

This sounds reasonable, yes.
For example here you can see, that there are often many alternatives (with phone numbers)... and these are only the albergues...
https://www.caminodesantiago.me/com...lbergues-on-the-camino-frances-in-one-pdf.10/

 

[Rebekah Scott]

more than a year in advance? Jeez.
If this year and last year are any indication, the Camino Frances is VERY lightly traveled in July and August. You shouldn't have any trouble finding a bed, except perhaps in the final 100 km.
The number of compostelas is breaking all records again, but I can tell you from my own observation out here in the middle, 75 percent of those people are NOT walking through here. I think they've all gone to the Norte or Primitivo, or the Portuguese. A very large number are starting in Sarria.

 

[martin1ws]

more than a year in advance? Jeez.
....

Probably something like a pre-pre-camino syndrome. So I have time to read in the forum, write a little bit, do training-walks, try to learn Spanish...
I think it would not be fair for my 2 daughters and my wife if I cancel all our summer holiday plans in 2017 and go now immediately... but then I have to wait one year.

... It seems everyone's taking the bus from Burgos to Leon or Astorga or Ponferrada, and re-commencing there. (Thus skipping over the very best part of the camino, IMHO....

I only want to take a bus if I get some sort of "medical issues"... but everyone should do his own camino.

...
If this year and last year are any indication, the Camino Frances is VERY lightly traveled in July and August. You shouldn't have any trouble finding a bed, except perhaps in the final 100 km.
...

Sounds good to me.

 

[martin1ws]

If I read something like this (not on the Camino Frances) :
https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/no-beds-on-the-last-100km-into-santiago.49905/
I do not like it.

I think the Camino Frances is probably to crowded for me between SJPDP and Pamplona and later on between Sarria and Santiago in August and September. For example I want to help other pilgrims or get help from other pilgrims... I do not want to have a "race" to get "their" beds (or "booking their beds").
I am not flexible with my holidays... but maybe I should change the route.

I think about starting on the Camino Aragones (e.g. in Jaca), then following the Camino Frances from Puente la Reina and later on taking the Camino de Invierno.

 

[trecile]

I only have two Caminos under my belt for comparison. Last year I walked the Frances from the last week of August through September. This year I started on July 4th. Both times were the Frances from SJPDP to Finisterre (still finished that part this year). I felt that there were a lot more pilgrims last year from St Jean to Sarria than this year. However, from Sarria on the crowds have been much larger this August than last September. Which only makes sense when you see all the school and other youth groups that are walking that portion. Last year, the albergue that I stayed at in Pedrouzo was less than half full. Last Sunday when I was there everything was full.

 

[Bradypus]

The number of compostelas is breaking all records again, but I can tell you from my own observation out here in the middle, 75 percent of those people are NOT walking through here. I think they've all gone to the Norte or Primitivo, or the Portuguese. A very large number are starting in Sarria.

There is a news article today from Pamplona that makes the same point. Numbers of pilgrims staying there in the past couple of months have dropped over previous years. The writer suggests changing patterns in when people choose to begin walking and a drift to other caminos as reasons. But at the same time we keep reading on the forum that numbers in the last 100km of the Frances and the Portugues in particular are rising sharply. It does look as if the growth is mostly focussed in the final stages.
http://www.noticiasdenavarra.com/20...s-de-iruna-notan-menos-peregrinos-este-verano

 

[Anemone del Camino]

http://www.noticiasdenavarra.com/20...s-de-iruna-notan-menos-peregrinos-este-verano

Thank you for sharing this article. Interestingly it also mentions appartment sharing or renting rooms in homes as a cause of the drop in beds sold in albergues, in other words Air BNB, and that is something I witnessed on VDLP this spring.