Invierno Accommodation / Services

[TanyaK]

Hi, I'm about to leave the Frances at Ponferrada to walk the Invierno but am a little concerned about accommodation and services.

Do I really need to book ahead or can I just turn up to a village and find somewhere?
If so I'll have a rest day in Ponferrada and do that.

Also any up to date recommendations on where to stay?

Finally due to time constraints I'll probably need to skip a couple of days, any suggestions on best stages to skip and are there buses or will I need to taxi?

Thankyou
Tanya

 

[André Walker]

I haven't got much time right now, so I'll have to keep it short:

• No need to make reservations, the Invierno is not too busy.
• There seen busses along the Invierno, but I have no idea of times and destinations. You might check on the websites of Alsa or Monbus (and google for local bus services).

 

[LTfit]

I walked the Invierno in July after the Olvidado. I started in A Rúa due to days left to walk and flight home but...I had already walked Ponferrada - A Rúa before. Definitely don't skip the beginning, Las Médulas are a wonder to behold.

It was extremely quiet (only met a Spanish group of guys in Monforte de Lemos on) but I did reserve as most accomodations are not only for pilgrims. You can look at my thread for my stages but I like to walk long stages.

Good luck planning, I'm sure other Invierno fans will chime in.

 

[Tom Cartwright]

Hi, I'm about to leave the Frances at Ponferrada to walk the Invierno but am a little concerned about accommodation and services.

Do I really need to book ahead or can I just turn up to a village and find somewhere?
If so I'll have a rest day in Ponferrada and do that.

Also any up to date recommendations on where to stay?

Finally due to time constraints I'll probably need to skip a couple of days, any suggestions on best stages to skip and are there buses or will I need to taxi?

Thankyou
Tanya

Walking in Sept. interested in comments too!

 

[Glenshiro]

You don't say what type of accommodation you use, but either albergues or pirvate rooms in hotels shouldn't be a problem. If you want recommendations for hotels, let me know - I walked the Invierno last month.

Definitely don't skip the beginning, Las Médulas are a wonder to behold.

Totally agree with this. Most of the route is very scenic, but you could skip Rodeiro - Lalin without much loss, or, if you're really pushed, Chantada - Lalin.

There is one daily bus, the XG648008, between Monforte de Lemos, via Chantada, Rodeiro and Lalin to Santiago de Compostela.. It is timetabled to leave from Chantada bus station at 6:56 pm, Rodeiro at 7:15 and Lalin at 7:35.

 

[peregrina2000]

Do I really need to book ahead or can I just turn up to a village and find somewhere?

It’s not the number of pilgrims that may put a squeeze on the accommodations, it’s that in some of these places the owners of the pensiones might not be sitting there waiting for people to arrive. Failure to contact them ahead of time might lead to some frustration. I remember that @C clearly had this issue on her Invierno, was it in A Rúa?

I would recommend the Wise Pilgrim app for info on the route — where to sleep, walking routes, etc. We had a crowd-sourced Invierno guide that we regularly updated until Wise Pigrim agreed to take it over. But its last version is still here in the Resources section. There have been a fair number of new places to stay, though, so you should really look at Wise Pilgrim for the latest information.

If you walked the Sanabrés on your Vdlp, the last days of the Invierno will be familiar to you — the Invierno merges with the Sanabrés in A Laxe. But of course if you want the compostela, you won’t be able to skip those days. I’m always hard pressed to suggest sections to skip, though.

 

[GuyA]

You don't say what type of accommodation you use, but either albergues or pirvate rooms in hotels shouldn't be a problem. If you want recommendations for hotels, let me know - I walked the Invierno last month.


Totally agree with this. Most of the route is very scenic, but you could skip Rodeiro - Lalin without much loss, or, if you're really pushed, Chantada - Lalin.

There is one daily bus, the XG648008, between Monforte de Lemos, via Chantada, Rodeiro and Lalin to Santiago de Compostela.. It is timetabled to leave from Chantada bus station at 6:56 pm, Rodeiro at 7:15 and Lalin at 7:35.

I would appreciate hearing hotel accommodation choices if not to much trouble.

 

[Glenshiro]

I didn't stay in Las Medulas - made the mistake of booking La Peregrina in Carucedo. Nice hotel, but out in the countryside with no facilities - like an evening meal! Had to get a (costly) taxi to Las Medulas and ate in the Hotel Medulio. Wish I'd stayed there.

In Puente de Domingo Flórez I stayed in Hostal La Torre, on the way and good value.Good meal, too.

O Barco de Valdeorras - Hotel Malecon, a few yards from the way. Good modern hotel with a/c and a lift. No restaurant, but Casa Galaica restaurant recommended.

A Rua - O Pillaban, on the way, good room and food.

Quiroga - Hotel Casa do Estanco. Very nice, a/c but no evening meals. Lots of choice in town, though. Others speak highly of Hostal Quiper.

A Labrada (300m from A Ponte and signposted) Pension Pacita. An Invierno tradition, and the only hotel between Quiroga and Monforte. Use it while you can - its future may be in doubt. You might be served freshly-caught trout.

Monforte de Lemos - Hostal MON Come y Suena. Cheap and basic, fine for a night.

Vilariño (a few miles east of Chantada) 400m off the way, Casa Rural Torre Vilariño. Loved it - polished wooden floor in the room. Reminded me of Rivendell!

Penasillas - (actually, about a mile before it) Hotel Vilaseco. Top-notch luxury (for the Camino, anyway) and a good meal. Out in the country.

Rodeiro - Hostel-Hostal Carpinteiras. The only show in town, really. Has an albergue on the 1st floor, rooms on the 2nd. Cheap and basic. Lively bar and good menu del dia, but no evening meal. Restaurants nearby.

Lalin - El Palacio. Comfortable, spacious room, lift, no a/c or evening meal, but lots of choice in Lalin.

Bandeira - Hotel Victorino. Much better than its one star would suggest. Good breakfast (Landlady spent time in Canada as a teenager and speaks good English)

Lestedo - Rural Hotel Casa de Casal. Beautiful old country house. Excellent food and room. No a/c - walls are 2 feet thick! Treat yourself before Santiago.

Santiago de Compostela - Casa da Balconada, very close to the Cathedral.

Note that many hotels don't serve breakfast until 7 or even 8 am, but a Spanish breakfast doesn't amount to much anyway. Also note shortage of water points and supplies between towns.

Others will come along, I hope, with their recommendations. I suggest booking ahead at least one or two days. I used WhatsApp and Google translate, to the extent that the (English-speaking) chatelain of Casa de Casals assumed I spoke fluent Spanish. (I don't.)

Enjoy!

 

[GuyA]

I didn't stay in Las Medulas - made the mistake of booking La Peregrina in Carucedo. Nice hotel, but out in the countryside with no facilities - like an evening meal! Had to get a (costly) taxi to Las Medulas and ate in the Hotel Medulio. Wish I'd stayed there.

In Puente de Domingo Flórez I stayed in Hostal La Torre, on the way and good value.Good meal, too.

O Barco de Valdeorras - Hotel Malecon, a few yards from the way. Good modern hotel with a/c and a lift. No restaurant, but Casa Galaica restaurant recommended.

A Rua - O Pillaban, on the way, good room and food.

Quiroga - Hotel Casa do Estanco. Very nice, a/c but no evening meals. Lots of choice in town, though. Others speak highly of Hostal Quiper.

A Labrada (300m from A Ponte and signposted) Pension Pacita. An Invierno tradition, and the only hotel between Quiroga and Monforte. Use it while you can - its future may be in doubt. You might be served freshly-caught trout.

Monforte de Lemos - Hostal MON Come y Suena. Cheap and basic, fine for a night.

Vilariño (a few miles east of Chantada) 400m off the way, Casa Rural Torre Vilariño. Loved it - polished wooden floor in the room. Reminded me of Rivendell!

Penasillas - (actually, about a mile before it) Hotel Vilaseco. Top-notch luxury (for the Camino, anyway) and a good meal. Out in the country.

Rodeiro - Hostel-Hostal Carpinteiras. The only show in town, really. Has an albergue on the 1st floor, rooms on the 2nd. Cheap and basic. Lively bar and good menu del dia, but no evening meal. Restaurants nearby.

Lalin - El Palacio. Comfortable, spacious room, lift, no a/c or evening meal, but lots of choice in Lalin.

Bandeira - Hotel Victorino. Much better than its one star would suggest. Good breakfast (Landlady spent time in Canada as a teenager and speaks good English)

Lestedo - Rural Hotel Casa de Casal. Beautiful old country house. Excellent food and room. No a/c - walls are 2 feet thick! Treat yourself before Santiago.

Santiago de Compostela - Casa da Balconada, very close to the Cathedral.

Note that many hotels don't serve breakfast until 7 or even 8 am, but a Spanish breakfast doesn't amount to much anyway. Also note shortage of water points and supplies between towns.

Others will come along, I hope, with their recommendations. I suggest booking ahead at least one or two days. I used WhatsApp and Google translate, to the extent that the (English-speaking chatelain of Casa de Casals assumed I spoke fluent Spanish. (I don't.)

Enjoy!

Thanks so much Glenshiro! This will be extremely helpful for our planning…a great example of how this Forum is so very helpful.

Merci Guy

 

[C clearly]

can I just turn up to a village and find somewhere?

Be sure you know which villages have accommodation!

I'll echo what @peregrina2000 says. It is convenient for hostal/albergue operators to know in advance if a pilgrim is arriving, so do them the favour and contact them the day before if possible, or the morning of, for sure. For weekends, it is wise to make arrangements during business hours beforehand.

Regarding skipping some stages, it might be useful to look at which towns have daily Renfe train service. The attached snip from a Renfe route schematic might help. I don't know about bus service.

 

[Ernie Fraser]

Hi, I'm about to leave the Frances at Ponferrada to walk the Invierno but am a little concerned about accommodation and services.

Do I really need to book ahead or can I just turn up to a village and find somewhere?
If so I'll have a rest day in Ponferrada and do that.

Also any up to date recommendations on where to stay?

Finally due to time constraints I'll probably need to skip a couple of days, any suggestions on best stages to skip and are there buses or will I need to taxi?

Thankyou
Tanya

A friend and I walked the Invierno last fall and enjoyed it a great deal. We actually started our walk in Astorga and then transitioned to the Invierno in Ponferrada. We booked all of our accommodation ahead of time simply because there was a lot of uncertainty about what places might be available following the COVID pandemic. We also decided that we wanted a private room due to concern about potential exposure to the COVID virus. The cost definitely was greater than on our previous three Caminos, but it was well worth it from our perspective. I have attached a file with the accommodation listed by location. I reserved all accommodation, except two places, through Booking.com. I booked directly with these two properties: Labrada – Pension Pacita (easy to find, sign directs to the property; Vilarino (Fion) – Torre Vilarino, easy to find but off route a bit). Hope this helps.

 

[Mrs. Bloem]

Thank you for the usefull Information regarding accomodations, planning to walk the Invierno next year in April/may.

 

[Glenshiro]

A friend and I walked the Invierno last fall and enjoyed it a great deal. We actually started our walk in Astorga and then transitioned to the Invierno in Ponferrada. We booked all of our accommodation ahead of time simply because there was a lot of uncertainty about what places might be available following the COVID pandemic. We also decided that we wanted a private room due to concern about potential exposure to the COVID virus. The cost definitely was greater than on our previous three Caminos, but it was well worth it from our perspective. I have attached a file with the accommodation listed by location. I reserved all accommodation, except two places, through Booking.com. I booked directly with these two properties: Labrada – Pension Pacita (easy to find, sign directs to the property; Vilarino (Fion) – Torre Vilarino, easy to find but off route a bit). Hope this helps.

I also stayed in the Hotel El Castillo in Ponferrada - good class business hotel with a/c, very convenient for the way, restaurants etc. Right by the castle, the Invierno starts a few hundred metres away.

 

[TanyaK]

You don't say what type of accommodation you use, but either albergues or pirvate rooms in hotels shouldn't be a problem. If you want recommendations for hotels, let me know - I walked the Invierno last month.


Totally agree with this. Most of the route is very scenic, but you could skip Rodeiro - Lalin without much loss, or, if you're really pushed, Chantada - Lalin.

There is one daily bus, the XG648008, between Monforte de Lemos, via Chantada, Rodeiro and Lalin to Santiago de Compostela.. It is timetabled to leave from Chantada bus station at 6:56 pm, Rodeiro at 7:15 and Lalin at 7:35.

Thankyou, I use a mixture of accommodation, albergues or private rooms.

Thanks for the advice on the buses, but I need to walk the full stretch to Monteforte as I'd like to get my Compostela. So anything I skip would have to be before then.

I expect I'll try to walk it all and just do long days

 

[TanyaK]

It’s not the number of pilgrims that may put a squeeze on the accommodations, it’s that in some of these places the owners of the pensiones might not be sitting there waiting for people to arrive. Failure to contact them ahead of time might lead to some frustration. I remember that @C clearly had this issue on her Invierno, was it in A Rúa?

I would recommend the Wise Pilgrim app for info on the route — where to sleep, walking routes, etc. We had a crowd-sourced Invierno guide that we regularly updated until Wise Pigrim agreed to take it over. But its last version is still here in the Resources section. There have been a fair number of new places to stay, though, so you should really look at Wise Pilgrim for the latest information.

If you walked the Sanabrés on your Vdlp, the last days of the Invierno will be familiar to you — the Invierno merges with the Sanabrés in A Laxe. But of course if you want the compostela, you won’t be able to skip those days. I’m always hard pressed to suggest sections to skip, though.

Great thankyou for your help

I've done a couple of days so far and the issue is mainly places aren't open or people not answering phones. Found somewhere in the end though

The Wise app seems out of date with prices and to in some instances but I'll drop them a message with any updates.

 

[Glenshiro]

Understandable. How far have you got? There is a railway line all the way to Monforte de Lemos which passes through most of the villages on the Invierno, and there are buses as well. The stretch from Quiroga to Monforte is quite strenuous, with three ascents, so you might consider skipping that. It's about 36 km, which some people do in one hit, I broke it at Pension Pacita.

 

[TanyaK]

I didn't stay in Las Medulas - made the mistake of booking La Peregrina in Carucedo. Nice hotel, but out in the countryside with no facilities - like an evening meal! Had to get a (costly) taxi to Las Medulas and ate in the Hotel Medulio. Wish I'd stayed there.

In Puente de Domingo Flórez I stayed in Hostal La Torre, on the way and good value.Good meal, too.

O Barco de Valdeorras - Hotel Malecon, a few yards from the way. Good modern hotel with a/c and a lift. No restaurant, but Casa Galaica restaurant recommended.

A Rua - O Pillaban, on the way, good room and food.

Quiroga - Hotel Casa do Estanco. Very nice, a/c but no evening meals. Lots of choice in town, though. Others speak highly of Hostal Quiper.

A Labrada (300m from A Ponte and signposted) Pension Pacita. An Invierno tradition, and the only hotel between Quiroga and Monforte. Use it while you can - its future may be in doubt. You might be served freshly-caught trout.

Monforte de Lemos - Hostal MON Come y Suena. Cheap and basic, fine for a night.

Vilariño (a few miles east of Chantada) 400m off the way, Casa Rural Torre Vilariño. Loved it - polished wooden floor in the room. Reminded me of Rivendell!

Penasillas - (actually, about a mile before it) Hotel Vilaseco. Top-notch luxury (for the Camino, anyway) and a good meal. Out in the country.

Rodeiro - Hostel-Hostal Carpinteiras. The only show in town, really. Has an albergue on the 1st floor, rooms on the 2nd. Cheap and basic. Lively bar and good menu del dia, but no evening meal. Restaurants nearby.

Lalin - El Palacio. Comfortable, spacious room, lift, no a/c or evening meal, but lots of choice in Lalin.

Bandeira - Hotel Victorino. Much better than its one star would suggest. Good breakfast (Landlady spent time in Canada as a teenager and speaks good English)

Lestedo - Rural Hotel Casa de Casal. Beautiful old country house. Excellent food and room. No a/c - walls are 2 feet thick! Treat yourself before Santiago.

Santiago de Compostela - Casa da Balconada, very close to the Cathedral.

Note that many hotels don't serve breakfast until 7 or even 8 am, but a Spanish breakfast doesn't amount to much anyway. Also note shortage of water points and supplies between towns.

Others will come along, I hope, with their recommendations. I suggest booking ahead at least one or two days. I used WhatsApp and Google translate, to the extent that the (English-speaking) chatelain of Casa de Casals assumed I spoke fluent Spanish. (I don't.)

Enjoy!

Great thankyou. I just arrived in la rua so will check out O Pillaban

 

[Glenshiro]

There is a bus from the railway station in A Rua at 08:15 (it's usually 15 minutes late) which calls at all Invierno stages to and including Monforte de Lemos - timetable attached.

 

[Rosemary314]

A friend and I walked the Invierno last fall and enjoyed it a great deal. We actually started our walk in Astorga and then transitioned to the Invierno in Ponferrada. We booked all of our accommodation ahead of time simply because there was a lot of uncertainty about what places might be available following the COVID pandemic. We also decided that we wanted a private room due to concern about potential exposure to the COVID virus. The cost definitely was greater than on our previous three Caminos, but it was well worth it from our perspective. I have attached a file with the accommodation listed by location. I reserved all accommodation, except two places, through Booking.com. I booked directly with these two properties: Labrada – Pension Pacita (easy to find, sign directs to the property; Vilarino (Fion) – Torre Vilarino, easy to find but off route a bit). Hope this helps.

Thank you so much for this attachment, its really helpful!

 

[Albertagirl]

Thank you to all. I am looking forward to a second autumn camino on the Invierno and wish to book more hotels than my last time through. There seem to be a lot more options. I have Brierley's Camino Sanabres and Camino Invierno as my guidebook. But additional information on accommodation is welcome.