Le puy or Vezelay

[Jozias]

Dear pelgrims,

After walking last year from Porto to Santiago, I am planning my new trip for next may. But i can't really find de information I am looking for so I hope you can help me or tell me where to find the information.

I would like to start in Le Puy or Vezelay and walk to Santiago, (depending on the waether if it doesnt get to hot).

I have read that it's needed to make reservations for a bed if you start from Le puy and that the costs are about 35 euros a night. Is that correct? What i enjoyed in Portugal was the easiness off traveling. A bed in an albergue was between 5 and 20 euros, no reservations needed.
On what route are the best/ most sleepingplaces for pelgrims? Where's the easiest way of traveling? I don't mind spending money, i just want to prepare.

Josje

 

[Jopoke]

Dear pelgrims,

After walking last year from Porto to Santiago, I am planning my new trip for next may. But i can't really find de information I am looking for so I hope you can help me or tell me where to find the information.

I would like to start in Le Puy or Vezelay and walk to Santiago, (depending on the waether if it doesnt get to hot).

I have read that it's needed to make reservations for a bed if you start from Le puy and that the costs are about 35 euros a night. Is that correct? What i enjoyed in Portugal was the easiness off traveling. A bed in an albergue was between 5 and 20 euros, no reservations needed.
On what route are the best/ most sleepingplaces for pelgrims? Where's the easiest way of traveling? I don't mind spending money, i just want to prepare.

Josje

I did The Podiensis this May. Yes I booked a couple of nights ahead because it was very busy with the French Bank Holidays. You can look for accomadation on Gronze.com and it gives you all the upto date prices. I loved this part of the Camino but be prepared to use translate if you don't speak French.
Getting there proved harder than others. I took a plane to France, then the train to Lyon before getting another train and bus to Le Puy. Hope this all helps. I had a couple of nights in Lyon on the way.

 

[Chizuru]

We walked Le Puy in April/May this year.
It was very busy for the first two weeks and needed to be booked ahead as this is a very popular section for walkers on many routes that crisscross the Podiensis and share towns, as well as Podiensis (GR65) being a popular walk for French people who tend to do it in week long chunks. We also chose to do the Cele variant which is stunning but even more remote in terms of finding places to pick up any food and quite tricky to find accommodation.

It is incredibly beautiful but it isn't particularly well supported as there are very few shops and cafes open and lodgings tend to offer to do a picnic lunch to take with you. We also found very few options to purchase any gear that might be needed once we left Le Puy, and very few pharmacias so don't rely on purchasing what you forget, bring it all with you.

In terms of logistics, if you want to use luggage transfers Malle Post were fabulous.

To get there, we took a train from Paris to Lyon then changed to a local train to Le Puy and returned to Paris on a direct train from Cahors.

We found the Gites were rather expensive. It was virtually the same to stay at a gite for 2 people in a 6 bed bunk room as it was to get a private room in a B&B with ensuite and 3 meals (picnic included). (We paid about 45 euro each for the gites and about 90 - 120 euro for a private ensuite room with all meals in the B&Bs.) We found that the cameraderie was wonderful in the B&Bs as they usually gathered everyone in the lounge for drinks before dinner, then fed dinner at a communal table. Of course, if you are just one person then the gites are cheaper, but we needed to carry a sleepingbag, travel pillow and towel for the gites as some of the ones that we stayed in had nothing other than a paper mattress protector, not even a blanket.

I have no experience beyond Cahors or on the Vezelay route.

 

[Sugaree]

We have done about 150 miles on the Voie de Vézelay, Limoges to Ste. Foy-la-Grande, 10 days total walking, all Mid- late April. It is beautiful and not heavily traveled at that time of year. However, we hit two long weekends during which several French groupdwere on the route, and we ran into accommodation issues after Ste. Foy-la-Grande. Before that it was fine though price range was wide, 24€ for two up to about 80€ for two. Finding food was not a problem in that stretch. We did not need sleeping bags but did not stay in any of the municipal alberges because we failed to book during the open hours of the town offices. We loved our experience and will return next spring to do more.

 

[Sunbun]

Dear pelgrims,

After walking last year from Porto to Santiago, I am planning my new trip for next may. But i can't really find de information I am looking for so I hope you can help me or tell me where to find the information.

I would like to start in Le Puy or Vezelay and walk to Santiago, (depending on the waether if it doesnt get to hot).

I have read that it's needed to make reservations for a bed if you start from Le puy and that the costs are about 35 euros a night. Is that correct? What i enjoyed in Portugal was the easiness off traveling. A bed in an albergue was between 5 and 20 euros, no reservations needed.
On what route are the best/ most sleepingplaces for pelgrims? Where's the easiest way of traveling? I don't mind spending money, i just want to prepare.

Josje

Somewhere on this forum you'll find this - it's an amazing resource. A Guide to the Way of Le Puy: All the Stuff You Wanna Know, Or Oughta Wanna Know, Before Starting Out

 

[JabbaPapa]

No idea about relative costs, but my understanding is that whilst the Le Puy Way is more spectacular, the Vézelay Way has a rural and possibly deeper beauty to it that no other major French route can match.

Plus you get to walk through wondrous Dordogne !!

To try and be a bit more objective, I'd say the better hiking would be on Le Puy, but the more peace, older culture, better food, and more ease on the joints on the Vézelay.

 

[Chizuru]

No idea about relative costs, but my understanding is that whilst the Le Puy Way is more spectacular, the Vézelay Way has a rural and possibly deeper beauty to it that no other major French route can match.

Plus you get to walk through wondrous Dordogne !!

To try and be a bit more objective, I'd say the better hiking would be on Le Puy, but the more peace, older culture, better food, and more ease on the joints on the Vézelay.

You don’t get much older culture than the cave art of Peche Merle on the Cele Variant of Le Puy or the dolmens if you don’t take the variant!

 

[Wheelchairpilgrim]

It is also posible to visit Vezelay and Le-Puy-en-Velay on the way, I did it thar on my pilgrimage by wheelchair.
I started in the Netherlands but I changed my route a few times because I wanted to visit different pilgrimage places. After Vezelay I decided to go to Paray-le-Monial, Taizé and than Le-Puy-en-Velay and Rocamadour. Not the most common route but it was a very nice one.

I do not know about the costs for albergue/hostel/hotels because I stay mostly at campings (with my little tent), I wild camp of stay at people at home.
but even the campings between Le-Puy-en-Velay and Rocamadour where much more expensive than campings I had before (average of 14 euro a night, the other years an average of 6 of 7 euro a night) so I can imagine that also albergues are more expensive in that area.

Www.rolstoelpelgrim.nl