May & June

[SusanH]

Pilgrims and Peligrinos! If you’ve walked the Francés in the months of May and June, please give me a few details - crowds, weather etc!!! Thank you!

 

[Robo]

Have Walked 3 times in May, finishing first week of June. Very busy and can be quite hot. Low 30s. I think May is now the busiest month.

 

[scruffy1]

Hitting Galicia in May is fantastic, springtime with all the wildflowers, wisteria in the villages, the vineyards no longer fields of sticks but leafy green and lovely. Starting SJPP in May you might still catch some of the wheat/barley fields now quite high as well as blooming roses planted on the vineyards to attract pollinating bees but the wildflowers will be gone the fruit trees past blooming everything still green but monochromic, town and village gardens still pleasant, the weather not yet summer but walking in 30 degrees is not much fun. I best enjoy starting the week after an early Easter, nice and cool easy for walking, the holiday crowds have diminished, the Camino is in full bloom in and especially out of the towns, and even the meseta is green. In my experience, nature can make or break a Camino, the Via di Francesco, or the bits of the Via Francigena which I have walked..

 

[Dorpie]

I walked in May 2015 and loved it. Beautiful cool sunrises and warm days, wind rippling through the wheat fields, absolutely fantastic. Didn't have a single day of rain though others haven't been so lucky at this time of year. Never booked ahead and despite being a group of four only once had to walk ahead to the next village to find a place to stay.

By comparison, summer two years ago was just a bit too hot and shorn of their crops the fields weren't nearly as enticing.

Will discover what autumn has in store next week!

Buen Camino,

Rob.

 

[Mettetäti]

Last and this year April-May: mostly quite warm, even too hot. Chilly mornings, though. Last year we had one week very cold, after that very hot weeks. You really can't know what to expect.

 

[Buz Radican]

May - June twice, 2015 and 2018. Overall beautiful weather. No rain 2015, several days in June 2018. Chilly in the early mornings, not too warm later. Started booking ahead in mid May 2015 because I wanted to, not because I needed too. Booked ahead in 2018 because at age 73, I did not want to wander around looking for a bunk. Going again May 4, 2020. If you are going in May and June I believe you will be rewarded with beautiful scenery and moderate weather. Been Camino.

 

[Yoyo]

I walked May 16 to June 24, 2017 and had just one day of continuous rain, a few cooler, clouded and windy days, but most of the time a perfect blue sky with temperature highs above 30ºC for about 3 weeks.
I didn't feel the way to be overly crowded until after Sarria (maybe starting from SJPP on a tuesday helped).
Some days I chose to phone ahead to a private albergue to reserve a bed for that night, but didn't have any long-term reservations except for Saint Jean, Orisson and Roncesvalles.
Nature is beautiful that time of the year. Enjoy!
Buen camino!

 

[Karl Oz]

It depends on the weather that year, of course. I and many others were chilled in that unusually cold May of 2013. It was busy even back then, but I would not say crowded. These days numbers overall have much increased, pushing those who wish a less busy camino back into an April start.

 

[Camino Chrissy]

I've walked in spring on 5 various caminos, 4 of them in Spain. I can echo many of the replies posted. I have always been fortunate to have very little rain and when I did it was kind of a nice, short lived experience to be remembered.
Family ready to eat lunch while standing up on the way to Finesterre from Muxia.

 

[RJM]

I walked the Frances a few years ago from the first week of June until the first week of July.
I thought the weather was very nice. Cool mornings and cool evenings and save for two rainy days, it was sunny skies and not in the least bit too warm.
Quite a few pilgrims walking, but I never had a problem getting a bed at the albergues. The only reservations I made were in Saint Jean and in Santiago.