Multiple Days in Albergues

[Bob Hummel]

Hello all!
I have a question about how difficult it is to stay more than one night in the albergues?
I heard they kick you out in the morning.
So, if I want to stay another day, to rest for example, will they let me check back in in the afternoon? Or will I have to go to a different albergue?
As always, thank you for your kind advice!
Bob

 

[Bradypus]

Municipal and church albergues will normally require you to move on after one night. Simply returning to the same place later that day is unlikely to be acceptable. Private albergues are more likely to allow a longer stay but you would need to confirm that with them directly.

 

[Tincatinker]

Bob, the one night only rule applies in the Municipal, Parroquial and similar Albergues usually unless you have a "sick" note ie a letter from a doctor explaining that you need to rest. Even then you are likely to be 'encouraged' out during the day while the hospitalero/as do the cleaning & maintenance.Privately run Albergues may take a different view but that is down to the individual proprietors. Most pilgrims will head for a Hostal / Pensione (or the nearest Parador ) if they want a second night in town.

 

[nycwalking]

If you need an extra day ask the hospitaleros, they may say okay, if you are truly ill or tired. Whether or not they say yes is also determined by how full the albergues are. When I volunteed as a hospitalera I said yes to several day stays because of injuries, fatigue, or illness. But, we hospitaleros had that luxury because the albergue was huge.
Buen camino

 

[jsalt]

how difficult it is to stay more than one night in the albergues?

Hi, in the off-season (Oct to Mar) not difficult at all; in-season (Apr to Sep) it will depend on the individual albergue – and you will have more success at private albergues.

 

[SYates]

One thing that might make hospitaler@s more agreeable is to offer to help cleaning for a few hours the next morning ;-) Buen Camino, SY

 

[Bob Hummel]

One thing that might make hospitaler@s more agreeable is to offer to help cleaning for a few hours the next morning ;-) Buen Camino, SY

That's a great idea... and I would be happy to do that.
Bob

 

[nathanael]

Hello all!
I have a question about how difficult it is to stay more than one night in the albergues?
I heard they kick you out in the morning.
So, if I want to stay another day, to rest for example, will they let me check back in in the afternoon? Or will I have to go to a different albergue?
As always, thank you for your kind advice!
Bob

Usually no, mind the small albergue in Burgos Divina Pastora does. The worst place for me to stay another nite was in Logrono, the Church albergue. I was unable to use credit card or debt card and had a credit card sent by Mastercard there late afternoon. When it arrived they would not allow me to stay another nite they said it was full and I was told it was a lie. Someone who had stayed there told me it was not full. But there are albergues that make exception. Best of luck.

 

[Saint Mike II]

One thing that might make hospitaler@s more agreeable is to offer to help cleaning for a few hours the next morning ;-) Buen Camino, SY

Hola - where have you been? -- I agree about helping out; in fact I often make an offer to help the hospitaleros -especially in the small ones. A quick sweep of the floors; empty bathroom waste paper bins etc. The hospitaleros are not your slaves!! Cheers

 

[Kiwi-family]

We wanted an extra night in X-town, which only had one albergue, but lots of (too expensive) hotels. The hospitalera told us of another option which we decided would be a good educational experience - a homeless shelter. To access the shelter you had to contact the police. Well well well. There was no way the police were going to let any kids stay in that shelter! Even though I explained the one night rule and the fact that we had already spent a night in the albergue, they rang the hospitalera and insisted she take us back for a second night. If my son had not had two big blisters (the reason we had decided not to walk that day - to give him a rest) we would have simply walked on to the next albergue.....but everything conspired against us - it was a Sunday and we were unable to get money out of any ATM and so we couldn't walk on as we only had 20 euros left and needed to get more money in the morning (another reason we couldn't stay in the hotels!)...by the time we went to the shelter we had already missed the last bus out of town and we didn't have enough money for a taxi....so very shamefacedly we trooped back to the albergue, but I left the kids up the road while I went to talk to them and explain I had tried to tell the police they were not allowed to take us and we were not expecting them to break the rules. They were most accommodating and did not even object to having to open the albergue after we left in the morning so that we could come back with our donation!
As we were not "officially" put on the books that night, the kids ran back up to the police station and asked them for stamps for their credencials. They are most prized!

 

[long trails]

I woke up feeling quite ill (bad wine!) in a private albergue and they allowed me to stay an extra night and didn't kick me out in the daytime either.

 

[Tia Valeria]

The one night rule is to keep beds available for the next day's arrivals. Otherwise too many people might stay over, meaning no beds for those who have walked that day. While exceptions are made it is best to plan for one night stops per albergue (municipal etc) and see if there is a private albergue which will take you for 2 nights. There is also much private accommodation for extra nights. Some people stay one night in the albergue and then the second in the private rooms. If you check out the gronze website it lists all types of accommodation.
Actual illness as opposed to rest days would I am sure be treated more sympathetically as folk have already said.
Buen Camino

 

[formysons]

I was allowed to stay an extra night, while my friend walked on, because I had a very painful Achilles tendon. The hospitalero even went to the nearest village and bought a new ankle guard, mine was not tight enough, and she gave me a lovely lunch.

 

[Steven Dwyer]

I stayed for three days at the former alberque in the park in Burgos. I had bad tendonitis and was taken to the military hospital across the street. The doctors said no walking for two days and then return to the hospital, They had me stay another day to be seen by the specialist who said no more camino for at least 2 weeks. At that point I left the alberque and headed down to Santo Domingo de Silos and spent three days as a guest of the monks in a cell at their campground. I eventually made it back to Burgos a few weeks later and resumed the walk.

The odd but understandable thing was that I had to totally pack up and leave the building for an hour or so while they cleaned the building. Sitting on the bench out front waving goodbye to the pilgrims made me feel like the kid who forgot the permission slip to go on the field trip and got left behind.

 

[Mark Lee]

I stayed for three days at the former alberque in the park in Burgos. I had bad tendonitis and was taken to the military hospital across the street. The doctors said no walking for two days and then return to the hospital, They had me stay another day to be seen by the specialist who said no more camino for at least 2 weeks. At that point I left the alberque and headed down to Santo Domingo de Silos and spent three days as a guest of the monks in a cell at their campground. I eventually made it back to Burgos a few weeks later and resumed the walk.

The odd but understandable thing was that I had to totally pack up and leave the building for an hour or so while they cleaned the building. Sitting on the bench out front waving goodbye to the pilgrims made me feel like the kid who forgot the permission slip to go on the field trip and got left behind.

Ha ha....not laughing at your injury, but laughing at the comparison with being a kid and field trips. I got an instant mental image.

 

[Steven Dwyer]

I neglected to mention it above, the hospitaleros could not have been kinder and more caring, two visits to the ER, XRays and the specialist visit were all provided free of charge and the monks in Santa Domingo de Silos provided me free lodging as an injured pilgrim. They truly made this foreigner feel welcomed.

If you want a nice rest day off from the camino, there is a late afternoon bus from Burgos to Santa Domingo de Silos. To really experience the monastery you should plan two night is Santa Domingo since the return bus is about 8 in the morning. There is a hotel in the village, or if you are male, you can make a 3 day stay in the monastery with reservation.