Newbie questions

[VeganCamino]

Grateful to be able to ask in this community of experienced walkers, so thank you.

Planning my first Camino this summer. Two big questions. One, I can hussle to get on the trail by June 21 or have a more leisurely time and start a week later. I am planning to go from Saint Jean Pied du Port to Burgos, then bus it to Bilbao, Metro out of town, then walk the coast to Llanes or maybe Ribadasella. That's a month right there and I'm not close to Santiago yet!

Considering a bus from the coast to Leon and walk down towards Ourense then up to Santiago. Or down the Primativo through Ovideo and Lugo. I could also go for the more wild option of walking the last bit from Porto to Santiago through Portugal.

I have 6 weeks + so can do a bit of 2-3 different routes for variety.

I keep hearing that starting in late June/July that the Frances can be PACKED, have bed bugs, no room in the alburgues, etc.

Curious if starting a week earlier is that much more easeful. ??

What do you do when there's no room in the Inn? / how desperate do you get in the summer on the Frances? can you grab and Airbnb last minute or everything full?

Thoughts on a less traveled last week or so to Santiago?

Thanks!

 

[Deleted member 67185]

I doubt that a week+/- will make a real difference as far as the number of other walkers on the Camino. As far as availability of lodging and pre-booking, etc, you can see how much of an issue it is when you are actually on the Camino. If you decide that it is a bed race and alburgues fill up fast, then you can pr-book the night before using something like Booking.com or Hotels.com, or by finding an Email address or phoning the desired facility directly.

The availability of alburgue reservations varies depending on the type of alburgue it is, but if you cannot find what you need with an alburgue, you can always book a hotel, casa rural, hostal, etc.

 

[VeganCamino]

I doubt that a week+/- will make a real difference as far as the number of other walkers on the Camino. As far as availability of lodging and pre-booking, etc, you can see how much of an issue it is when you are actually on the Camino. If you decide that it is a bed race and alburgues fill up fast, then you can pr-book the night before using something like Booking.com or Hotels.com, or by finding an Email address or phoning the desired facility directly.

The availability of alburgue reservations varies depending on the type of alburgue it is, but if you cannot find what you need with an alburgue, you can always book a hotel, casa rural, hostal, etc.

Thank you!

 

[VeganCamino]

Take the Portuguese Route which is way less crowded. Food is way better and people friendlier. This route is very flat and easiest walking of all the Caminos.
This is from" Portuguese Camino - In Search of the Infinite Moment"
The official pilgrim welcome office in Santiago de Compostela records the name and nationality of every pilgrim who receives the document of completion. As of the end of June 2017, the year’s group of pilgrims predominately followed the classic French route, with 63 percent starting somewhere along it. Only about one in six pilgrims started their French Camino at the beginning in Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port (14 percent) or Roncesvalles (2 percent) or Pamplona (1 percent). I started my French Camino during the winter of 2016 in Roncesvalles at the top of the Pyrenees. About a quarter of the pilgrims barely exceed the minimum one hundred kilometers to qualify for a Compostela by walking just 115 kilometers from the town of Sarria.
I was among the 17 percent of pilgrims choosing the less-traveled Portuguese route, and most of these peregrinos started in Porto (7 percent). Tui is the first city in Spain on the Portuguese Camino, and
5 percent of the pilgrims arriving at Santiago de Compostela started there. I was truly in a minority, since only one out of a hundred pilgrims started at the beginning of the Portuguese route in Lisbon. I was also in a minority as far as the time of the year I walked. The pilgrim office in Santiago received 41,620 pilgrims in June of 2017 and 35,345 in May. Compare those numbers to the mere 1,696 pilgrims processed at the office in February and the 5,176 in March
Terence Callery

Thank you!

 

[C clearly]

The biggest crowds of the year are on the Camino Frances in July and August, but from Sarria to Santiago. You might find that your walk from SJPP to Burgos is not particularly busy.

 

[trecile]

The biggest crowds of the year are on the Camino Frances in July and August, but from Sarria to Santiago. You might find that your walk from SJPP to Burgos is not particularly busy.

That's right. I did my first Camino starting the last week of August in SJPDP, and it was quite busy. There was an increase in pilgrims after Sarria, but not a huge increase. The next year I walked from the beginning of July, and found it less busy than it had been in August/September until around Triacastela, when there were a lot more pilgrims.

 

[VeganCamino]

The biggest crowds of the year are on the Camino Frances in July and August, but from Sarria to Santiago. You might find that your walk from SJPP to Burgos is not particularly busy.

May it be so! Thank you.