pepi
Active Member
- Time of past OR future Camino
- Last: Sept 2022
next
Well, I wasn't actually planning to hike this year, but then...(you all know)...
Perhaps the following will be useful to those (newbies) who plan to hike the Camino in the next few months. But let me first disclose a little about myself: I have circumnavigated the sun more than 78 times, done six Caminos, the last one last September, and now only stay in private rooms.
I have that Excel sheet with my past schedule and stay-overs, into which I can simply type in the day of departure to have the dates of the entire trip, with addresses, tel. numbers, etc.
So, the other day I played around with it and punched in a convenient date of a direct end-of-August flight to Bayonne. With a late afternoon arrival, I would have needed a room for the night, but B.com said that everything affordable in Bayonne was full; the same in SJPdP. OK, that was it, I admit that I was kind of relieved.
A few weeks later, I resumed my worksheet, but this time with a flight to Barcelona (no prob) and a same-day train ride to Pamplona, bingo. A night at my usual hotel there for Aug. 27 was immediately confirmed, and that is how it started.
With emails in Deepl-translated Spanish (I try to do as many bookings as possible directly) and B.com, my stay-overs were confirmed one by one; surprisingly, there were only about six rejections altogether and all of these could be replaced at a second attempt. About half of all stayovers were confirmed within a day. The remaining schedule – except for about six nights that I still needed to confirm by phone– was completed within three days. This means, that the CF is busy but that there still is plenty of room.
Observation 1: Many of my favored places appeared to be full-house on B.com but took my reservation when I contacted them directly.
Observation 2: Since last year, prices have generally gone up by about 20%, with two noteworthy exceptions that have actually lowered their cost. The (double-) rooms at below 50€ are in the minority, most are now in the 50 to 70€; most include breakfast.
More establishments than in the past now ask for a card number to confirm, a consequence of the increasing number of no-shows that I sadly have observed last year. All responses to my emails –positive and negative– were exceedingly courteous, a few that declined actually suggested alternatives.
Observation 3: If I needed to cancel my Camino prior to my departure, (things can happen in the two months ahead), I would lose about 250€ in unrecoverable pre-payments, for the Vueling flight, the Renfe train ticket, and a couple of stays that don't allow cancellations; all the rest would accept a "sorry".
Conclusion: To book the entire Camino is time-consuming, it took me two 9 to 5 days to have everything in the box. Had I insisted –like many peregrinos here– to start in SJPdP, I would have given up early. But knowing the 50 km-stretch "from where the true Camino Frances starts" with its usual congestions very well, I have no regrets whatever to starting in lively Pamplona this time –it's still a plenty-long walk to SdC from there.
Hope to encounter some Forum folks on my way,
Buen Camino.
PS: (added 29-09-22)
The story of the last remaining unconfirmed booking:
A particularly nice albergue with private rooms in one town (I won't give names) finally advised me very apologetically that the date chosen will be falling into a 3-day local Fiesta, during which he will close his place. Obviously, alternative places would likewise be either closed or fully booked. Phew.
So I did, what I seldom do: Insist and ask humbly for an exception. The hospi responded that he would be at the fiesta with his family and that he therefore will not be able to provide any service, hence closing his place. I then replied that I would not need any service, just slipping in and the next morning out... P-L-E-A-S-E. Reply: The street in front will be too noisy, with people celebrating 'till the wee hours. Me writing back: Oh, I have very good earplugs, besides that my hearing is bad too.
Finally: "OK, you can have the room, but don't tell anyone". Thank you Deepl.com for assisting me to translate all my pleadings into Spanish!
...and sorry, dear Hospi, for being such a pain.
Perhaps the following will be useful to those (newbies) who plan to hike the Camino in the next few months. But let me first disclose a little about myself: I have circumnavigated the sun more than 78 times, done six Caminos, the last one last September, and now only stay in private rooms.
I have that Excel sheet with my past schedule and stay-overs, into which I can simply type in the day of departure to have the dates of the entire trip, with addresses, tel. numbers, etc.
So, the other day I played around with it and punched in a convenient date of a direct end-of-August flight to Bayonne. With a late afternoon arrival, I would have needed a room for the night, but B.com said that everything affordable in Bayonne was full; the same in SJPdP. OK, that was it, I admit that I was kind of relieved.
A few weeks later, I resumed my worksheet, but this time with a flight to Barcelona (no prob) and a same-day train ride to Pamplona, bingo. A night at my usual hotel there for Aug. 27 was immediately confirmed, and that is how it started.
With emails in Deepl-translated Spanish (I try to do as many bookings as possible directly) and B.com, my stay-overs were confirmed one by one; surprisingly, there were only about six rejections altogether and all of these could be replaced at a second attempt. About half of all stayovers were confirmed within a day. The remaining schedule – except for about six nights that I still needed to confirm by phone– was completed within three days. This means, that the CF is busy but that there still is plenty of room.
Observation 1: Many of my favored places appeared to be full-house on B.com but took my reservation when I contacted them directly.
Observation 2: Since last year, prices have generally gone up by about 20%, with two noteworthy exceptions that have actually lowered their cost. The (double-) rooms at below 50€ are in the minority, most are now in the 50 to 70€; most include breakfast.
More establishments than in the past now ask for a card number to confirm, a consequence of the increasing number of no-shows that I sadly have observed last year. All responses to my emails –positive and negative– were exceedingly courteous, a few that declined actually suggested alternatives.
Observation 3: If I needed to cancel my Camino prior to my departure, (things can happen in the two months ahead), I would lose about 250€ in unrecoverable pre-payments, for the Vueling flight, the Renfe train ticket, and a couple of stays that don't allow cancellations; all the rest would accept a "sorry".
Conclusion: To book the entire Camino is time-consuming, it took me two 9 to 5 days to have everything in the box. Had I insisted –like many peregrinos here– to start in SJPdP, I would have given up early. But knowing the 50 km-stretch "from where the true Camino Frances starts" with its usual congestions very well, I have no regrets whatever to starting in lively Pamplona this time –it's still a plenty-long walk to SdC from there.
Hope to encounter some Forum folks on my way,
Buen Camino.
PS: (added 29-09-22)
The story of the last remaining unconfirmed booking:
A particularly nice albergue with private rooms in one town (I won't give names) finally advised me very apologetically that the date chosen will be falling into a 3-day local Fiesta, during which he will close his place. Obviously, alternative places would likewise be either closed or fully booked. Phew.
So I did, what I seldom do: Insist and ask humbly for an exception. The hospi responded that he would be at the fiesta with his family and that he therefore will not be able to provide any service, hence closing his place. I then replied that I would not need any service, just slipping in and the next morning out... P-L-E-A-S-E. Reply: The street in front will be too noisy, with people celebrating 'till the wee hours. Me writing back: Oh, I have very good earplugs, besides that my hearing is bad too.
Finally: "OK, you can have the room, but don't tell anyone". Thank you Deepl.com for assisting me to translate all my pleadings into Spanish!
...and sorry, dear Hospi, for being such a pain.
Last edited:
