Hi Pierre -- I have only made two advance bookings. We love to stay at parochial and municipal albergues. We love the community, cooking together and supporting the local municipalities' and churches' efforts to provide support for pilgrims. With that said, and probably with more info than you wanted -- here is what I am thinking:
1. Astigarraga. There is no albergue here. We will aim for Pension Astigarraga -- others we know have stayed here and had good experiences. If we are struggling with the ups and downs on the first day, and if its not full with school kids, we could stop 3 km earlier at the Albergue Juvenil at Sangiomendi. There is a kitchen at the albergue but no bars or restaurants nearby so that is a limitation. We will be there on a Saturday also so the school kids scenario is a real thing
2. Tolosa. Again no albergue here. We will aim for Pension Karmentxu or Pension Ovarbide.
3. Beasain. There is a municipal albergue here run by the local Guipuzcoa Pilgrim's organization. We plan to stay at it. A friend had a wonderful experience when she stayed here.
4. Zegama. Pension Ostatu Zegama has been highly recommended. I booked through booking.com. Their restaurant has also been highly recommended so I messaged them to see if we could also reserve supper. Unfortunately, their restaurant is not open on weekdays, but they offered to prepare us sandwiches or a dinner plate!
5. Zalduondo. There is a donativo municipal albergue here where we will stay. It has a kitchen. The local bar does not serve meals, so we will plan to come with supplies to cook supper. There are actually no intermediate services on this stage, so we will need to carry snacks and dinner supplies from Zegama.
6. Alegria. Again there is an albergue here where we will stay. It is operated by the Tullonium Cultural Assoc. and there are good reports from friends who have stayed here.
7. Vitoria. We plan to stay at the cathedral albergue unless it is full (its also an albergue juvenil. We will be here during the middle of the week so I hope its available. It also reportedly opens late. I haven't scoped out alternatives, but there are many.
8. Puebla de Argonzon. We will stay at the municipal albergue here.
9. Salinillas. We plan to stay at the private albergue here which has been recommended by several others in the forum.
10. Zarraton. Here we have booked at Hospideria Palacio de Casafuerte. Its a small three star hotel. I booked through booking.com for 109 euro for a double. The hotel has five rooms and the rate includes breakfast. I just messaged them about supper, but there is also a restaurant in town according to Gronz. On Booking they offered free cancellation until 5 days before our stay.
11. Granon. After the Vasco we are waling the Frances to Ponferrada. We want to stay at different places than we have previously stayed. Walking past Santo Domingo de la Calzada gets us on a different timing than our previous CF. We also decided not to walk to Burgos because my husband very much wants to stop and do a tour of the archeological site at Atapuerca. The Burgos route has been highly recommended to us so it was a hard decision!
Anyway -- this is probably way more than you want to know, but... Please post details of your experience as we would love more info about what's open, etc. on the Vasco!
LizB
The specialness sneaks up on you.
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