Questions of accommodation

[ElíasHHS]

I'll walk the camino de frances in July but afraid of numbers of people. So I dont know if I should book the albergue online at advance (the price is 15 euro).
Do I need a tamp to sleep in the wild for saving money?

 

[scruffy1]

Always a good question never a good answer - who really knows? One thing to try, stop in the town/village just before the guide book recommended stages as most will slog on by the book. Tamp? Tarp? Tent? Sleeping in the wild is a possibility but land owners will not much appreciate your encroachment on their property neither will their dogs - usually most unpleasant creatures. There too remains the problem of dinner, site clearance, sanitation, and personal hygiene. There are rest areas along the Camino, usually locally provided with a bench or two, a picnic table and an overflowing garbage bin not really a good place to crash. I did once meet a middle-aged Portuguese pilgrim who had walked commando from Lisboa - he looked the part.

 

[Jan_D]

I would only recommend booking the first night or two in advance - after that, you don't know how far you'll be able to walk each day, and you won't want to be separated from new camino friends, just because you have to stop somewhere that you've pre-booked. Also, as you probably know, you cannot book the for the municipal or donation albergues in advance, and as this is a big part of the "pilgrim experience", you don't want to miss out by booking private accommodation instead.

The Camino Frances caters for a very large number of pilgrims - if you don't get accommodation in the municipal albergue there are a lot of private accommodation options, and there are new venues opening up all the time. If you find accommodation is getting tight, you should be able to find something on booking.com the night or morning before. You can also see what sort of accommodation is available on this website (just click on each stage and scroll to the bottom). And as scruffy says, a good tip is to stop just before or after the end of the "official" stage, it's often a lot quieter.

 

[Dorpie]

@scruffy1 is entirely right, the only sensible answer to this question is...it depends.

If you could answer the following questions it would put us in a better position to answer.

What time do you intend to finish walking each day? How prepared would you be to maybe walk 5kms further than you intended in a day? How important is the social aspect of the camino for you? Do you intend to send your pack ahead each day?

I'm sure there are more questions but what this basically boils down to is do you value certainty or flexibility more?

Walking in July 2017 I didn't book for a single night until Santiago itself and only then because I wanted a comfortable hotel room. Actually that's a lie, I also booked in Pamplona because I knew I was arriving during the San Fermin Festival (6th-14th July this year) and accomodation would be a nightmare, if these dates are when you'll be there either avoid Pamplona or book now. Beyond those two nights I had no issues but I did set off around dawn each day and finish around 2pm when the heat generally becomes unbearable for walking anyway.

Camping is definitely the exception (perhaps 1% of walkers) rather than the rule but people do do it, of course it does mean bringing a lot of additional kit.

Hope this helps,

Buen Camino,

Rob.

 

[David Tallan]

I also would only book the first night or two. If it helps, July isn't the busiest month: May and September have significantly more pilgrims starting.

 

[RJM]

Impossible to know what the pilgrim numbers will be or if booking in advance is the thing to do.
All I can say is I have walked three different Camino Frances in which part of it was during the month of July. I never booked in advance and I never had to sleep outside and always found a place to stay.

 

[domigee]

I also would only book the first night or two. If it helps, July isn't the busiest month: May and September have significantly more pilgrims starting.

I agree. I have walked the CF four times in July/August, from St Jean and especially the last two years, it was empty - until around Astorga, that is.
Hospitaleros would often ask me ‘Are there any more pilgrims coming?’ and my answer was always ‘no I don’t think so, I haven’t seen anyone’. Great for me, not so much for them!
From Sarria, it was packed.
The exception was around Pamplona as my stay coincided with the last week-end of the San Fermines.
Santiago is also very busy in the Summer so it is advisable to book ahead if you want a hotel, I don’t know about albergues...
So it all depends where you start from. I only ever book the first night (if arriving late), in Orisson if staying there and in Santiago.
I met a few pilgrims with a tent - often because they had a dog. They often camped in the grounds of albergues so could have a shower etc. I don’t know how much the albergue charged them.

 

[Sha-Ron]

We only book the first 2 nights and the last night.