Thank you for this great forum.
We are a 60+ couple who will be cycling the Camino from Burgos to Santiago. Due to some knee injuries, walking is not an option. However we would like to get the Pilgrimage experience AND be a tourist on the route. It therefor make sense to have our "rest days" not only to rest, but to experience the culture, do sightseeing, buying a few souvenirs etc. Which towns/cities would be the most sensible to have our rest days as "tourist days".
Help would be much appreciated.
You may not want a whole day but some time in these places, so maybe a shorter day to accommodate
Definitely Leon of course, and Astorga - and go through the Gaudi palace, its quite different.
The mountains as you go into Galecia are beautiful.
We absolutely loved Rabanal (but a lot of people go on to Foncebaden). Im glad we stayed at Rabanal instead, the village really puts it on for the pilgrims. Opposite the shop they provide a pilgrim park with heaps of outdoor furniture to relax on, umbrellas and free tents, like a little resort. and it was where we first saw the mountain dogs strolling around, they were amazing. And great food, the best albergues, and singing in the church by the monks in the evening. And at the bottom as you head up there are the fences woven with the crosses and a guy dressed as a Templar knight had a falcon. There were great cafes and bars between Astorga and Rabanal as well.
Its where I learned about tinto de verana, very refreshing.
Molinaseca was a lovely little town at the bottom of the first mountain. They have formed a large swimming area in the river. If its hot, it looks like a nice place for a swim stop, and was generally a pretty place in good order. Maybe a good place to end a day so you can swim and look around.
Ponferada is just a little on from there, and you should visit the Templar castle.
O Cebreiro is at the top of the second mountain and was a lovely little place, I wished I spent more time there.
If you take the detour to Samos, the Monastry there is massive and worth a look there.
And if you have time at the end, Finistere was great. We wanted a few days there at the end, so we took a taxi. I wished we stayed longer, it was excellent. We missed out on Muxia, next time...