• Remove ads on the forum by becoming a donating member. More here.

Search 74,075 Camino Questions

Timing of reservation requests

Gilson

New Member
Time of past OR future Camino
2023 2025
I AM A PLANNER... I was 10 days in on my last camino before I was able to "relax" - that was when I finally had all of my nights booked. Please, do not make this a discussion about "to book or not to book." And yes, I know to try to book direct rather than use a booking site... To each his/her own - walk your own walk and all that.

For me, a legitimate question... and perhaps @wisepilgrim or those with albergue management experience can assist...

Easter is late in 2025, followed closely by the May 1 holiday. I am planning an early April start. When is it appropriate for me to begin contacting the albergues for reservations?

I plan to walk the Portuguese from Lisbon, follow the Litoral, Coastal, and then, Santiago-Muxia-Finisterre-Santiago... [And yes, I am aware of the Espiritual variant, no need to recommend it...]
 
€2,-/day will present your project to thousands of visitors each day. All interested in the Camino de Santiago.
Greetings to you, my fellow planner. I am totally anal about how far I am willing to walk and what my lodging entails, so I understand your mindset more than most. To me, nothing is more stressful than having to walk another 5-10k to the next town, or sleeping on a mattress thrown on the floor in the corner. That being said, our last Camino (the Primitivo) was May/June 2024 and I had 14 of the 20 nights booked by the middle of October of 2023. Almost all of those stays were booked directly with the alburgues (most of which we had stayed at the year before) through their websites. I did book a few places on booking.com but only for ease of use. There were several places that politely let me know that they did not accept reservations that far in advance and asked me to reconnect after the beginning of the year. In one instance, they replied that the new year's prices had not been established, so I booked on the contingency that the price increase wasn't too drastic. :)

I would say that it is okay at this point to reach out, especially if you have locked into some key places. The worst they can say is to check back, and at best you will have one more lodging confirmed. We did the Portuguese from Porto in 2016 when the infrastructure was still limited, and I booked most of our stays at hotels through booking.com. Back then, I was not as learned in discovering alburgues, but I still did that at least 4-5 months in advance.

Best wishes and happy planning!
Bom Caminho!
 
Greetings to you, my fellow planner. I am totally anal about how far I am willing to walk and what my lodging entails, so I understand your mindset more than most. To me, nothing is more stressful than having to walk another 5-10k to the next town, or sleeping on a mattress thrown on the floor in the corner. That being said, our last Camino (the Primitivo) was May/June 2024 and I had 14 of the 20 nights booked by the middle of October of 2023. Almost all of those stays were booked directly with the alburgues (most of which we had stayed at the year before) through their websites. I did book a few places on booking.com but only for ease of use. There were several places that politely let me know that they did not accept reservations that far in advance and asked me to reconnect after the beginning of the year. In one instance, they replied that the new year's prices had not been established, so I booked on the contingency that the price increase wasn't too drastic. :)

I would say that it is okay at this point to reach out, especially if you have locked into some key places. The worst they can say is to check back, and at best you will have one more lodging confirmed. We did the Portuguese from Porto in 2016 when the infrastructure was still limited, and I booked most of our stays at hotels through booking.com. Back then, I was not as learned in discovering alburgues, but I still did that at least 4-5 months in advance.

Best wishes and happy planning!
Bom Caminho!
I only book through booking . com and you can book as soon as the inventory is available, as long as there is a cancellation policy in place. Most places do have a cancellation policy even if it is not the first option on the pricing list. Many places that offer dorm rooms, may also have cheap private rooms if you scroll down. It may be a few € more. Many places offer inventory from a year out, some less, and some even more. I am holding hotac a year out at moment (non Camino) obv. with a cancellation policy.
 
Last edited:
€2,-/day will present your project to thousands of visitors each day. All interested in the Camino de Santiago.
Not Camino specific, but just a heads up to anyone booking accommodation in Spain when it comes to booking direct or via booking,com.

I have always tried to book directly with the accommodations as opposed to booking,com in Spain, and have never had a bad experience until recently. I'd made a booking well in advance (with somewhere I'd stayed before), and sent half the cost as a deposit. I had to cancel and did so 2 months before the booking - but the owner refused to return the deposit which was not an insignificant amount. If I'd have booked the accommodation via booking,com then I would have got a full refund up to 2 weeks before the booking as those are the terms the accommodation has on booking,com.

So I guess if booking in advance with a property directly which requires any form of cash up front just make sure you get the T&C's off them before just incase (if not on their website) - don't assume you will get the same as what they have on booking,com or such.
 
Not Camino specific, but just a heads up to anyone booking accommodation in Spain when it comes to booking direct or via booking,com.

I have always tried to book directly with the accommodations as opposed to booking,com in Spain, and have never had a bad experience until recently. I'd made a booking well in advance (with somewhere I'd stayed before), and sent half the cost as a deposit. I had to cancel and did so 2 months before the booking - but the owner refused to return the deposit which was not an insignificant amount. If I'd have booked the accommodation via booking,com then I would have got a full refund up to 2 weeks before the booking as those are the terms the accommodation has on booking,com.

So I guess if booking in advance with a property directly which requires any form of cash up front just make sure you get the T&C's off them before just incase (if not on their website) - don't assume you will get the same as what they have on booking,com or such.
Yes indeed! I use booking all the time, a few hundred nights a year, and one of the key reasons, is the transparency of the T and C’s. I probably cancel/change over 50% of my bookings so this is pretty much a key part, alongside the product range.

I wouldn’t necessarily assume most hotels prefer direct bookings. Some will do of course! The ‘cost of sale’ for a direct booking can be higher than an indirect booking.
 
Last edited:
For those that take them in advance, start now. That's a busy time. For all my Caminos, I've locked them in mostly 3 months in advance, but the Parador in Santiago I have at least 6 months in advance.
 
The focus is on reducing the risk of failure through being well prepared. 2nd ed.
I am also a planner and booker. For a September Frances, knowing it was the most popular time, started booking the second week on January, about half with booking.com, the other half direct though email. Most places responded quickly, sometimes with a request to reconfirm a few weeks out. I did make a few changes if I came across a highly recommended places on the forum, but not if I had booked direct.
 
When is it appropriate for me to begin contacting the albergues for reservations?
I think the preference when Albergue or hotels want or accept bookings varies so much that there is no answer to that question. Why not just contact them when you're ready to make the booking? The worst that you're going to hear is that they don't take bookings yet…

On my last April 2024 Camino Frances, which started to get very busy, I was in a bit of a bad race panic for the first few weeks and was trying to book everything. So much work. I decided just to let go of that and my life became much less stressful, although I certainly spent a lot of nights in top bunks!
 
I’m walking from Porto in April and am booking the things I really care about now. I’ve booked my first two nights in Porto, my first night on the Camino because there’s so few options at the distance I want to walk (someone would do very well to put an albergue at the 10 mile point between Porto and Vila do Conde), and Casa Fernanda a few days later. I’ll add more as we get closer but many just don’t book out this far. I figure in December, a lot should open up. I’m meeting friends in Combarra and my schedule is pretty firm, so why not book ahead? This is my first time traveling abroad alone, so I’ll have enough wide-eyed adapting to do. I want the place I lay my head to be the least of my anxiety.
 
Get a spanish phone number with Airalo. eSim, so no physical SIM card. Easy to use app to add more funds if needed.
I have sent some emails and a few requests through Whatsapp - only a few responses. I am guessing they don't want to deal with next year, yet... I didn't want to bombard them, if it's more appropriate to wait until December or January. As with everything (ie "what will the weather be like in x month?"), am probably unrealistically looking for THE answer... 😁 Oh well - Thank you to all who have provided relevant input.
 
Last edited:
I tend to book my most important stops first, like in Santiago, and where ever I am starting.
For San Martin Pinario, I booked in Nov. to stay end of May. Borda, I booked in Dec. when ever they opened booking, the rest calmly spent my winter looking at places that appealed to me and slowly filled in my nights. Had my spread sheet with phone #s listed and when they wanted to be contacted to confirm if I booked with them rather than booking dot com. It runs about 50/50 with me and there are some places that only let you reserve with booking dot com as they have been burned so many times by pilgrims not canceling. Say what you want about the booking websites, they are handy to use and for the owner who may not speak 20 different languages, they are very helpful to keep their albergue fully occupied.
 
I have sent some emails and a few requests through Whatsapp - only a few responses. I am guessing they don't want to deal with next year, yet... I didn't want to bombard them, if it's more appropriate to wait until December or January. As with everything (ie "what will the weather be like in x month?"), am probably unrealistically looking for THE answer... 😁 Oh well - Thank you to all who have provided relevant input.
Have you tried booking .com. WA, phone, email are very quaint and an asset when you are stuck but why not just look for instantaneous confirmations with no need to pay yet and clear T and C’s and not depend on mood/workload of those on reception. Hotels advertise on 3rd party sites for a reason!
 
€2,-/day will present your project to thousands of visitors each day. All interested in the Camino de Santiago.
I AM A PLANNER... I was 10 days in on my last camino before I was able to "relax" - that was when I finally had all of my nights booked. Please, do not make this a discussion about "to book or not to book." And yes, I know to try to book direct rather than use a booking site... To each his/her own - walk your own walk and all that.

For me, a legitimate question... and perhaps @wisepilgrim or those with albergue management experience can assist...

Easter is late in 2025, followed closely by the May 1 holiday. I am planning an early April start. When is it appropriate for me to begin contacting the albergues for reservations?

I plan to walk the Portuguese from Lisbon, follow the Litoral, Coastal, and then, Santiago-Muxia-Finisterre-Santiago... [And yes, I am aware of the Espiritual variant, no need to recommend it...]
Discussion not required, narrative says it all.
 
I talked with an albergue owner this trip regarding advance booking. Their plan is to not start taking bookings until March of next year, and then possibly only taking them one month in advance. The amount of work that smaller places have to go through with the reservations is insane. At the first albergue, they shared with me a page from their reservation book, about half the booking had been cancelled because life gets in the way.
 
The 2024 Camino guides will be coming out little by little. Here is a collection of the ones that are out so far.
Exactly like mye plans. I have tried to order, especially for the Easter-days, but the answers are: too early, try again in February.
 

❓How to ask a question

How to post a new question on the Camino Forum.

Most read last week in this forum

Anyone had ever encountered any trouble ot unjust behavior from Hospitaleros? If so, what was it and what to do??
Looking for advice for a friend who is currently on the Frances. He has some dollars that he did not exchange because he was keeping it in reserve but now he needs it and is having trouble...
Why in the world am I planning another camino? Isnt twice enough?
I AM A PLANNER... I was 10 days in on my last camino before I was able to "relax" - that was when I finally had all of my nights booked. Please, do not make this a discussion about "to book or...
I was browsing german jakobswege and happened upon this list of (probably) current albergues on the market: https://www.jakobsweg.de/pilgerherberge-kaufen/. In typical german fashion, all the...

Featured threads

❓How to ask a question

How to post a new question on the Camino Forum.

Featured threads

Forum Rules

Forum Rules

Camino Updates on YouTube

Camino Conversations

Most downloaded Resources

This site is run by Ivar at

in Santiago de Compostela.
This site participates in the Amazon Affiliate program, designed to provide a means for Ivar to earn fees by linking to Amazon
Official Camino Passport (Credential) | 2024 Camino Guides
Back
Top