Trip Planning need help!

[JKreu]

Hello All!

I'm planning on departing for El Camino on August 8 and flying back to the states September 13. I have a few questions....which route is the best to complete in that time frame, while still leaving a couple days to travel afterwards? For transportation to the trail, what city is best to fly into? And seeing as I'm relatively broke, is it at all possible to bring a tent and sleeping bag and treat this more as a camping/backpacking journey, rather than pay to stay in hostels every night? I haven't seen much on people camping on their respective trips. Thanks for the advice in advance!

 

[Kanga]

@JKreu welcome to the forum, I hope you find it useful.

I'm a bit confused. Your avatar says you are planning the Camino del Norte, but this is posted in the Camino Francés. Are you wanting to walk the Norte, or the Francés, or is that your dilemma? Your other questions really depend on which route you want to do. Having walked both I always recommend the Camino Francés for a first camino, but you may have good reasons to start with the Norte.

On both the Norte and the Frances most people do not stay in hotels or hostels, they stay in albergues, which are dormitory style accommodation, costing about 10 euros a night.

 

[JKreu]

Oops, yes I'm still deciding between the two. What are the best airports/transport options for both routes?

And seeing as how I'm trying to spend as little money as possible aside from food and occasionally staying in albergues, is it possible to set up a tent along the majority of the route?

 

[Kanga]

We took a tent on the Norte and hardly used it. I've never taken one on the Francés but I know some people do. Wild camping is generally not permitted anywhere in Spain, and we found that proper campsites on the Norte were the same price as staying in an albergue. Some albergues will let you set up a tent in the garden, but then you would have to pay something to use the facilities. And not all albergues have gardens.

With four weeks of actual walking I would suggest starting in Pamplona if doing the Camino Frances or Bilbao if doing the Norte. Both are easy to get to from Madrid. Bilbao has an international airport, so you might even fly there directly.

 

[Albertagirl]

I hesitate to suggest this, but if you are really short of money, you might budget a certain amount for accommodation and food for each day and put your accommodation amount, and food where meals are provided, in the donation box at each of the donativo albergues (no set charge, pay what you can). The Brierley guidebook for the frances will let you know which albergues are donative. There are some wonderful places. You can cook at many albergues, and share meals with other pilgrims for a very reasonable cost. I have only walked the frances, but from what I know it is better supplied with donativo albergues and albergues with kitchens. You might offer to help with chores, as I understand that this is sometimes an acceptable alternative to paying full charges (when discussed in advance, of course). And the costs of walking the camino are really very modest - see the current thread on daily costs. You could easily manage on 20 euros a day. Santiago is more expensive, so plan to spend fewer days there. Buen camino.

 

[whariwharangi]

Oops, yes I'm still deciding between the two. What are the best airports/transport options for both routes?

And seeing as how I'm trying to spend as little money as possible aside from food and occasionally staying in albergues, is it possible to set up a tent along the majority of the route?

Best transportation options are to figure out where you want to walk and then look up information on how to get there. Let us know when you figure out the first bit.

It is not possible to set a tent on the majority of the route. Wild camping is largely forbidden. The terrain is mainly used for agriculture so there is potential for contamination of equipment. Most albergues have not the space and don't really want you there.

 

[Dave Black]

I have never walked the Norte Route, but I have heard it is very enjoyable and peaceful from friends who have. Although, from friends (From Spain & Portugal) I had met on my camino in the summer of 2014, they had told that the Norte route is very very busy in the August months.

Travel: I am actually in the midst of planning another camino trip departing August 8th and returning home September 21st. I plan on walking Camino Fances from SJDDP to LEON then head north on the El Salvador route and finish on the Primitive from Oviedo to Santiago. From my research and past experience I have found that flying into Paris (CDG) and them flying east Jet to Biarritz (BIQ) and then taking a bus to Bayonne and bus to SJDDP is the easiest and cheapest, although this is for starting the Camino Frances Route. I do not know where you are flying from, but I found cheap flights from JFK to CDG via Norwegian airways..

On my past camino I had camped out a few times, without a tent, sleeping wherever I could when the weather was good. I will have to admit I planned on camping a lot more to save cash, but after walking 20-30 kilometers a day a nice bed, shower, and hot meal won me over quite a bit. The albergues were also a social aspect of the trip I enjoyed too. It was a great place to reconnect with people and meet new people.