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would love to talk to you more about it...the thot went through my mind today when someone told me I would suit the life perfectlyHey!
I am Natacha, Belgian, on the same search to buy, rent, run or whatever ... an albergue on the camino, though i had the primitivo in mind (Oviedo-Melide)... i liked the primitivo at once, and mostly, there is a shortage of accommodation there (especially between Grandas de Salime and San Roman Da Retorta).
I was planning to be hospitalera voluntaria next month, i am subscribed in het spanish federacion de associaciones de amigos del camino de santiago, but not sure of a place. If i don't get one, i'll find one myself i guess, by writing some existing albergues.
September i wanted to go on the spot, networking, talking to municipalities and churches, hoping to find an empty building, to rent or buy. And convert it to a nice little albergue.
Slowly slowly taking it step by step...
Any help or tips are welcome, as well are people to share this project with, as my own financial resources are limited, or whatever kind of help you think of...
I did write an email two weeks ago, tried to follow up on Facebook, no reply in both cases. 10,000 Euro for an 45 beds albergue seems extremely low so I wonder what the catch is ... SYAn ad for an albergue for sale on the Camino Frances for €10 000 has been on Facebook. email: ventaalbergues@gmail.com
Its probably in need of repair but thats not a biggy... or its gone into receivership? Either way I would be so interested in teaming up with a couple people and being a part of it all. I honestly have nothing holding me to Canada anymore and I really...even before I've been there (noticed someone else saying this) want to be a part of the Camino on an ongoing basis...part of the journey that so many take...there to love and feed and help people find themselves on the Camino. I will try to email that address too. See what I can find on google/adds etc. And I too care nothing about making money...it is so not about that. I just have a huge overwhelming feeling that I may not be able to leave.I did write an email two weeks ago, tried to follow up on Facebook, no reply in both cases. 10,000 Euro for an 45 beds albergue seems extremely low so I wonder what the catch is ... SY
me alsoMe too.
I did write an email two weeks ago, tried to follow up on Facebook, no reply in both cases. 10,000 Euro for an 45 beds albergue seems extremely low so I wonder what the catch is ... SY
The number of English-speaking pilgrims is growing but does not rule the Camino, and they do not all us the Brierley guide. German guidebooks have similar stage ends. The single page handout from the SJPdP Pilgrim Office has stages very similar to Brierley. The very popular French language Miam Miam Dodo has continuous maps, so does not really lay out stages. Most of Brierley's end points are logical based on distance and accommodations, so he is not really to blame. He must be quite happy, though, to have increasingly large print runs sold out each year, so will gladly take any blame if it sells books.with everyone filing out after Brierley and walking the Camino he set out.
And just to throw in my own 2 cents. I suggest to anyone that is dreaming about starting up or taking over an albergue to get some hands on experience as a hospitalero. Information can be found in the subform Hospitaleros.
There is no such thing as a free meal in this "business".
Thats what I am doing before I leave. There are a few courses that one can take...
...
The most useful course you could take is a Spanish course - unless you are fluent already. General skills that come in handy for hospitaleros are more languages (French and German in particular), first aid and, in some albergues necessary, cooking, SYYes I am enquiring about it at the moment. I am hoping that there will be something I can take before I go because I won't be back in my own country for 6 months after...There is one in Victoria hopefully in the spring...and I will be contacting them.
...In my opinion it is one of the best places on all of the caminos...
When I walked the camino Frances route last time in 2011, we stopped here for the night ( we had started in Belorado that morning ). We arrived early enough to grab a late afternoon lunch at the first restaurant as you enter the small hamlet basically opposite the albergue.I stayed with Jacqueline at La Hutte in June, so she has not sold. I don't know if she is still selling. The albergue was nearly empty, but I stayed in her hostal, which was half-full. The food was very good. The tours of the Atapuerca dig leave from the new visitor center in Atapuerca as well as the museum in Burgos, so tourism in the village may be on the upswing. There were at least two new restaurants in town, which is a good sign. The location is mid-stage for the guidebooks, so pilgrims just walk on through. The latest scientific information is that the dig site was occupied about 1 million years ago, pushing back the earliest human remains in Europe by quite a few years! It is an amazing discovery on an abandoned railroad line. I met a Spaniard in Santo Domingo de Silos who played in the caves as a youth; another small world event on the Camino.
I think the opportunity is interesting but the "downside" is its proximity to Burgos. That's just about the time I was ready for a hotel break! The town of Murias de Rechivaldo has the same problem. You'd like to stay there but you just spent an overnight in Astorga.
Fraluchi has an excellent point here and I fully concur. I actually had long conversations with a young German woman last year on my CF, about her dream of running an albergue. While she impressed me with very sound and sensible ideas regarding location, operation, etc., I found that she nursed a hopelessly romanticised B-plan.There are plenty of albergues for sale on the Camino Francés. Mainly because the owners' sentimental enthusiasm overruled a logical and essential "business" approach. Whether one likes it or not, any "business" must have a chance to generate income in order to cover costs and at least generate a break even (after repairs, maintenance, taxes, interests, etc.). Acquiring an existing albergue (or hostal/hotel for that matter) needs exhaustive investigation, which professional operators can affirm. Wouldn't you do the same before buying your ideal home?
There is no such thing as a free meal in this "business".
local rumor has it the shiny new Albergue de los Templarios on the way into Terradillos de los Templarios is also for sale. It´s only been open for two years, has solar hot water, restaurant, swimming pool, etc. Just needs a bit of character, really...
Reb.
.........
You buy a property for $$ @ % for so long.
After you spend years doing it up, its now lovely
The bank then says ........we want 50% deposit, not the 20% you paid....hello money spent on renovations......
We also want the loan repaid in 12 years not 20years........hello.............repayments double.........plus the extra deposit..a bit short we are
Thats whats happening in Spain ......................all over the country.
If you want a good buy , know a bank manager who deals in receiverships.
I have almost no money to buy anything aside from a bocadillo here and there. BUT I've a strong back and can work like the dickens. I love to cook. I'll work for room and board. I thought Atapuerca was amazing! I lived in the American Southwest hiking all over the desert and there is evidence of humans going back tens of thousands of years. I loved it! Bow drill fires anyone? I can teach that too. Other primative skills? There could be a whole new outdoor education piece to this too.How about Camino Albergue Co-Op? Essentially that's what we are talking about creating. A co-op albergue. It's a thought....
Wow, 10 albergues for sale??? With pilgrim numbers rising? Don't understand that...Location! Location! Today's Mundicamino reports a new real estate agency listing properties for sale along the camino.
MM
Each of them has indeed a history and are up for sale since quite some time. When I look at the prices published by the agency, and consider the financial aspects of a hospitality operation (apart from the aspects which David - above - has put in such a colourful and realistic way ) as an "albergue", I wouldn't touch any of the properties with a "walking stick".There are some interesting properties on that list, ones that I thought were committed family operations. The motivations to sell must be a varied as the locations.
Mundicamino reports that the owner of 'La Hutte', the first hostel opened in Atapuerca, plans to put it on sale, as well as rural tourism center annexed after ten years as an entrepreneur and hospitalero.
Jacqueline Vezi is already thinking about retirement. She was a pioneer in opening a hostel for pilgrims in Atapuerca, 'La Hutte' and rural tourism center has decided to close attached after ten years dedicated to service, first as a pilgrim and then as an entrepreneur.
"If I can sell, sell. Now there is much competition and it is very difficult. Here there are three or four winter months when we do nothing, but the costs remain. Winter is very hard, "She says with resignation. Their children do not want to continue with the school management of rural tourism and pilgrims' hostel that her parents launched a decade ago, when the pilgrims slept in the open in a district that was then beginning to spread internationally the importance of its archaeological sites.
"I am at an age to think about retirement, I'm tired, so the solution is to sell," says Jacqueline, who acknowledges that future Visitor Reception Center at Atapuerca and the Museum of Human Evolution in Burgos represent a hope for many employers in the area, and perhaps not for her.
The original enthusiasm for the project is worn, although there is the memory. "I had three times the French Way and find this house, I said, something can be done with it. It was purchased and completely changed ".
Together with her partner they decided to open a shelter for pilgrims and now has capacity for 18 people in bunk beds in a unit once used for farming and ranching. "The pilgrims did not have to sleep in Atapuerca, they did in the street, under trees, because the only place where there was shelter Olmos de Atapuerca, was a municipal, but had to depart. Many preferred to spend the night outside to walk more miles, "she recalls.
The following year she created a rural tourism center with eight rooms and canteen, which was also the first infrastructure of this enclave catering Burgos. "There were two restaurants but nothing to stay, and it came very well to people," he said, adding that he regretted never change his work as a French teacher in the capital of Burgos by a full-time to his new task of corporate and hospitable.
"Knowing the needs of pilgrims and I was perfectly done, knew he could not continue to give and attend this class. It was impossible, can not be in two places at once. He was also a private academy, and had to quit, "he explains.
Many pilgrims feel his departure for the hospitality offered them from massaging their aching feet after many hours of effort to clean up the blisters. "I've never gotten into the privacy of anyone. If they have wanted to tell his life was his decision, but I've never bothered with intrusive questioning. I think I've been very respectful, "Jacqueline summarizes its attitude in this time of work, which, he says, this has been the worst winter. "It had not happened, was no one, not pilgrims or tourists. You see few people, and who comes to visit the sites brings the thermos and sandwiches. The crisis looks, feels, is there. "
So confident that "spike" the situation with the arrival of pilgrims this Holy Year, and grant them "a little oxygen," because "the last Jacobean also said they would come many did not, were even less than the previous year. "
Because, in his view, the traditional route between San Juan de Ortega and Atapuerca "is not sufficiently well publicized." He believes that "propaganda is poorly made or poorly focused." "The people of this area we feel and suffer every day," laments almost dejected.
Jacqueline will continue in her post this Jacobean, but next year may be another face and other hands those who attend to the pilgrims, who will certainly not forget the French who arrived in Atapuerca to make them walk a little easier.
Would you like to buy a nice albergue? CASA DE LA ABUELA IN LOS ARCOS,contacto@casadelaabuela.comEach of them has indeed a history and are up for sale since quite some time. When I look at the prices published by the agency, and consider the financial aspects of a hospitality operation (apart from the aspects which David - above - has put in such a colourful and realistic way ) as an "albergue", I wouldn't touch any of the properties with a "walking stick".
The subject arose already a few years ago, and at the time Rebekah put her finger on the "sore" with wise advice.
It is a "nice" place, mainly because of its young owners, a good location and efficient set-up. But it has its heavy price with the chores which David (above) so realistically painted. They have been exemplary hosts on the Camino.Would you like to buy a nice albergue? CASA DE LA ABUELA IN LOS ARCOS
I wondered what the heck that place was when I walked through it! You have described it perfectly!! It freaked me out a little actually...Funny story. It was raining and cold when my wife and I walked through Cirueña last year. We were particularly somber for some reason. I mumbled to her, "This looks like a prison camp…" She laughed and replied, "How'd you do that? You just read my mind?" It looked like an American suburb had failed and I didn't feel at all disappointed as we walked into the village center and returned to the real Spain.
I wondered what the heck that place was when I walked through it! You have described it perfectly!! It freaked me out a little actually...View attachment 13768 View attachment 13769
I wondered what the heck that place was when I walked through it! You have described it perfectly!! It freaked me out a little actually...View attachment 13768 View attachment 13769
Oh and my Spanish is excellant.
Hello! I am happy to see there is some renewed interest in this idea. Starting an albergue is something I have been actively working on since I walked the Camino at the end of last year. I have been in Spain/Portugal/France for some time now speaking with other albergue owners, volunteering as a hospitalero and looking for the right property along one of the Caminos. I've learned that there are plenty of legal hurdles, but it is possible for a non-European to remain in Spain and set up an albergue without investing 160k for residency. In terms of real estate prices, unfortunately being on the Camino inflates the price of buildings considerably, although renting is an option as well.
If someone is also seriously considering an albergue project and interested in potentially joining me, I would love to talk more, as I am currently pursuing this venture alone. My email is elanweisz@gmail.com, please send me a note if you'd like to talk more. I'd also be happy to refer you to some albergues for sale that I've looked at if you are interested in that route.
Amerigrino has not visited the Forum since posting this thread. You may need a different partner with a more sustained interest. Be sure to read about Spanish bureaucracy before acquiring anything but a turnkey operation.I´ve been thinking the same since doing my camino in ´10 & ´12
Not quite on topic, but this hospitalero was the smartest one around in my opinion, prefering to do laundry for us, rather than having us make a mess he would then have to clean up. He gives you a mesh bag upon arrival, you bring it back to him, and a couple of hours later your clothes magically appear clean and folded. With young children needing to go to school, I am not surprised they want to head back to Madrid. Pitty though that it will the end of that family's history in that house and village.Would you like to buy a nice albergue? CASA DE LA ABUELA IN LOS ARCOS,contacto@casadelaabuela.com
Would you really want a refugio? Really? ... Surely much better and much more fun would be to run a lunch and first aid stop, where pilgrims stop and laze around for a while. Early mornings and evenings would be free time - you could stay closed whenever you needed to be elsewhere ... just a thought.
Dear Falcon,Amerigrino has not visited the Forum since posting this thread. You may need a different partner with a more sustained interest. Be sure to read about Spanish bureaucracy before acquiring anything but a turnkey operation.
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAFalcon hasn't posted on the forum since posting his last comment
Dear Falcon,
I have an impression that most of the time you are not reading posts that have been posted before yours really well. For example, happened several times when I was the first to answer with a link and as third, fourth or... poster you've posted the same link(s)
In this reply of yours you wrote: "Amerigrino has not visited the Forum since posting this thread" and less than 6 hours were in-between. Wow, poor guy maybe went to bed or whatever... Only Chuck Norris could do more I guess... Did you wanted to say anything about OP with that???
K1
Rebekah, you have your finger on the pulse . . .local rumor has it the shiny new Albergue de los Templarios on the way into Terradillos de los Templarios is also for sale. It´s only been open for two years, has solar hot water, restaurant, swimming pool, etc. Just needs a bit of character, really...
Reb.
So glad to read this. We are quick to judge when someone does not post back.Oh, and as for Amerigrino: He stayed here with us for a while, he visited a long list of available albergues, he talked to all kinds of people all over the caminos, and in the end he decided to not go into the albergue business after all.
After a stint as a wildlife ranger in Florida, he now is working for a natural foods marketing concern in Portland, Oregon. He is a brilliant young man, and I wish him well.
I remember it different. Well, it was 4 years since I was walking that stretch so I might be mistaken. But in my memory this albergue is only some 50mts after the cemetery on the left at the entrance to the village. So I think it is not so isolated, but have no real recolection of what else one can find in the village though. Nothing much else I guess...If I remember correctly, this albergue is an isolated place, outside the nearest pueblo:
https://alberguelostemplariosing.wordpress.com/
https://alberguelostemplariosing.wordpress.com/the-pictures-of-the-path/
I remember I passed it and thought that if I went there, there nothing else than the albergue there. When I settle for the day, I like to walk around and have a look at "my" place for the evening/night.
Our advice since 2010 in respect of this subject on the Forum may also have played a role in his decision taking. Even if not, he's a wise guy![...] as for Amerigrino: [...] he visited a long list of available albergues, he talked to all kinds of people all over the caminos, and in the end he decided to not go into the albergue business after all.