Which guidebook did you use?

[daantje]

Hi,

For my research, I would like to find out which guidebooks people have been using along their Camino.

- Which guidebook did you buy/use? And why?
- What information was useful? (And which wasn't!)
- Maps. Which were used? (If any..)
- Local information (hostals, albergues, hotels, cafés, history, etc.) did you find useful, and why?
- Any other extra information you would love to share with me

I would like to thank you very much for your time

Buen Camino!

Daan.

 

[whariwharangi]

I purchased a PDF version of Walking the Camino de Santiago by Bethan Davies and Ben Cole. I loaded it onto my Kindle. The Kindle version I have supports PDF but its not very user friendly; very difficult to scroll around the page after the text is zoomed to a readable font size. So it didn't get much use.

So I also purchased a hard copy of A Pilgrims Guide to the Camino de Santiago by John Brierley. I purchased it because I could purchase it online and get it before my trip. (My decision to go was made with very little staging time.)

I purchased yet another guide for the Camino de Finisterre by John Brierley at a store in Santiago. I purchased it because it was the only guide in English that was available. At 15.50 euro I found it rather pricey considering the book only covers 4 -5 days of walking.

I found Brierley's guides to be very detailed and since the editions were 2013, they were up to date. The maps were used to plan out the days. The information about Albergues was used to decide where to stay. The only part that I didn't care for was the sections that can best be described as mysticism. The book is heavy due to the glossy paper used but it stood up to 50 days of constant referencing. The only suggestion for improvement would be to provide information on which Albergues are likely to be open in off season times. I travelled late October to mid December so open Albergues was an issue.

 

[grayland]

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This is a copy of a thread posted in another forum:
pilgrim-books/topic18781.html