Frequently Asked Questions

Airfare
The best way to get to the Camino is to land in Madrid. Please reach out to me for help if you're unsure how to get there.

After the Camino
Santiago has a great airport so you can fly back to Madrid, on to Paris, London, Rome, wherever your heart desires. There are also trains and buses. Feel free to ask for help.

Accommodation
Here's where costs can vary. We will be staying in small hotels (roughly on average $50 per person per night) and at least one albergue which is a hostel with bunk beds and shared bathrooms (roughly $7/night) - in all depends on what's available. In some places, you can get into some really nice, expensive places (the sky's the limit). See the Accommodation section for more details. Conversely, I can help you book into albergues the entire trip if you are more budget conscious.

Food
Most if not all of our meals and refreshments will be at bars - that's the mainstay on the Camino (and in Portugal and Spain in general). You might get breakfast at our accommodation or at the first bar you pass in the morning. Then there's second breakfast. Everything is very inexpensive on the Camino - between breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks, I can't see you spending more than $20-$30 a day at most - depends on how much you drink! Many dinners are "Pilgrim Menu" which cost $10 and are three courses with a bottle of wine. Usually, in the evening we shop for snacks to have in our backpacks for the next day's walking.

Luggage transfer
I've devoted another page to this, but if you send a bag ahead every day, expect that to be roughly $7.00 a day.

Beyond that, there really is nothing more to spend your money on. You certainly don't want to buy anything because you'd have to carry it!

Most of the towns we stop in for the night are small with limited availability so I will be booking for our group. It will be private rooms in small hotels (two people per room) and in the occasional albergue, if needed. There is no option for a private (one-person only) room, since there is such limited availability of beds on the camino and I don't want to take a bed from someone else. At least one night we will get to sleep in an albergue (see info below) but everyone in the past trips have been quite surprised how clean, comfortable, and accommodating the albergues were.

Albergues
These are large dormitories with a shared bathroom and lots of bunk beds. They run around $6-$8.00 a night. They are super clean and come with a variety of offerings - open kitchens, private pools, laundry, some come with dinner, breakfast, etc.. Your guidebooks and apps will detail all the amenities of each albergue.

Two options: If you want to carry a daypack and send a small bag/suitcase ahead every day then I will make the arrangements. This is a very popular offering on the camino - you drop your bag in the lobby every morning, and it's waiting for you at the next hotel that afternoon. These services are safe and reliable, though you should always carry your valuables with you in your walking pack.

You can also mail a suitcase or bag from any place along the Camino directly to Santiago de Compostela and it will be safely stored until you arrive. Luggage transfer to Santiago de Compostela direct completely depends on the size of your bag, but I've never paid more than $20 to have it shipped.

 Backpack
I like my 50l Osprey Aura. I certainly don't fill the entire thing, but I like to have a little extra room for food, supplies, etc. That way I don't have to compress my Patagonia, etc. Whatever size you get, you should have enough room for your essentials (if you're sending a bag ahead every day) with a little extra for food and water.

Clothing
Even if you're sending a bag ahead every day, you want to keep items at a minimum. This is me: 2 shirts, 2 bras, 2 ex-officio underwear, 2 bottoms (1 skort, 1 short), 2 pairs of socks, T-shirt dress which doubles as pajamas; hat.

Inclement weather
You never know what the weather will be like. Last year our apps predicted rain every day and we never had a drop of rain. It can be chilly in the morning and evening, And it can rain out of the blue. I bring a Patagonia puffy coat and a backpack poncho (be sure to invest in a good backpack poncho - not the inexpensive floppy ones).

Walking poles
I'm addicted to my poles, but it's totally up to you. I didn't use poles on my first Camino, got them on my second, and have used them ever since. I like having them for that little extra pull up a hill or support going down. Like the bottle versus bladder conundrum, this is a personal thing.

Water bottle versus water bladder
This is totally a personal choice. I am a slavish devotee of the 1.5-liter bladder in my pack with a tube so I can drink all the time. Dehydration is the number one problem on the Camino. Whether you go bottle or bladder - make sure you carry at least 1.0 liter all the time. And there's freshwater along the way - it's a Western country - you can drink right from the tap.

Questions?
Send me an email and I'll get back to you asap!

Whether you want to walk half a day or you just can't take it and want to stop walking, there's always a way to get to your final destination by the end of the day.

You can sleep in, take a taxi to the halfway point, and start walking midday. Or you can stop at any village, bar, and get a taxi where ever you want to go.

Public buses are also available in certain parts.

You need to monitor yourself and be aware of where you are. If you sit down at a cafe and see that the next village is miles away and you don't think you can make it, then call a taxi there.

BTW - there is no Uber or Lyft in northern Spain. I've tried.

 For the Camino Portuguese, I would recommend: "Camino Portugués: Lisbon - Porto - Santiago, Central and Coastal Routes (Village to Village Map Guide)" by Matthew Harms and Anna Dintaman.

For the Sarria-Santiago route you can buy: "A Camino Pilgrim's Guide Sarria - Santiago - Finisterre: Including Múxia Circuit & Camino Inglés – 3 short routes to Santiago de Compostela" (Camino Guides) by John Brierley.

Apps:

Gronze.com - great app for our routes

The Wise Pilgrim Apps are my personal favorite app, with live GPS and updated accommodations, services, etc. You can download individual routes or all of them.

There are also countless resources on the internet - Stingy Nomad is a good site that I like to use. You could download any information you want to your phone, or to paper.

I would highly recommend travel insurance for a plethora of reasons, but this is completely up to you. If you have a medical condition; if your luggage gets lost along the way; theft; if you couldn't afford to change your transportation plans on the spot if something required you to return home asap; etc. etc. I would caution you to read the fine print of all travel insurance policies before investing in one or the other to ensure it covers exactly what you need.