Arriving to Compostela - then what?

[Steve Goods]

Hi guys,

Any suggestions what to do after you arrive to Santiago de Compostela?
I have 7-10 days to spend. And have never visited before.
Any good albergues in the city or around?
Should I stay and do what? Or go north, or into Portugal?
(Im free to leave from any airport)
God bless!

 

[nycwalking]

Visit Pilgrims House. Tour cathedral roof and all. Take train tour of city. Visit museum. Consider walking to Fisterra then to Muxia, that's four or five days. Enjoy.

 

[Scottlovelace87]

I spent 5 days in Santiago de Compostela after my first Camino two years ago. I stayed in a nice hotel for $60 a night, did all my laundry at a nearby laundry mat, toured the cathedral, went to 2 pilgrim services, walked around the city and sampled some great food and wine, met some awesome people and RELAXED/reflected on my amazing Camino vacation It was nice to take some time to sit back, relax and reflect before I went back to my "normal" way of life back in Madison Wisconsin. Just my two cents

 

[Anemone del Camino]

Two days in Santiago and then somewhere else. Cathedral roof top tour is a must, if you are not afraid of heights. The mercado de abastos as well. I enjoy staying at the Fonte San Roque, 3 minutes walk from tne cathedral.

You could then walk on to Fisterra and end in Muxia. I am not a fan of hopping from small town to small town by bus just to get to know it in a couple of hours at the most. If your feet don't hurt, perhaps Madrid, where you can walk around and visit museums for days while staying in the same pension. And even take a day trip to cities like Toledo from there.

 

[SabsP]

Food at Bispo and Petiscos do Cardeal.
The rooftop tour like mentioned.
Any outside terrace watching pilgrims arriving and enjoy the daily activities of the locals.
Visiting the smaller churches and attending Mass.

Etc...

 

[DonaldGimmy]

I spent 3 nights in Porto after my Camino in Nov. of 2015. Beautiful city and great wine tasting and food. It is an easy bus ride from Santiago.

 

[scruffy1]

Santiago is reknowned for spirituality, for the Botafumeiro and for shellfish! Visit the market! Go at lunch time, pick out whatever monster(s)
of the deep you prefer and go to the Bastos restaurant in the market hall not the Bastos 2 upscle one outside between the churches but the one inside the halls. For a minimal fee they will cook anything you selected from lobsters to percebes choose a glass(es) or bottle of wine and pay a fraction of the cost in any restaurant.

 

[domigee]

I definitely recommend walking to Fisterra and/or Muxia. For me it is the perfect ending to walking the Camino after the crowds in Santiago.
Muxia is by far my favourite but it is of course very subjective.

 

[Mark Lee]

7-10 days extra?
Get your compostela.
Go to mass at the cathedral.
Rest up a day and then walk on to Finisterre/Muxia.
and then get back to Santiago and go home I guess....
ultreia

 

[alaskadiver]

If you don't feel like walking you can do what we are doing. We are spending 2 days in Santiago and then renting a car and heading out to the coast. We rented an apartment on the beach and will take day trips along the coast from there. Go scuba diving and kayaking. Then head back to Madrid and go home 6 days later.

We are taking 2 weeks to walk the Primitivo prior to that. 2 nights in Oviedo at the start.

 

[Mark Lee]

If you don't feel like walking you can do what we are doing. We are spending 2 days in Santiago and then renting a car and heading out to the coast. We rented an apartment on the beach and will take day trips along the coast from there. Go scuba diving and kayaking. Then head back to Madrid and go home 6 days later.

We taking 2 weeks to walk the Primitivo prior to that. 2 nights in Oviedo at the start.

I saw scuba shops in Finisterre. Having done all my scuba in Asia and Hawaii, I found that interesting.

 

[Suzanne S.]

Like others have shared, I spent two days in Santiago and then leisurely walked to Muxia and then Finisterre. Unlike some others, I liked Muxia, but found Finisterre enchanting. Then I took a bus back to Santiago (which was my first non foot conveyance in six weeks...yikes!) and spent another two days there before taking the train to Madrid to fly home.

I loved every minute.

 

[alaskadiver]

I saw scuba shops in Finisterre. Having done all my scuba in Asia and Hawaii, I found that interesting.

We're Technical Trimix divers. A different animal from recreational diving

 

[Mark Lee]

We're Technical Trimix divers. A different animal from recreational diving

Yeah, I knew some Navy divers when I was in the military that worked with mixed gases (they also did a lot of re-breather diving). I'd heard that mixed gases found its way to sidewalk diving, but didn't know how popular it was.

 

[alaskadiver]

Yeah, I knew some Navy divers when I was in the military that worked with mixed gases (they also did a lot of re-breather diving). I'd heard that mixed gases found its way to sidewalk diving, but didn't know how popular it was.

Only a very small fraction of divers are qualified at the Trimix level. Look up Global underwater explorers. (GUE) best divers in industry. None of that PADI nonsense.

 

[gwdelmar]

After completing the Camino Frances in 2014 from SJPdP, my wife and I had 10 days free, before returning home. We spent 3 extra days in Santiago, went to Finisterre/ Muxia for another 2 days, and then took an Alsa bus to Oporto, Portugal for the remainder of time, including a stop in Fatima for few hours, in our way down. We enjoyed Oporto so much, that we decided to do another Camino starting from Oporto, which we did this past September/October. It was great !

 

[Anniesantiago]

The Museu de Pobro Gallego is not to be missed. It is a folk museum and is absolutely wonderful.
It is also free, or was when I was last there, and is within easy walking distance from the Cathedral.

Other areas to explore are the newer areas of Santiago - less expensive menus - lots of great shopping - all within walking distance.

For 100 euros, you can share a taxi with up to 3 other people to pick you up at your hotel, take you to Finisterra for an hour or so (plenty of time to see it), then to Muxia for lunch (I love Muxia more than Finisterra), then back to Santiago.

 

[simeon]

I saw scuba shops in Finisterre. Having done all my scuba in Asia and Hawaii, I found that interesting.

is it not very cold?

 

[alaskadiver]

is it not very cold?

Yes the Atlantic (and here in Alaska) water is cold. We wear dry suits. Water temps in Spain are currently in the 50sF.
Some people may choose to wear heavy wetsuits but they are limited to what they can do in those temps.

This is way off topic. Let's not hijack this thread anymore than we already have

 

[NicP]

I'd plan to wait and see how I felt when I get there. My experience was that on arrival to Santiago de Compostella initially I just wanted to relax and rest. Within two days of arriving I started to have difficulty with coming to terms with my Camino ending (it was a longer one) and found walking to Fisterra really useful, as a way of getting my head around the end of the whole process- for me, getting to 'the end of the world' seemed like a useful way to also find the end of my walk. Maybe see how you feel at the time. 7-10 days is a good chunk of time, so you could be flexible...

 

[FranknTexas]

Hi guys,

Any suggestions what to do after you arrive to Santiago de Compostela?
I have 7-10 days to spend. And have never visited before.
Any good albergues in the city or around?
Should I stay and do what? Or go north, or into Portugal?
(Im free to leave from any airport)
God bless!

What about the Roman lighthouse at A Coruña ?

 

[glennb77]

Hi guys,

Any suggestions what to do after you arrive to Santiago de Compostela?
I have 7-10 days to spend. And have never visited before.
Any good albergues in the city or around?
Should I stay and do what? Or go north, or into Portugal?
(Im free to leave from any airport)
God bless!

Hi guys,



3 day´s is all you need in santiago ,everything that is worth to see is near the cathedral
also when you got you're compostelana make a copy and go to the parador left of
the cathedral ,the first 10 people who are there get a free meal with wine .you will not be eating
in the restaurant but in a room near the kitchen .its an old tradition.
if you are still able to walk go to finisterre and/or muxia 3-5 days walk where you also get a
paper called a fisterrana or a muxiana it is similar to the compostelana.

 

[KinkyOne]

As @NicP mentioned wait and see. How do you know exactly on what day you would walk in Santiago? And why? Many things might happen on the way (hopefully just nice ones) and you may like certain town and relaxed there for another (rest) day.

One more suggestion if you fancy more walking after coming to Santiago - take a bus to Ferrol and walk Camino Ingles, it's very nice and much less populated than Frances.

Anyway for me the best ending after rest day in SdC is walking to Muxia and/or Fisterra. See the ocean and the sunset, splurge on a seafood dinner and go home

 

[mspath]

Since home is in Champagne facing a vineyard, at the end of each camino when at last I reached the Finisterre lighthouse I silently gave thanks and treated myself to a flute of true French champagne,toasting all who helped make the journey possible. Watching the sea I slowly sipped savoring the moment; when that glass was empty it was time to turn towards home.

 

[WayWalker]

Hi guys,

Any suggestions what to do after you arrive to Santiago de Compostela?
I have 7-10 days to spend. And have never visited before.
Any good albergues in the city or around?
Should I stay and do what? Or go north, or into Portugal?
(Im free to leave from any airport)
God bless!

Strongly I suggest walking on to Finesterre or Muxia (my fave) as others have said, after a few days in Santiago soaking up the end of THAT pilgrimage. You wont regret it. It's a whole 'nuther Camino.

 

[Scott Peters]

I spent 5 days in Santiago de Compostela after my first Camino two years ago. I stayed in a nice hotel for $60 a night, did all my laundry at a nearby laundry mat, toured the cathedral, went to 2 pilgrim services, walked around the city and sampled some great food and wine, met some awesome people and RELAXED/reflected on my amazing Camino vacation It was nice to take some time to sit back, relax and reflect before I went back to my "normal" way of life back in Madison Wisconsin. Just my two cents

I live in Madison and am headed to two weeks on the last section of the del Norte on May 19th!

 

[Scottlovelace87]

I live in Madison and am headed to two weeks on the last section of the del Norte on May 19th!

Awesome! Good luck. I'm heading back to Spain in September- walking from Burgos to Ponferrada. It's the only stretch I haven't walked.

 

[Older Guy]

First, go to confession, then several Masses, maybe one in your native language.

Then explore and hand out with fellow pilgrims and tourists. It is a great city and university town. there are lots of nice shops and because it is a university town you can find many things at reasonable prices. I am writing this while wearing a pair of dress pants that I had fitted and purchased in Santiago. I only wish I would have bought an extra pair in another color. I contacted the Spanish manufacturer though the internet and they don't ship to the US.