Book accommodation ahead?

[CaminanteKevin]

My son and I are walking from Sarria to Santiago the 3rd week of September. We hope to do it in six stages as we only have a week available. Do we need to book accommodation before we go?

 

[CWBuff]

Hello and welcome to the forum
That's a loaded question here, for some folks are strongly in the "always book ahead" camp and some are "never saw the need and never done it".
Sarria to SdC usually is quite busy being that "the last 100km" Rubicon although it may be less so in the 3rd week of September.
I personally like to book ahead. It gives me a clear destination for a day with a set distance I know I have to cover and thus plan accordingly as well as the peace of mind that there is a bed waiting for me.
If you decide to book ahead, you can pre-book all at once or do it a day or 2 ahead.
Contact albergue directly using email or WhatsApp. You can also use Booking. COM if so desire.
Refer to Gronze. Com or any Camino apps for the list of albergues and other accomodations and their contacts info.

Good luck and Buen Camino

 

[jefferyonthecamino]

My son and I are walking from Sarria to Santiago the 3rd week of September. We hope to do it in six stages as we only have a week available. Do we need to book accommodation before we go?

definitely. or you'll be sleeping rough, or getting up at crazy hours and racing for a bed at one of the municipal albergues.

 

[roving_rufus]

My first question is what day you are leaving Sarria- as Saturday/Sunday/Monday are popular including for several organised tour groups. I passed through Sarria on a Monday at the end of May and stayed in Portomarin that night - and accomodation was well filled including the municipal and the giant 150 bed "dungeon" albergue, (though a few beds were still available there!)
Second- do you want to feel you have a guaranteed place to stay - it's a nice safety net? Or are you someone comfortable just winging it? So are you a risk taker or not?
Third - given you are on a schedule - you kind of know where each day will end with a very small amount of planning. So why wouldn't you take the stress out of a busy section?
Fourth- in some places it may be nearly as cheap to share a room with your son than 2 dorm beds- but generally better to book these in advance

 

[Richmond Gardner]

Busiest month of the year, on the busiest section of the camino. Book it, without delay. My wife and a friend of hers will be in that area at the same time and facilities are filling already

 

[henrythedog]

If you went two weeks later it would be a totally different experience.

 

[henrythedog]

Busiest month of the year, on the busiest section of the camino. Book it, without delay. My wife and a friend of hers will be in that area at the same time and facilities are filling already

Richmond - could you clarify ‘facilities’ - if they’re private rooms on booking.com, that’s not a surprise.

The sheer weight of numbers on the Frances in September will - on the basis of previous years - fill St Jean to Pamplona to or above capacity and make the last 100 a procession; but the vast majority still seem to seek a bed on the day.

We usually get the first ‘everyone panic, there’s a bed race’ posts in early-April and the first week of September

 

[J Willhaus]

There are plenty of beds. Many are not bookable like at the Xunta albergues. That's where we stay. I would book in Santiago though and maybe your first night in Sarria.

 

[lisaandkids]

We recently did our first camino at the end of May with help from the wonderful people on this site. People said that there were plenty of beds and so I chose to go with that advice and not book ahead. In hindsight, that was a bad choice for us. We wanted private rooms (I can't sleep with snorers even with ear plugs). After walking 13-16 miles everyday, I was too tired to walk around the city and find a place to stay. If we used an accommodation app (like booking.com) it would say that there were beds available but when we got to places and asked, they said no rooms even if we booked online ( I don't understand why but that was our experience). My daughters are young adults so I sent them to find rooms and waited in a central area, sometimes for an hour or two, and then we had extra walking. We found this especially true on the weekend. In any event, it was a hassle and during the day's walk I was worried we wouldn't find rooms. Most of the time during the walk we did not have internet service so we couldn't book online even if there was availability. I had my husband book a room one night; when we got to the room, no one was there to let us in so we had to find other accommodations.

If you don't care where you stay and don't mind walking around a bit longer, you would probably be able to find a bed. We plan to walk next June and will book accommodation ahead of time.

 

[CaminanteKevin]

My first question is what day you are leaving Sarria- as Saturday/Sunday/Monday are popular including for several organised tour groups. I passed through Sarria on a Monday at the end of May and stayed in Portomarin that night - and accomodation was well filled including the municipal and the giant 150 bed "dungeon" albergue, (though a few beds were still available there!)
Second- do you want to feel you have a guaranteed place to stay - it's a nice safety net? Or are you someone comfortable just winging it? So are you a risk taker or not?
Third - given you are on a schedule - you kind of know where each day will end with a very small amount of planning. So why wouldn't you take the stress out of a busy section?
Fourth- in some places it may be nearly as cheap to share a room with your son than 2 dorm beds- but generally better to book these in advance

Good point about day of the week. We’re travelling Saturday to Saturday, so it’s looking like booking at least Sarria and SDC would be wise.

 

[Richmond Gardner]

Richmond - could you clarify ‘facilities’ - if they’re private rooms on booking.com, that’s not a surprise.

The sheer weight of numbers on the Frances in September will - on the basis of previous years - fill St Jean to Pamplona to or above capacity and make the last 100 a procession; but the vast majority still seem to seek a bed on the day.

We usually get the first ‘everyone panic, there’s a bed race’ posts in early-April and the first week of September

I was referring to private rooms, and primarily on Booking- so there is more availability outside of that platform. And, as has been mentioned, the municipal allergies may have unreserved beds as well.

 

[Richmond Gardner]

Albergues!

 

[trecile]

My son and I are walking from Sarria to Santiago the 3rd week of September. We hope to do it in six stages as we only have a week available. Do we need to book accommodation before we go?

It really depends on what kind of accommodation you want. If you are fine with sleeping in any available bed, then booking is really not necessary, especially if you stay in towns that aren't the end stages of the guide books, sites, and apps. The Xunta (municipal government) albergues in Galicia do not accept reservations, and the end of September is not as bus between Sarria and Santiago as say, the end of August.