Camino de Invierno in April 2019 - need to book ahead?

[candocamino]

Hi, I just discovered this helpful forum and have a question about accommodation on the Camino de Invierno in April 2019 (i.e. in a couple of months).

My partner and I are planning to start in Ponferrada on 5 April or thereabouts. We are hoping to finish by 20 April for a family member's birthday.

We'd like to have some flexibility in how we break up the walk instead of determining it in advance, so ideally we won't book ahead. However, I saw that some people suggested booking accommodation in advance when doing the walk in April. Is that actually necessary, or just a cautious approach?

Grazas!

 

[alaskadiver]

Hi, I just discovered this helpful forum and have a question about accommodation on the Camino de Invierno in April 2019 (i.e. in a couple of months).

My partner and I are planning to start in Ponferrada on 5 April or thereabouts. We are hoping to finish by 20 April for a family member's birthday.

We'd like to have some flexibility in how we break up the walk instead of determining it in advance, so ideally we won't book ahead. However, I saw that some people suggested booking accommodation in advance when doing the walk in April. Is that actually necessary, or just a cautious approach?

Grazas!

Look at booking.com for availability during the days you are walking and you will see how booked up they are. I’m walking during Holy Week starting April 17th for 16 days. I’m glad I booked months ago because even then, on some days places were booked almost to capacity. Read the other threads in this section. Many people have addressed this question.
Definitely book something in Santiago for your stay there. You don’t want to be walking around looking for a place on your last day when you’re tired. You are arriving the day before Easter! Good luck!

 

[peregrina2000]

The only caveat I will add to what alaskadiver has said is that booking.com only gets to book a very small number of a hotel's or pension's rooms. So just because there is no availability showing on booking, or any other hotel website for that matter, there can easily be availability when you call or email. That said, Holy Week is busy for walkers, and even on untraveled caminos like this one, there may be a crunch.

Totally agree about booking in Santiago, though! Buen camino, Laurie

 

[candocamino]

Thanks both for the helpful replies.

We've been in Santiago during Semana Santa so we fully appreciate how busy it can get. Luckily, we'll be staying with friends who live there so we don't need to book ahead.

alasaka diver - thanks for the suggestion of looking at other threads. I looked through the forum before posting and saw your helpful itinerary, which prompted my question, and one or two other threads from previous years but nothing more recent. Given how much the popularity of this camino appears to be increasing, I was hoping that the accommodation options might have increased as well too. If you can point me to other threads I missed, that'd be appreciated.

peregrina2000 - thanks for the additional info and the caveat. I think we might just book the first 2 or 3 nights and see how we go from there.

No doubt I'll have further questions soon, but any additional information/suggestions in the meantime would be much appreciated.

Grazas!

 

[peregrina2000]

Given how much the popularity of this camino appears to be increasing,

I don’t think you should worry about numbers of pilgrims being an issue for accommodation.
Just to compare one month’s statistics, April 2017 had 15 and in 2018, 44. Even high season, July 2018 had only 177. That’s just those who went for compostelas, and just those who indicated they were Invierno pilgrims (I am sure lots of people who finished on the Invierno started earlier), but it is a relative indicator of numbers. Even if those numbers suggest an annual tripling, that’s less than 150 for the month. Unlikely to make must of a dent in accommodation availability.
Until the albergue situation changes, I think the numbers are likely to stay very low.

If you haven’t seen the forum guide, take a look. It’s in its 4th or 5th year and is updated every year with a general forum effort. I think you will find that it is all you need.

https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/resources/invierno-forum-guide.535/

Buen camino, Laurie

 

[candocamino]

I don’t think you should worry about numbers of pilgrims being an issue for accommodation.
Just to compare one month’s statistics, April 2017 had 15 and in 2018, 44. Even high season, July 2018 had only 177. That’s just those who went for compostelas, and just those who indicated they were Invierno pilgrims (I am sure lots of people who finished on the Invierno started earlier), but it is a relative indicator of numbers. Even if those numbers suggest an annual tripling, that’s less than 150 for the month. Unlikely to make must of a dent in accommodation availability.
Until the albergue situation changes, I think the numbers are likely to stay very low.

If you haven’t seen the forum guide, take a look. It’s in its 4th or 5th year and is updated every year with a general forum effort. I think you will find that it is all you need.

https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/resources/invierno-forum-guide.535/

Buen camino, Laurie

Thanks Laurie. Yep, I'm in the process of reading through the guide. It is very helpful!