Candasnos - information on accommodation options?

[timr]

I can see that this subforum gets very little traffic, and yet there is some very usefu information here as well.

I am hoping to walk from Loyola to Manresa starting at the end of the month. I think the extraordinary weather will still allow the early stages over the mountains.

I am looking for any recent information on one of the later stages.

Has anyone stayed in Candasnos recently - ie this year?. It looks like El Pilar bar/restaurant is not providing beds. I have not been able to contact them yet.

Then the other option is 2km further on at Hostal Cruzanzana. Although this gets good mention in the past, the current reviews on Google [and I do treat these with caution] are pretty bad. Maybe there has been a change of management?

I can see two potential workarounds.
1. Evening bus from Candasnos to Fraga. Then (if strong) morning bus back and walk back to Fraga next day.
2. Stay in Peñalba, arrive early, taxi to Candasnos and walk back. Stay night. Taxi back to Candasnos next morning and walk to Fraga.

Has anyone any useful insights? I would like to 'walk every step' as much as it is practicable. But it is not always practicable.

 

[AlanSykes]

After reading some slightly hectoring posts about the need to answer the exact question posed, I'm a bit hesitant to reply, as my stay in the Cruzazana near Candasnos was 2 years ago, 2 years ago and one day, to be precise. It was a little grim (cockroaches or earwigs in the bath etc). The food seemed fine, but I hadn't seen the cockroaches at that point. The complete lack of light pollution made the stars gloriously bright, and I also enjoyed a murmuration of starlings, so it certainly wasn't all negative.

If I ever return to the lovely Monegros desert, I think I'll probably follow your suggestion and stay in Peñalba, which looked much more inviting than Candasnos. Bujalaroz is another delight - I stayed at El Español, highly recommended, not least for its outstanding "buffet libre".

 

[timr]

Thanks so much @alansykes - no hectoring here but i know what you mean! Thanks for many interesting posts on many topics over the years also.

It seems that there has indeed been a change of ownership at La Cruzanzana - I got the old owners on one of the telephone numbers I found. And there are a large number of complaining reviews on Google in fairly recent times. But then people who are happy often don't bother.

Cockroaches, snakes, bedbugs, men with axes - honestly I don't worry too much if it is just for a night. That is life 24/7 for all too many people. I have stayed in worse.

I did enjoy one comment in the reivews..... "When we woke up we opened the window and there was a kangaroo in the garden!"

I asked the same question in the FB group this morning and received encouragement. El Pilar is not available so La Cruzanzana is the only real option [it is easier for me when there is no choice] but it is open, though perhaps without a restuarant. I got the previous owners on a number I found. I reported that wrong number to Gronze and 10 minutes later they had updated it to current number. How impressive is that?

And right this minute I see a Whatsapp coming in from the current hotel management - maybe that is too strong a word.

I had already pencilled in El Español, so I am happy to have your recommendation.

Tim

 

[timr]

Just in case anyone comes across this thread far into the future, I will just add what I found (writing in October 2023).

I got useful replies from the CI Facebook Group, but I always find it difficult to rediscover replies on FB. [Do young people not have this problem? ]

La Cruzanzana has changed hands sometime in the past year.

El Pilar is not providing rooms and is not always open.

La Cruzanzana is not catering for the luxury end of the tourist market. However, it is the only straightforward option for accommodation and does reply to Whatsapp https://www.gronze.com/aragon/huesca/candasnos/hostal-cruzanzana

I am not 100% clear about the food situation. I think the 'restaurant' is not open, but 'hay comida disponible'. I suppose anywhere can manage a bocadillo.

My intention is to stay there for a night next month. I will report back. Still hoping to see the kangaroo....

 

[VNwalking]

Still hoping to see the kangaroo....

I as well, so we at home can enjoy A Marsupial Tale.

Buen camino, Tim, kangaroos or no kangaroos! But without cockroaches, snakes, bedbugs, and men with axes.

 

[Sitkapilgrim]

Any update on lodging, food and kangaroo sightings at Hostal Cruzanzana? I’m hoping to sleep there tomorrow night and they are not yet responding to my phone inquiries.

I’m not worried yet. I think there is always that late afternoon bus on if there really is nothing in Candasnos, though hopping on the bus is not a skill I have perfected while walking caminos.

 

[timr]

There is nothing in Candasnos. It is a bit of a ghost town. But La Cruzanzana was functioning last Novermber!
Whatsapp +34 681 16 15 80
The bar functions during the day, and they can rustle up a bocadillo.
A different barista came on in the evening, carrying with him a hot meal for me.
The animals in the zoo have all gone, with the change of owndership.
It is a most extraordinary building, in solid rock, which will still be standing in 1000 years!
How far have you got? Are you walking all the way to Bujalaroz, or getting the bus? I got the bus from Venta de S Lucia to Bujarlaroz, then backwards the next day and then walked back to Bujaraloz. Getting the bus was not difficult - providing you get to Venta in time. It came about 1650.

 

[timr]

I’m not worried yet. I think there is always that late afternoon bus on if there really is nothing in Candasnos, though hopping on the bus is not a skill I have perfected while walking caminos.

If you get to Candasnos it is only about 2km further to La Cruzanzana. You won't need the bus for that bit.

 

[Sitkapilgrim]

There is nothing in Candasnos. It is a bit of a ghost town. But La Cruzanzana was functioning last Novermber!
Whatsapp +34 681 16 15 80
The bar functions during the day, and they can rustle up a bocadillo.
A different barista came on in the evening, carrying with him a hot meal for me.
The animals in the zoo have all gone, with the change of owndership.
It is a most extraordinary building, in solid rock, which will still be standing in 1000 years!
How far have you got? Are you walking all the way to Bujalaroz, or getting the bus? I got the bus from Venta de S Lucia to Bujarlaroz, then backwards the next day and then walked back to Bujaraloz. Getting the bus was not difficult - providing you get to Venta in time. It came about 1650.

If you get to Candasnos it is only about 2km further to La Cruzanzana. You won't need the bus for that bit.

Hotel Cruzanzana is open (at least for me) and I just enjoyed the trickle of a hot shower in the one bath room down the hall that gets hot water. Christopher, the operator here is quite nice - a Nicaraguan who has lived in Cuba, then Sioux City Iowa, and now Spain for the last several decades. He never did answer my multiple phone calls and messages over the last two days. But the bartender of Hostal El Español was able to get him on the phone easily last night and arrange my reservation. And what a place this is! If I want to study biochemistry or the history of epidemiology, the textbooks in English are right outside my door in the long bookcases lining the wide hall.

I only started my Camino in Logroño, as I was too worried about Spain’s cold spell with severe winds in the mountains at the time I was ready to start this Camino. So I skipped the beautiful mountains. I find as I get older, I worry more about mountain walking in the winter. Whatever, no regrets about that.
After Zaragoza, I walked to El Burgos de Ebro to stay in the tiny but perfect municipal albergue there. Then realizing that the pension in Pinar de Ebro was closed (which is the only was I could have gotten to Venta in time for the bus) - I have developed a leg problem which has slowed me down - I took the morning bus back to Zaragoza, spent 4 hours enjoying the Goya museum, and then the afternoon bus to Bujaraloz. This is my first bus adventure in all the caminos I’ve walked, and it definitely feels odd, but again, whatever. Today was a beautiful walk with the rosemary in bloom and the rabbits hopping.
I’ve been promised food at 6:30. Now, I am told is siesta time. This place is dead.
In Candasnos the only bar open was in the centro social, down a street to the right before the church, and a half a block past the ayuntamiento. And no food, just a good coffee, and conversation. Folks there insisted I get a nice sello at the ayuntamiento so I did.

Thanks for your encouragement that this place would be open for me. I'll see this evening if the bar part of this business opens up, or whether it is just me.

 

[timr]

Very happy to hear that you got there in one piece. And yes I think it was probably a wise move to avoid the mountains in winter.
The Centro Social was open in Candasnos when i passed, on a Friday afternoon.....but had neither coffee nor beer, so I had water.
Christopher I did not meet. He sounds very interesting.
Did you check the "pirates' chest" in the amazing wide corridor? I opened the one outside my room and found a human skeleton!!!
In Bujalaroz I bumped into (by pure chance) the only person I know from Colombia, whom I had last met 20 years ago.
The walk from Bujalaroz was very beautiful and tomorrow's is too and you suddenly come to a point where the desert just stops and you look down to a place that appears to be flowing with milk and honey.
Watch out for the tiny isolated bar on the road before that. It is a apparently a very well know historic place with two elderly characters running it. Despite being in a warmish environment they had a good strong fire going the day I was there. I had lunch.

 

[Sitkapilgrim]

Oh good. I hope it is open. I love places to stop and rest.

 

[timr]

Oh good. I hope it is open. I love places to stop and rest.

It is quoted as being a bit erratic in opening!! But Google says it is open tomorrow.

"Restaurant where scenes from the legendary Jamón Jamón movie were filmed. The place is simple and very cozy. The food is homemade, ..."

ventorrillo v estruch · Calle Antigua Ctra. Nacional, 2, 22520 Fraga, Huesca, Spain

âââââ · Bar & grill

maps.app.goo.gl

You will need cash!! Very friendly.