Must you have a Camino Passport to stay in an Alburgue?

[Lance Chambers]

I've done the Frances three times and have three compostelas and not interested in having another one so am hoping I don't have to bother getting stamps and showing a compostela to get a bed.

Is it okay to forget about getting a Camino Passport and can I still get to stay in any/all of the hostel accommodation?

 

[Tia Valeria]

If the accommodation is for pilgrims then as far as I am aware a pilgrim record/passport/credencial is always required. Private accommodation that is not exclusively for pilgrims is presumably OK without a credencial. Personally I would still look for stamps in case the next accommodation required the credencial and was checking that I was walking.

There are many private B&B type places to stay if you really don't want the bother of a credencial.

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

so am hoping I don't have to bother getting stamps and showing a compostela to get a bed.

I know you know but to keep others from getting confused the compostela is what you get at the end of the camino. The paper that gets stamped along the way is the credential.

can I still get to stay in any/all of the hostel accommodation?

Depends on the albergue. Gronze.com will tell you the accomodation and reservation policies of each site it lists.

For example on its Camino Frances stage 6 page it lists and links the Albergue parroquial San Miguel and Albergue Capuchinos Rocamador. If we visit those linked pages we see (among other information):

Albergue parroquial San Miguel
https://www.gronze.com/navarra/estella/albergue-parroquial-san-miguel
Exclusivo para peregrinos: Sí
Admite reserva: No

Albergue Capuchinos Rocamador
https://www.gronze.com/navarra/estella/albergue-capuchinos-rocamador
Exclusivo para peregrinos: No, pero orientado a los peregrinos
Admite reserva: Sí

 

[trecile]

Even if I didn't need one, I would want to have a credential. The stamps in it are the best souvenir of each Camino.

 

[C clearly]

hoping I don't have to bother getting stamps and showing a compostela to get a bed

Bother?! I am thrilled to do it, and prefer to blend in with the pilgrim routine!

 

[jsalt]

can I still get to stay in any/all of the hostel accommodation?

Hi Lance, you must have a credencial (pilgrim passport) to stay in the parochial and municipal albergues (because they are for "true" pilgrims ).

You can stay at the private albergues without a credencial (because they just want your money ).
Jill

 

[MichelleElynHogan]

For me, the Credentiel proves I am on Pilgrimage and allws me to stay with the people I enjoy the most, more Pilgrims, and at a rate that cannot be beat anywhere else.

"trecile," mentioned it is the best souvenir of the trip. It is also the lightest and most packable souvenir that I can think of.

 

[oursonpolaire]

Credentials with their stamps are also useful alibis if you are subjected to a criminal investigation. When asked, for example, where you were on September 15th, you pull out your credential and tell them that you were in Estella and, boy, did they snore.

 

[Kanga]

I don't keep notes when I walk, so the credential is really useful to check on where I was, and where I stayed. Have not used it to get a Compostela for several years now.

 

[Sailor]

My recommendation is to get a credencial from Ivar and have it handy [and stamp it in every town], my credencial is my de facto travel log [I keep no other notes]. Good luck, Merry Christmas, y que la luz de Dios alumbre su camino.

 

[t2andreo]

Bottom line here...there are far more very good reasons to just get a credencial and use it, even if irregularly.

 

[WGroleau]

Even if I didn't need one, I would want to have a credential. The stamps in it are the best souvenir of each Camino.

True, but I just ask them to stamp the page in my diary. I've lost two credenciales. Diary is easier to keep track of.

 

[Margaret Butterworth]

This year I found more and more places were asking to see my passport and they recorded the details on their computer. Maybe this is a Spanish Government requirement. The credential was almost an afterthought.

 

[mspath]

Carry your valid official national passport with you at all times. From time to time in busy large albergues I have been asked to show this as well as the usual pilgrim Credencial. Often if you stop in regular tourist accommodation you need your national passport. Recently in Galician albergues BOTH national identification and the Credencial were required.

For more re carrying national passports and/or id cards see this earlier forum thread--
https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/do-i-need-my-passport.24387/

 

[J F Gregory]

We met a Pilgrim in 2016 who received his Compostella in 2007, but has walked 6 Caminos since an he has all of his passports connected to each other Makes it heavier but impressive, He never received after another Compostella after his original pilgrimage. He is 70+ years old and walks from his home in Hanover Germany. He has pilgrimaged over 12,000 km. When we walk in 2018 I will attach my new passport to the first original one.

 

[Dandabika]

I've done the Frances three times and have three compostelas and not interested in having another one so am hoping I don't have to bother getting stamps and showing a compostela to get a bed.

Is it okay to forget about getting a Camino Passport and can I still get to stay in any/all of the hostel accommodation?

Most albergues required it along the Del Norte and Primitivo, although some of the albergues were not monitored nor was there anyone there to collect the fee. When there is a public holiday, the albergues fill right to the brim with local travellers that get an Official Pilgrim Credencial in order to qualify for cheap albergue accommodations, and that is when without one you're not going to get a bed at any albergue plus all the hotels will be full also. Better to travel with one and use it when it is necessary. It's not a heavy item to carry. Some albergues will check your last stay to see if your not just staying at all the available albergues in the same town or city especially near the beach resorts along the Del Norte route.

 

[Ernesto.IT]

I've done the Frances three times and have three compostelas and not interested in having another one so am hoping I don't have to bother getting stamps and showing a compostela to get a bed.

Is it okay to forget about getting a Camino Passport and can I still get to stay in any/all of the hostel accommodation?

I've done the Frances three times and have three compostelas and not interested in having another one so am hoping I don't have to bother getting stamps and showing a compostela to get a bed.

Is it okay to forget about getting a Camino Passport and can I still get to stay in any/all of the hostel accommodation?

Hi Lance, I personally came to realise that the credential are more important than the compostela (after all, is the one that shows with the date, your passing through the villages and towns towards Santiago)
the compostela at the end is only a piece of paper that everyone gets with nothing else in it, especially if the walk is not meaning to be a pilgrimage, and with lots of us has lost his "holy meaning" About the albergue, in Spain if it is Municipal, the credential are imperative, but if you go private you can do what you like. Buen camino
Ultreia
PS. I got 6 Compostela, 6 from Fisterre, 6 from Muxia and 1 Statuto of Rome, so what????? My boocks of Credentials are the only one to show me what I have achieved in the name of James.
Only on this year Camino I needed 4, it has been very hard but at least now I know that my soul is a bit cleaner

 

[SYates]

... Is it okay to forget about getting a Camino Passport and can I still get to stay in any/all of the hostel accommodation?

Simple answer NO. And what would be the problem/hassle to get and carry one? Buen Camino, SY

 

[filly]

On my first part Camino from Condom in France, my experienced walking partner was unable to join me at the last minute. I had no map, no Credencial... but managed. What I did find is that I could stay in private accommodation and ‘gite municipal’ but paid FULL PRICE and was not treated as a pilgrim. I now always carry a spare Credencial with me to give to anyone, and buy several from the office in Santiago. I value it as a passport and as a token of the walking group I intrinsically feel a part of. Ultreia!

 

[PapaSmurf76]

You must have a credential to stay in an albergue. This shows you are a pilgrim.
Dictionary.com says credential means
"evidence of authority, status, rights, entitlement to privileges, or the like"
Like the right to use lodging provided for pilgrims. Without a credencial you are a tourist looking for cheap accommodation and you should look elsewhere, like a cheap hotel, etc.
It's fairly simple if you think about it.

 

[WGroleau]

You must have a credential to stay in an albergue. This shows you are a pilgrim.

As many others have already answered, it depends on the albergue. Some demand it, some don't, and some have signs saying you must but they don't ask. A credencial shows you are a pilgrim, except whe it shows you're just carrying one to pretend to be a pilgrim. And a pilgrim who loses his credencial does not automatically become a tourist.

 

[PapaSmurf76]

As many others have already answered, it depends on the albergue. Some demand it, some don't, and some have signs saying you must but they don't ask. A credencial shows you are a pilgrim, except whe it shows you're just carrying one to pretend to be a pilgrim. And a pilgrim who loses his credencial does not automatically become a tourist.

So without a credencial (of some form), how does one prove to the hospitalero they are indeed a pilgrim?

Bottom line is sometimes you might get away without one, but why have the hassle of being refused for the sake of €2?

 

[WGroleau]

So without a credencial (of some form), how does one prove to the hospitalero they are indeed a pilgrim?

You don't. But often you don't need to.

Bottom line is sometimes you might get away without one, but why have the hassle of being refused for the sake of €2?

I never suggested not having one. Just clarifying (again) that it is not required at many albergues. Personally, I do suggest having one, because the stamps themselves (as others have also said) are a valuable souvenir. Although I just put them in my diary after I lost my credencial, and no hospitalero ever protested that.