Hello everyone.
It's been a while since I posted here, but I haven't given up on my dream of opening an albergue.
I just came from a long trip to Spain, during which (besides other things), I walked Camino Olvidado & Camino Invierno, and met with a couple of local gestors (tax advisors).
So here I am to update you on my news, and perhaps share some information someone else here can benefit from, should they consider opening their own place on the Camino
.
Let me start with describing the situation & opportunities on Olvidado and Invierno.
1. Camino Olvidado
On Olvidado I found about 10 locations that have no pilgrim place, and would certainly benefit from one. Some of them have other places where pilgrim can stay, some have not. Some of the other places are good, with nice owners and attention to pilgrims, some are mediocre, and some really suck, at least in my opinion--too expensive, bad service, you can feel that owners do not like their jobs, etc.
Anyway, the places I found most fitting on Olvidado for opening an albergue, in order as you can find them on the Camino:
1.
Guenes (end of stage 1 according to the guide) - Has one hotel, but it's not a pilgrim place at all. Expensive for a typical pilgrim budget as well. The town itself is nice, I can imagine a good life there for both solitary person and a family. The only issue can be the air pollution caused by a nearby factory for biomass, against which many locals campaign, demanding either the closing of the factory, or the change in production processes to eliminate the pollution. I cannot tell from my perspective how serious the issue with pollution really is though.
2.
Nava de Ordunte (end of stage 2A), or any of the small aldeas close to the water dam - These are super nice and peaceful locations, but there aren't many houses, and certainly no albergue. Most people following the Olvidado skip this part and head for 2B alternative, going to Villasana de Mena, which is a shame since this water dam surrounded by mountains is definitely one of the highlights of first half of Camino Olvidado.
3.
Villasana de Mena (end of stage 2B) - There is just one "hotel", with no pilgrim spirit at all, and very expensive for a typical pilgrim. Good city with all services, a family can live there happily.
4 .
Arija (end of stage 5) - Next to the big water dam. It has some accommodation options, but when I was there basically everything was closed, except of a Camping near to the beach. I can imagine the place gets quite busy in summer (can be great for someone who likes party atmosphere in summer) but is super quiet in 10 months out of twelve, and it sort of explains why so many houses are for sale there. The Olvidado app shows an albergue in this place, but in reality this is a big albergue for big groups and when I was there it was closed anyway.
5.
One of the small villages between Cervera de Pisuerga and Guardo (stage 9) - This stage is really hard, though the website says it has low difficulty. Well, maybe if it is 20 degrees and cloudy the diffiuclty is low
. But with a typical Spanish weather and minimum shade on this stage, the 40km is really hard. I walked it in one go, but the other two pilgrims that were around took taxi. There are many small villages, some of them super deserted. Lot of cows around as well, which isn't my thing, but someone who's into "ganaderia" may find them attractive. Any village in the middle will do, and I am sure 90% of pilgrims will stay there, instead of attempting the 40 km.
6.
Bonar (end of stages 12A or 12B) - The accommodation options in Bonar are really shitty, and I believe the one where I stayed does not even have a license anymore (since the lady in charge asked only for money, didnt' want a DNI, didn't have a stamp, simply nothing). It is a nice city close to mountains, and I can imagine many people living happily in the town. Quite a few houses for sale as well, in good condition!
7.
Vegacervera (end of stage 13B) - I followed the more mountainous alternatives from Bonar (stages marked "B" in Camino Olvidado guide), and I must say that in terms of nature, they definitely belonged to the very best I've seen on all my caminos in Spain. However, the infrastructure is lacking. There was no place open in Vegacervera (not counting Casas Rural which you have to book all alone, for prices like 500 euro/night), and the place will benefit a lot from pilgrim albergue.
8.
Magdalena (end of stages 14A and 15B) - Has two hotels, both close to the road, really uninspiring location and staff. I didn't like the place at all, but that doesn't mean someone else would not like it, and if they do like it, there's definitely a room for an albergue.
- From Magdalena onward the situation is fine, with good places to stay and albrgues that are really open and functioning (Fasgar, Iguena, Congosto...)
Having walked this way I came to a conclusion that
it will always remain a Camino few pilgrims walk--due to the nature of the way, lack of infrastructure, some really hard stages, and also because it is a long Camino...
Doing it without speaking Spanish would be extremely hard as well, hence I do not see many foreigners choosing this way. And this isn't going to change, considering all other Caminos of similar distance pilgrims can choose from.
Now, this isn't a bad thing! I mean, we certainly do not want all Camino's to become as crowded as Frances, do we?
Having said that though, with the goals I hope to pursue with my future albergue & type of life I hope to live in Spain for half of each year,
it just isn't a fitting way for me to be on... My idea isn't to host 10-20 pilgrims a month, and have many days with nobody
. Which would certainly be the case on Olvidado, and, at least in my opinion, it will stay that way forever.
I still wanted to post the locations though, because I can envision that for many people exactly this model can be attractive: Living in a house in some nice peaceful location, for example with the family, or as a couple, and from time to time host 1-4 pilgrims in the house
.
So, if anyone of you looks for that, I hope you find my list of fitting locations useful (and feel free to ask here or send me a PM if you want to know more details about any of these locations, I made a lot of notes on the way
).
2. Camino Invierno
- I originally didn't plan to walk this way, though some people recommended it in the thread here. But a friend of mine I knew from other Camino (who walked almost all ways in Spain) recommended it to me while I was on Olvidado, and I decided to give it a go. At the end of the day, it was also a fitting connection to Olvidado, unless I wanted to follow Frances from Villafranca to reach Santiago.
I must honestly say that
this way surprised me positively. From my past Caminos, I always associated the interior of Galicia with many cows--animals you can see and smell everywhere, and if you stop paying attention to the way, you will step into the sh*t very soon
.
Now, I certainly respect this way of living (though I do not drink milk and do not eat meat), but it just isn't my thing, or type of place where I would like to live for any prolonged period of time...
On Camino Invierno though, especially during the firs 5 days, I got to know another face of interior Galicia: forests, rivers, lot of small industry. And I didn't see a single cow in the first 4 days!! (first 5 stages according to Gronze). I certainly liked it, and picked a couple of small locations on this way, adding them to my list of possible localities for the albregue:
1.
Between A Rua and Quiroga, due to the nature of stages and distances in between them, this strech will really benefit from having an albergue,
2.
Between Monforte and Chantada (a hard stage indeed and nothing in between, again I saw pilgrims taking taxis or staying in the lone Casa Rural along the way).
3. I can imagine also having an albergue in
Pobra de Brollon, but talking with the locals I understood the municipality will soon open an albregue in the village (much needed in my view), and hence it makes no sense trying to open another one there.
Following this way, I came to a conclusion that
it will grow in popularity. First of all, it has an ideal length for a working person, or basically for anyone who cannot leave their home for a month. Can be done in 2 weeks including flights to and from Spain.
Secondly, Galicia presently invests a lot in promotion of this Camino, it isn't particularly hard, people from Frances can drop there easily from Ponferrada without any detours. And most importantly, there is decent infrastructure in place already (in contrary to Olvidado), and some excellent albergues/hostels along the way with English speaking hosts.
Considering everything,
I believe I could run on Invierno the type of albergue I'd love to run for pilgrims, and that's why I will definitely check some properties for sale in this zone once I am in Spain for the purpose of buying the house.
3. Gestors (tax advisors) & running the donativo albergue
Should anyone of you consider doing the same in the future, you may find this interesting. I had a paid consultation with one gestor with great reputation, and met another one by accident while walking the Camino (got a free consultation from him
).
I discussed many things with the gestors, such as steps of buying a house in Spain as a foreigner (EU citizen), difference of buying it as a company and as a prtivate individual, tax burden & other fees depeding on whether or not I become a tax resident of Spain, the ideal model for me, considering my source of income (so I do not give away 50% of profits to government), etc, etc. So the talk wasn't only about the albergue.
When it came to the running of the albergue itself, both gestors said the same: If it is a real donativo albergue (not donative 10 euo in brackets type), and you do not touch the money, you do not have to do anything.
According to them, it is
basically as if you were hosting a family member in your house. So no need to pay any fees, no need for emergency exit signs, no need for any registrations, even not sending guest data to Guardia Civil (I asked about this point specifically).
Having said that,
walking the Camino and staying in some donativos, I observed a different reality. Sometimes I had a chance to speak with the owner/host and sometimes I did not, but I realized a few things:
1. It makes a lot of difference whether the donativo (or albergue in general) is privately run, run by a municipality, or "run by the church". Places run by the church seemed to me to not follow any rules really...
I also stayed in some municipals (not donativos) where I am sure if a sanitary control came they'd close the place. Or in one where nobody came, and I could have written any details in the guest registry (or none), and believe the person in charge simply kept the money and said nobody stayed there.
2. It is not true that you do not need to do anything as a donativo, privately run. You still have some obligations (and certainly have to make the guest registry), though it seemed to me the scope of them is not as broad as a typical private albergue has (which charges pilgrims money for their stay). I just wished the person I talked to there were more talkative and shared more details with me, but it wasn't the case...
3. Everything considered, this mystery remains unclear to me . Once I travel to Spain again in autumn (trying to buy a property), with the help of my Spanish connections (people I know in person) I will try to arrange some face to face meeting with some owner of a donativo place, and perhaps also with someone from one of the Camino associations who also may shed some light on the issue.
But it certainly doesn't discourage me, and I may simply solve the puzzle on the go. Based on what I saw in other private donativo places, it took the people less than a year from buying the house to opening the donativo albergue, so it cannot be that hard
.
Still, I found it a bit puzzling that both gestors I talked to gave me information that didn't really align with the reality I found while staying in the albergues. But it is what it is...
So, that's how things are right now. Should you have any questions, do not hesitate to ask. I hope what I shared here will help someone who hopes to start an albergue one day
.
For me, if no catastrophe happens in my life,
I plan to travel to Spain again in October. During the trip I will take necessary steps to be eligible to buy a property in the country, visit different houses in my chosen locations (on the Invierno and elsewhere), and hopefully eventually buy one house, and start preparing it for being operational in 2023 season.
Thank you for reading these lines, and I hope you all experience a wonderful Camino this year (if you haven't walked one already).
, so here I hope to get more of a first-hand advice 
. I had no idea this community was so active, and you totally flooded me with useful responses. I already see opening this thread was an excellent idea, and I could do nothing better at this point of my project. Responses below:
Fuji is very excited to hear that!
. But thanks for your message.
