Self-guided tour support companies

[peghaz]

Hello,

6 family members, consisting of siblings and spouses, plan to walk from Porto to Santiago early in June 2016. We aim to arrive in Santiago on June 18 where we will meet our father, who wants to welcome us at the end of our journey. As a group traveling from the US with a specific camino ending date in mind, we want to hire a support company to arrange our lodgings and schlep our luggage. We've received bids from two so far, but we don't know if one is better and more reliable than the other. I would greatly appreciate feedback from those who have used a company for this purpose and are willing to make recommendations. Thank you!

 

[ChefJen]

I walked the entire Camino Frances solo June 2015. It was my first and I chose to use Camino Ways. I think they did a really good job and took the stress off of me, yes you can certainly do it cheaper on your own with some planning. But for my first I really appreciated the suppoert! Buen Camino

 

[mountaingoat999]

Hello,

6 family members, consisting of siblings and spouses, plan to walk from Porto to Santiago early in June 2016. We aim to arrive in Santiago on June 18 where we will meet our father, who wants to welcome us at the end of our journey. As a group traveling from the US with a specific camino ending date in mind, we want to hire a support company to arrange our lodgings and schlep our luggage. We've received bids from two so far, but we don't know if one is better and more reliable than the other. I would greatly appreciate feedback from those who have used a company for this purpose and are willing to make recommendations. Thank you!

Peghaz

I am sure your get many coming on to give advise shortly
looking at camino ways .com as mentioned by the above poster the last 4 reviews recently this year are below
Thanks

“great for the body and soul in your sixties”

Reviewed 6 October 2015NEW
Wonderful way to experience the Camino. Accommodation upgrade was worthwhile. Organisation seamless and adequate meals provided for us as pilgrims! Definitely recommend a pair of hiking sticks which enhanced speed, confidence and enjoyment of each day's walk. Santiago Cathedral was magic. Buen Camino!



http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUs...de_Compostela_A_Coruna_Province_Galicia.html#



“Camino Ways with the Guesthouses in the Country !!!”

Reviewed 5 October 2015NEW
Sept. 21-28. Absolutely Wonderful! We spent 8 days & 7 nights on the Camino starting in O'Cebriero. Everything worked perfectly, the food, luggage transfers, and the lodging. O'Cebriero is incredible, even though less fancy it was magic for us. Triacastelia hotel was very clean. ALL of the Country Guesthouses were way beyond our expectations. An easy call and pick up in 10-30 minutes to very special family owned stone houses, old mills, all from 250 to 1000 years old! Updated with modern facilities. The food was fresh and excellent. We would recommend this to anyone who has the legs for it. About 14.5 miles per day. The 28K day was tiring, but doable - you can split it up. If you'd like to do your own thing, meet people from all over the world, and see all the history, culture, and religion this is for you. A Great price, you don't require a tour guide, but should purchase a good guide book. If you get into a jam, you can take a taxi for cheap. We took the bus from Madrid to Ponferrada, then a taxi to O'Cebriero for 75Euro. Just Do It ... !!!



http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUs...de_Compostela_A_Coruna_Province_Galicia.html#

“Sarria to Santiago”

Reviewed 5 October 2015NEW
We (family of four adults) have returned home recently having thoroughly enjoyed a week on the Camino. All the arrangements were excellent. Accommodation, particularly the country houses, was great as were all our meals. Our bags were waiting for us on our arrival in each new town every day. I highly recommend CaminoWays and look forward to walking some more of the Camino at some stage. Just to mention that we did experience one small problem but a call to the emergency number had this sorted very promptly.



http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUs...de_Compostela_A_Coruna_Province_Galicia.html#

“Leon to Santiago”

Reviewed 29 September 2015
Camino Ways is the way to go! They handled all the details for our 14 night, 13 day adventure. The accommodations were wonderful. The meals were delicious. Camino Ways is very responsive and has excellent customer service. I highly recommend them.


http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUs...de_Compostela_A_Coruna_Province_Galicia.html#

 

[jsalt]

I would greatly appreciate feedback from those who have used a company for this purpose and are willing to make recommendations.

Hi, I’m not sure you’re going to get many answers to your actual question. Most people are on the forum because they are looking for packing lists, where to stay, when to go, etc, in order to do it all themselves. I think there are only a handful here who have actually used a tour company. But hopefully I will be proved wrong, and some more people, like @ChefJen will be able to give you some recommendations. TripAdvisor is probably your best bet; definitely not the companies’ own websites as they are biased! Good luck! Jill

 

[amsimoes]

HI.
I agree with Albertinho.

You can see:
http://www.caminhoportosantiago.com/PT/autoguiado.html
http://www.caminodesantiagoreservas.com/
http://transportemochilascaminoportugues.com/transporte_mochilas.htm
http://www.jacotrans.com/
http://www.tee-travel.com/
http://www.caminhoportosantiago.com/destination/grupos/ptlima-santiago-grupo/
http://www.caminhoportosantiago.com/destination/caminhocentral/porto-santiago-individuais/

 

[Leah C. O'Leary]

I just got home from a CaminoWays organized trip.

Don't let them put you up in a guesthouse named O'Foilwebar GH in the Morgade area. When I arrived at the guest house, the taxi driver and I had to pound on the doors to get in. The place is run by a couple, their baby and her parents. They seemed totally unprepared for a guest (CaminoWays said that I was supposed to call for a pick up and that was the problem). I was the only guest in the inn; I ate dinner by myself in a dining area that could hold 20 - 25 guests. It was at the beginning of my Camino experience and it was a very bad way to start - very lonely. Dinner was a thinly sliced tough piece of beef. Breakfast was a piece of toast, orange juice and coffee. The daughter was pleasant and tried to do everything she could to make my stay pleasant, but the grandfather was gruff and unpleasant.

 

[John Sikora]

I used walkthecamino.com, would recommend them and definitely did not regret anything. I did prearrange the location and had my stuff shipped from place to place. I wanted to GoPro as much of the trip as I could so I knew I was going to have to ship and prearrange. They did, to say the least, a fantastic job so I'd consider them if you haven't already. I can say, that at each location I stopped, they had put me up in one of the better spots to spend the night. Not all were 100% great since the choices at many locations are slim. I also had asked them to limit my walking to 15 miles a day since I wanted to see as much as possible, had to work around a fixed end date, and was in no rush. I had no desire to sleep in bad beds, both force my snoring on other people and theirs on me, and wanted to be well rested. Along the way I met dozens of pilgrims and had conversations with people from about 20 countries. Each person has their own Camino and no one's is any better or worse. What is wrong is to listen to someone else (including me) and force their approach on you. Decide what is best for you body (especially feet), endurance, and spirit and then structure it along those lines.

 

[fraluchi]

No problem on the caminho Portugues. There is no need to sleep in albergues . We mostly slept in hostals but some albergues are a must as you taste the real caminho.

...and the rates are quite acceptable too. But.... don't miss Casa Fernanda one way or the other. Her place and attention was the highlight of our Camino portugués.

 

[Sheilajg]

for my first Camino experience, I used Follow The Camino. I was really happy with everything they provided and the price was right. The accommodations were good and the daily guide was easy enough to follow. The baggage transport was totally reliable. Using the service helped me gain the experience and confidence to walk the Camino Frances solo without using support or services in May and June this year.

 

[DurhamParish]

You might try http://marlycamino.com/ A group of us used them this past April on the CF and found them to be wonderful.

Their Portugues Novo package tour http://marlycamino.com/camino/portugal/ might not be what you want, but you could contact them and see if they could do a custom package for you. They put one together for me (just a series of private accommodations, no guide) for a subsequent trip. I didn't use it (I don't roll that way on my own), but I found it to be complete and reasonably priced.

 

[peghaz]

Thank you, everyone, for your suggestions and comments. I think we are going to use CaminoWays as they offer the coastal route from Porto that we want to walk.

 

[DurhamParish]

Bom Caminho!!!!

 

[Kanga]

A word of caution. On our recent Camino we met a very unhappy lady who had paid a lot of money to have her self-guided tour organised. When we met her she was having to catch taxis (at her own expense) because the distances were too long - in spite of her very specific instructions about her level of fitness and how far she wanted to walk each day. The organising company refused to alter her accommodation and was not responding in any way to help her. We worked out they were making at least 50% profit on every night (we had stayed in some of the same accommodation so knew the prices).

I'm sure there are lots of good operators - but sensible to do the research first.

 

[SabsP]

Hi peghaz,

Happy preparations!
I took a look at their site and the distances they propose are doable except for the etapa from Barcelos to Ponte de Lima : this is a long long slog. Compared with the other etapas. You might want to look into that and discuss it with them. Just to be on the safe side.

 

[William Marques]

Let's not make any value judgements on the"right way" to make your Camino. Everyone chooses the path that is right for them.

 

[Deleted member 3000]

When we met her she was having to catch taxis (at her own expense) because the distances were too long

That is the primary problem with both organized tours and using a baggage service - you are locked into a schedule. A friend who took a tour solved the problem by selecting a tour with a chase vehicle. At the end of the day, the van picked up stragglers! There were a lot of stragglers, so stages that are too long is a common problem on organized tours.

 

[DurhamParish]

That is the primary problem with both organized tours and using a baggage service - you are locked into a schedule. A friend who took a tour solved the problem by selecting a tour with a chase vehicle. At the end of the day, the van picked up stragglers! There were a lot of stragglers, so stages that are too long is a common problem on organized tours.

That's where my suggestion of Marly Tours would come in nicely. In April the six of us had a guide and a chase vehicle to take us to our casa rurals, and for some to ride when the walking was too much. When I went back with my nephew in June, I ran into the chase vehicle driver (but no guide) who was performing this service for just one lady from Michigan.

 

[DurhamParish]

Hi peghaz,

Happy preparations!
I took a look at their site and the distances they propose are doable except for the etapa from Barcelos to Ponte de Lima : this is a long long slog. Compared with the other etapas. You might want to look into that and discuss it with them. Just to be on the safe side.

Barcelos to Ponte de Lima is indeed a bit of a slog.