how much would it cost?

[Solitarius]

I was thinking of doing the camino this summer and spending around four to five weeks on it, i dont intend to stay at every auberge, just one every few days to get a shower and wash my socks.
apart from plane tickets does anyone know how much this is likely to cost?
I have a budget of maybe £200, more than that and i'll have to start delving into the overdraft which i dont want to do.

[Covey]

At the current exchange rate your £200 will be worth €220 - €230 (ish, and assuming the whole European economy does not come apart in the next 4 months.)

You need to allow €5 a night for those nights you intend sleeping in an albergue. There are albergues which are "donativo", where you donate whatever you can afford. Those of us who are not short of funds would normally pay €5 and if there is a meal available, would pay what it would have cost us to have the Pilgrim Menu in a local bar ie: €8 - €11, but they will accept pilgrims who pay nothing.

If you are staying in an albergue then you can cook for yourself and knock up a fairly cheap pasta dish and fruit for your evening meal. You can always buy bread and cheese in the shops for breakfast and lunch plus fruit, so I would say that as a minimum you will spend €10 on food items.

Your problem comes in the bars! All pilgrim life revolves around the albergue where we sleep, and the bars where we eat and socialise. Depending on where you are, a beer can cost up to €4 a glass and a coke will cost €2. A Gin and Tonic in Logrono cost me €11 last year!! You can buy beer in the shops but frankly I would rather not drink warm beer.

Basically, you are going to spend €20 a day for a fairly minimal life on the Camino, so you have 10 days, in which you can do St Jean to Burgos, or Burgos to Leon, Or Leon to Santiago. Take your pick!

A word of warning however.................. Every year I come across pilgrims who are walking the Way, who basically do not have the money to do so. Last year I came across an Italian who was spending 6 months on the Camino Frances because it was cheaper than living at home on his unemployment pay' but that did not stop him constantly asking/begging for cigarettes and beers. Probably half those walking the Camino have been saving their pennies for years in order to afford spending 6 weeks in Europe following their dream and they do not have the money to support hangers-on. About 25% are not poor at all, and those who have retired have the time and money to walk the Camino their way, and they are not usually well disposed towards hangers-on either.

In other words, we will all help to the absolute limits those who are ill or struggling to meet the challenge of walking the Way, but few are inclined to pay for those who cannot afford to be there.