New to Traveling--Hiking el Camino This Summer--All Advice Welcome

[dutchee]

Hi, I'm going to walk the Camino this summer and am having trouble figuring out how to start planning, how to figure out the nitty-gritty details. I'm going to do the Camino Frances starting at St Jean Pied de Port. I'm an American. I've done almost no traveling, so this really isn't my area of expertise. So if you have any advice for beginners... I'll just throw out some questions:

Is July a good time to do the Camino?
Should I fly into Paris? How do I get from Paris to St Jean Pied de Port?
How many days should I give myself to do this, both days for the actual hiking and days for getting to the starting point and then days to hang out in Santiago?
Do you know of any good resources, books maybe?
Should I book a hotel/place to stay in Santiago before I actually get there?
How far in advance should I buy plane tickets?

Thanks.

[HuskyNerd]

Hi Dutchee ~
Great to hear of another American on the Camino. You're one of a surprisingly small number -- something under 3% of all pilgrims -- which adds to the fun and adventure of the pilgrimage.

In answer to your questions:

Is July a good time to do the Camino? It's a fine time. In July you'll see people of all ages since school's out. In fact, the age range dips and many more young people walk the Camino then and in August. Other than numbers and age range the biggest difference in July is that parts of the Camino are very warm. Plan on endless waves of golden wheat fields baking in hot sun during July in the weeklong stretch called "The Meseta" between approximately Burgos and Leon. Dress appropriately and hydrate well and you'll be fine.

Should I fly into Paris? How do I get from Paris to St Jean Pied de Port? Travel to St Jean PdP depends partly on which city you're leaving from in the US. The easiest airport connection to St Jean PdP is Biarritz, France, which allows a connection to the nearby city of Bayonne from which you can get a train to St. Jean. So flight-wise you're looking for an easy way to get to Biarritz and for most Americans that means either Paris or London. I personally choose Paris because the London connection requires a transfer of airports (Heathrow to Stansted) which to me is a bother. You can get an EasyJet flight from Charles DeGaulle airport right to Biarritz. One disadvantage of Paris as your main European flight destination is that you must then take two planes back from Santiago to Paris -- one to Madrid and one to Paris. So why not just fly into Madrid? It's possible, but the train connections into France are not that great from Madrid and flights from the US are much less numerous to Madrid than to Paris. One fun way to deal with this is to take the overnight train from Santiago to Madrid. Madrid has a lot to offer and you can catch a quick flight back to Paris from there to use the other half of your round trip ticket back to the US.

How long to stay in Santiago? I feel 2-3 nights is plenty. Although it's a great town the main attraction is the cathedral and the other pilgrims you've met along the way. Once the pilgrims leave you can see all Santiago has to offer in about a day.

How many days should I give myself to do this, both days for the actual hiking and days for getting to the starting point and then days to hang out in Santiago? This really depends on your pace. A standard length of time for walking from St Jean to Santiago is 33 days. However if you're wise you'll plan on some extra overnights to enjoy the big cities, particularly Burgos and Leon. So 35 days works fine. You'll also discover that many people choose to walk the extra 3 days to Finisterre which is a great extension of the Santiago walk as it takes you to the end of the Iberian peninsula and a beautiful seaside town. It's not possible without knowing your departure city to help you with numbers of travel days to the Camino. In general, though, look for a flight that leaves late enough in the day to arrive in Paris early the next day. This allows an early flight to Biarritz, allowing you to get the train to St Jean that same day. So if you plan your flights wisely you can get to St Jean in about a day and a half from the US.

Do you know of any good resources, books maybe? Well, yes. If you're starting from scratch it's helpful to have the John Brierley guidebook Amazon.com: A Pilgrim's Guide to the Camino de Santiago: St. Jean - Roncesvalles - Santiago (Camino Guides) (9781844091928): John Brierley: Books which details preparations, travel, customs, as well as providing day-by-day maps and much more. It's very possible to do the Camino without a guidebook by depending on directional arrows, but for someone who's doing this for the first time you'll discover Brierley is the Bible for English-speaking pilgrims. If you'd like other books for fun reading material about the Camino I and others could recommend a shelf of them.

Should I book a hotel/place to stay in Santiago before I actually get there? You can stay at one of the albergues there for a night, but you'll want either a hotel or a pension if you want to stay longer. There are many choices, as you might guess. In Santiago I tend to go a little upscale and choose HOTEL ALTA . You can spend many 100s of $s in Santiago, starting at the Parador for around $350/night. But there are many in the $60-70 range if you shop. It is a little "iffy" about booking in advance since that mandates your arrival on a certain day. If you can be patient and flexible and wait to book until a week or so before you arrive you might be wise. Last year I booked about a year in advance because I was arriving on a big feast day. Sure enough, I ended up arriving a day before I'd planned to, but the hotel fortunately helped me find a room.

How far in advance should I buy plane tickets? With fuel prices going up rapidly you should be shopping right now. I bought my tickets for my May Camino nearly six months ago and today the same ticket costs over $300 more.

Here are some helpful websites for you as you prepare:
1. Rail tickets from Bayonne to St Jean PdP -- http://www.raileurope.com/index.html (for your trip from Biarritz to St. Jean PdP)
2. Airline tickets -- Cheap flights | Free flight comparison from Skyscanner.net (a good site among many for comparison shopping)
3. Camino planner -- http://www.godesalco.com/plan/frances (so you can preview your daily stages)
4. American Pilgrims Confraternity -- American Pilgrims on the Camino (for purchasing your credencial -- your pilgrim passport)
5. My YouTube video -- YouTube - Camino de Santiago 2008 (just for fun!)

Hope this helps, my friend. Buen camino ~
Sanford "Sandy" Brown

[BHinSanDiego]

Hey Dutchie, Congrats on your upcoming Camino. You'll be going on a journey of a lifetime. Husky gave you some good valuable information and I'll throw in my 10 cents, 2 cents just won't cover it.
Where to fly to. I'm a big proponent of flying to Madrid. To me, people coming from North America it just makes more sense. It is easier to get back to Madrid and back to N.A. Most flights arrived in the morning, so once in Madrid you can take a train to Pamplona, there are several trains a day, but if you can take one that leaves about 10AM you will be in Pamplona in three hours. To get to St Jean I recommend a shuttle service called Express Bouricott, they will pick you up at the train station and transport to St Jean, the more people on the shuttle the cheaper it is. That takes a couple of hours. Last year I arrived in Madrid at 7:30 AM, took a 10 AM train to Pamplona, arrived at 1 PM, we had a couple of other people to pick up and drop off and were in St Jean at about 4 PM. Getting back to Madrid is easy, you can take a bus (crowded and uncomfortable from stories I've heard, a train or a quick flight. There is a bus that runs from the airport to the Atocha train station that only costs a couple of euros, you can also take the metro (subway) but it requires a couple of changes of subway cars, since you're new to this I don't recommend it, you can take a shuttle but it can be expensive

It took me 33 days to walk, May 22 to June 23, I only took one day off in Burgos, but each one of us is different, you may want to take another day or two, so plan on 35 as a good number.

How long to stay in Santiago, I also recommend a couple of days, you will want to get back to a somewhat normal life, that is not wake up and put a backpack on. I stayed at a private alburgue about a 30 min walk from the city center, though I'd recommend the place itself, it was new and clean, they also let you stay as long as you want, but it was a pain to walk back there everyday, there are older women that you will see that rent rooms in their homes, I had friends that did this and said it worked out fine. Don't worry about reserving a place in Santiago, you really won't know when you'll actually be there till about a week from the end. I do recommend reserving a place in St Jean, the alburgue I stayed in lets guests stay more than one night, for example we arrived in St Jean on the Thursday and started walking on Saturday, we stayed at L'esprit du Chemin, highly recommended and right across the street from the Pilgrims Center.

You better get that ticket soon, the prices are going up daily.
You didn't mention a Pilgrims Passport, you can get one in St Jean, but you can also get one prior to leaving from the American Pilgrims on the Camino.

Since you're new to this I recommend getting your backpack loading it with weight and train with it. You want to get used to the feel of it and making sure it rides on your hips and shoulders properly before starting this adventure. I have a packing list if you're interested just PM me with an email address and I will forward it and other information I can pass along. If you have any questions feel free to contact me or just peruse these boards, just about every question is answered somewhere.

Express Bouricot

American Pilgrims on the Camino

welcome

Buen Camino,
Barry

[HuskyNerd]

Hi Barry ~
All good advice, of course. I only use Paris because connections from Seattle are not that easy to Madrid, whereas I can get direct flights to Paris or London quite easily. To me it depends on North American departure city as to whether the Madrid option makes sense.
All the best ~
Sandy

[BHinSanDiego]

Hey Husky, The beauty of it is we do have options! I've come to realize getting to St Jean then back home is probably one of the more perplexing delimmas that is faced by everyone on this journey. along with where to start for limited time pilgrims. For me I don't have any direct options at all, we used to have the London option but that's long gone. I've found Madrid easy, maybe since I've been there twice prior to my Camino. Last year when I used the train to Pamplona then Express Bouricott it flowed so smoothly. And it's good that people come here for input, I remember when I was planning my Camino this was the one thing I probably thought about more than anything else. Since St Jean is nicely tucked away in the Pyranees gettng there is somewhat easy, but coordinating the various timetables, bus vs train vs shuttle, whichever way one chooses to get there can be a little more difficult. But once there the easy part starts, by that I mean, the pilgrim life; sleep wake up, walk, eat, find alburgue, converse with friends, sleep, start all over again!

[Camino-David]

Hi Dutchee,
I just want to throw in my cents worth, but remember everything you read is an opinion.
I walked the Camino last year in Sept and Oct and took 39 days walking plus some a couple of rest days. I started off with the idea of walking it in 30 days, but after 5 was exhausted, and that situation. It is better to start with smaller distances and build up, say 9 or 10 miles and as you get stronger build up to 15 to 20. After about 10 - 15 days of walking you will feel fantastic, the pack will seem to weigh nothing and you will be strong and fit. I met many with tendonitis and infected blisters because they had tried to walk 20 - 25 miles a day from the start. Everyone wants to know how long it will take, but that depends so much on your level of fitness, your age, your wish to go fast or slow. IT IS NOT A COMPETITION.
I agree with the aubergue in St Jean. It is a great place, friendly people, good communal meals at one big table so you get to talk to people from all over the world, and it is in an old stone house with flowers in window boxes. But you MUST book by email (info@espritduchemin.org). The first day of your Camino is over the Pyrenees is 16 miles and a climb of 4300 feet so hard. A popular thing to do is to walk the steepest part which is only 5 miles and stop at the aubergue there (refuge.orisson@wanadoo.fr). Again you MUST book.Both places cost from memory 32 euros for dinner, bed and breakfast. These were the only two places I booked for accomodation the whole Camino, although I stayed mostly at refugios which as a general rule you cannot book. In Satiago I stayued at La Salle, a 2 star hotel, quite adequate, 10 minuts walk from the cathedral and centre, for 25 euros.
I flew into Biarritz from London, and by luck someone wanted to share a taxi to St Jean, which cost 60 euros for both of us. The airport bus at Biarritz takes you into Bayonne and to the station for the train to St Jean, but there only about 5 trains a day and in my case I would have had to wait 2 hours for the next train, so the taxi was especially good.
I used John Brierleys guide, which has some superfluous commentary but that is just a personal opinion.
July and August are the holiday time in Europe so the Camino will be crowded, and the weather hot.
The Camino for me was amazing in many many ways, and like a lot of people I am returning this year in Sept and Oct, but from further back in France from Pau, so it will be a neat 1000 kms (625 miles) to Finisterre. And I booked my ticket 2 months ago and if I had booked in Dec it would have been $300 cheaper.
My pack weighed 8.7 kgs (about 20 lb) excluding water and contained everything I needed.
Buen Camino
PS I am in Australia so am not used to miles, lbs etc, and I do not know the exchange rates for the US$ to euros.

[Di-27]

Good afternoon everyone!! This August I will be taking this journey alone (so far anyways). My questions is not about how long this journey will take, it concerns my pack. I am 5' and in fairly good shape. I walk/jog about 10 miles (16km) about 4 days a week and will soon begin hiking with a small pack, gradually increasing the weight so that I am prepared. Mentally I am ready, physically not quite, at least for the amount of walking I'll be doing. As I mentioned above, the weight of the pack is my concern, so what is truly necessary and what is not for this walk? I speak both English and Spanish (read and write as well) so if I need or forget something I know I will be able to ask and hopefully find said item.
One last question...will I be safe traveling as a lone female?

I know there is more I want to ask but for now this is all I can come up with at the moment. All the forums regarding the Camino have been very helpful and for that I am so very grateful!

Thank you,
Diana (Di)

[Camino-David]

Hi Di,
I am David who wrote earlier in this thread, and after rereading it after walking my second Camino from Pau in Sept and Oct last year, I still have the same opinions, but would carry less. Being 5 feet tall, I guess you weigh about 100 - 120 lbs. I personally know Julie who writes on this forum and is about the same height and weight as you, and after walking many Caminos including the Frances, she carries only 11 lbs, plus another 3 lbs for water. Especially walking in August you will not need a sleeping bag nor a fleece, and shoes rather than boots, and carrying a light pack will make your walk much more enjoyable in the hot weather. David