Smartphones and Booking Ahead on The Camino

I’m gonna open a can of worms here (or a melon as they say in Spanish), and write about how smartphones have changed the dynamic of finding and booking albergues on the Camino. When I did the frances in 2010 IN JULY I had no bed on more than one occasion. I had no cell phone either!

I am not going to rant about smart phones an the Camino. I do want to know though, what is the experience of pilgrims now with this? Book? Not book? Try to stay off your phone? Have you gone no phone? Tell me!

You can also read the details, hopefully entertaining about my nights al intemperie on The Camino

July 2010, Camino de Santiago, Holy Year. 

To be more precise, July 9, 2010, Rabanal del Camino, León, Spain, about 260 kilometers kilometers from Santiago de Compostela and 15 days before the Feast of St. James, ina year that the number of pilgrims on the Camino jumped to record-breaking numbers. 

After slogging my way 36 kilometers, I reach Rabanal at 6 o'clock in the afternoon. The village, famous for its Camino resurrection, and now practically one giant pilgrim’s hostel, was, of course already full of pilgrims. What the hell kind of pilgrim strides in at 6 pm, anyway? 

As I entered, I met some other pilgrims I knew, sitting at cafes and albergue gardens, and they marveled at me and warned me there was nowhere left to sleep. 

Well, I simply kept going, following the Camino around through the outer edge of the village until I reached the main square, where the municipal albergue is. I had relied on such lodging for the last nearly three weeks and hundred of kilometers, every since starting out from San jean Pie Du port at the end of June. With the exception of the first night in San Jean, it had never yet failed me, I had never yet questioned its availability. 

But now, indeed, every bed in the entire village had already been taken. I was not the only late-arriving pilgrim,though.. Emmanuel from Switzerland was also waiting expectantly at the door of the municipal albergue. We had coincided in Astorga, some twenty kilometers behind us but his long legs took him to Rabanal del Camino a bit ahead of me. We were probably the only pilgrims to have walked so far that day, explaining our late arrival. Without a bed, too, was a German man we had walked with at other points, too, though he had arrived a bit ahead of us. 

Well, the hospitalera felt sorry for us. She called her brother who had a big camping tent that they kindly set up in the garden of the albergue. There the three of us slept for the night. 

I thought this was just a one-off incident. Two days later in Villa Franca del Bierzo, i arrived late as well and got one of the few remaining beds in the town. The next day in O Cebreiro I would have to sleep on the porch of the municipal albergue under a piece of cardboard between two other pilgrims. Emmanuel would sleep in clearing just out of town. 

Now we had hit Galicia. One day walking with Emanuel, we pulled out his flip phone and the piece of paper with the list of albergues from the Association of Friends of the Camino de Santiago and started frantically calling around to find something somewhere, some a private albergue in some random place on the way that would save us a bed. We got lucky.  

Then we got to Sarría. It now seemed like a we were fighting for a night’s sleep in a bed. Most nights I managed to find something, One night I slept in a village gym. 

I really didn’t mind sleeping outside occasionally in the company of other pilgrims. I was here for the adventure, too. I had brought a sleeping bag, but it was light, for obvious reasons, and wholly inadequate for the cold nights of the Spanish mountains. I can’t sleep when I’m cold. 

Now this question of lodging seems more fraught than ever. Smart phones and booking platforms have added a new element to the Camino dynamic, as it makes it easier than ever for pilgrims to book lodging on short notice as they walk, and most almost all albergues now take reservations.  

I do not want to turn this into a rant about how technology or crowds or they are is ruining the Camino. Nevertheless, it does seem to intensify the question of whether one should book lodging ahead of time, and how far ahead of time. 

Here is what I would recommend for the Camino Frances:

1. Definitely book ahead starting from Sarría, unless going in April, May, or October. In winter you might want to book or should at least check what’s open as some albergues or small hotels will be closed.  

2. Book ahead if you want the security of knowing you have a bed for the night or one less reason to look at your phone. 

3. If not booking, just have an emergency plan–be prepared to call a taxi to take you to another town, pay 150 euros for a hotel room, sleep provisionally, etc. 

4. If not booking, know the choke points, and stop at smaller, less popular stopping places along the way. 

5. Always recommendable to book a place in Santiago de Compostela ahead of time. 

What has your experience been? Are you planning a Camino? Is this a concern of yours?