All about the Camino de Santiago de Compostela

Many questions that we get in the forum are related to “I am flying in from X and need to get to my camino starting point Y” and then the conversation goes on how to best travel within Spain.

Early on we created a section in the forum, just for those kinds of questions and we have over 1600 posts with suggestions and questions on this topic.

Many of these questions includes mentions of either a bus company or the train in Spain. But it is also worth mentioning that you can get some good prices and deals on domestic flights in Spain. Many times these flights are cheaper than bus/train, and takes a fraction of time.

Have a look at the forum for how you might travel to your starting point.

The Wall Street Journal reports today that the two low cost airlines, Vueling and Clickair has decided to merge. They will still fly under the Vueling brand.

Clickair was a spin off from Iberia only a few years ago, but the raising fuel prices seems to have made this merger neccesary.

For pilgrim traveling in and out of Santiago de Compostela the news could be better, since the major routes from Santiago (to Madrid and Barcelona) now is served by fewer airlines and this often means higher prices.

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This was reported on July 7th 2008 by Gareth Thomas:

This information is current and to alert pilgrims further back down the Camino Frances to a bed bug situation in Hontanas.

There are three pilgrims here at Boadilla this evening who have all come from the Hontanas Municipal hostal with multiple bed bug bites, and there is a definite bed bug risk there. NOTE: the other hostal in Hontanas is the Puntido and that is NOT the place where the bed bugs are reported.

More on the bed bug issues here.

Many pilgrims ask in the forum about “What sleeping bag should I take on my pilgrimage?”. Some bring one from home and some buy one once they arrive in Spain.

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The running of the bulls in Pamplona, or San Fermin, is coming up in a few days. So if you are on the camino frances, in the Pamplona area you might want to stop by and participate in the celebrations (running in front of the bulls would be optional).

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You know you are a pilgrim fanatic when you decide to get a pilgrim tattoo.

From Flickr

We have had a conversation on this in  the forum, and this is a more popular topic than I had realized. I have seen a few tattoo parlors in Santiago, but not thought much of it.

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The Independent visited Santaigo de Compostela not too long ago, and produced an article with some ideas on what to do in Santiago de Compostela if you have 48 hours to spear.

The article is rather short and basic, but might give you some ideas if you only have 48 hours in Santiago.