Pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela

[pelegrinotrek]

I'm thinking about walking Le Puy to St. Jean PP this fall (2008). Has anyone compiled a recent list of albergues/refugios/gites for this section? How much does a simple pilgrim's bed cost these days? (Obviously, we're not talking 4-star...)

Thanks!

Brandon

[KiwiNomad06]

The situation in France is a bit different from that in Spain.

Firstly, it is common to reserve gites in France, even if only one or two days ahead, by telephone. There are not as many beds as in Spain, and at times the cheaper places get full, and if you haven't booked you might need to take a more expensive chambre d'hote option. Most people carry the Miam Miam Dodo guide with them on the Le Puy route, and this lists accommodation options and prices. This is available from CSJ, but also in Le Puy from the shop in the Cathedral where you can also get your pilgrim's passport. If you can't speak French, you can probably find a helpful French pilgrim along the way who will reserve for you, and most tourist offices in France will also help with this. (By the way, for making reservations in France... I often wished I had a mobile phone with me, as not all villages had telephone cabins, and without a phone I could never leave a message asking to be rung back about a reservation...)

There are two kinds of gites in France, the communal ones and the private ones. The standard of accommodation in both is usually very good. Communal gites are run for walkers by the local municipality, and tend to just offer a bed. Private gites by contrast often allow you to take the option of demi-pension, meaning you get breakfast and dinner included. The evening meal shared like this is often a very important way of getting to know other walkers.

Costs in France are much higher than in Spain. For a bed in a communal gite, you are often looking at around 8-10 Euros for the night. For demi-pension you are usually looking at somewhere between 25-30 Euros for the night. The meals when you take the d-p option are mostly excellent, several courses, and often feature regional dishes, and in fact in many rural areas maybe your only option for getting an evening meal.

I have just returned home, and started from Le Puy this past spring. If you have any other questions feel free to PM me if you want.

[jl]

A tip that I found helpful when I was walking from Le Puy, was to go into the Tourist Office and ask them to book for the next day. They always had a copy of Miam Miam Dodo there, and after selecting the preferred desitination the person at the desk rang through to book for me. These people at the tourist offices were wonderfully helpful about all kinds of things, including accomodation. Janet