Where to fly into for camino de santiago
How Much Does It Cost to Hike the Camino de Santiago?
hey y'all Dixie here today I want to
address the question of how much does it
cost to walk the Camino de Santiago the
easy answer to this question is it
depends it depends on several
contributing factors one of which is
which Camino are you walking there are
several in Europe and in Spain so I
assume that the prices of the different
Caminos in Spain are pretty similar but
I know that the French way is the most
popular way and has the most traffic on
it with more traffic there are more
businesses trying to serve the pilgrims
more competition means lower prices
often so with that extra infrastructure
serving the pilgrims I've heard that it
is cheaper on the French way than some
of the other routes so if you are on a
real tight budget then that might be
something to think about next you have
to consider what amount of luxury is
required for you to be comfortable some
people are okay with more minimal
lodging and then others want more
comfortable and private lodging so your
lodging and food options especially will
affect how much your Camino costs you
total and finally what I consider the
biggest contributing factor to how much
the communal cost you is how many days
it takes you to complete it a lot of
folks take about 30 to 35 days that's
the average time to walk from st. John
pa to pour all the way to Santiago now
with that said it took me in Montana 48
days to walk that distance and we took
our sweet time we nearly had a little
over two months for our whole experience
which included going to Paris before we
started the Camino and then going to
Italy once we finished the Camino so we
knew we didn't want to get in a big rush
we wanted to explore the larger towns so
that's really gonna play into your
budget how much time you want to spend
out there so most people tend to talk
about the price tag of their Camino in a
daily average amount I would say that
most people spend between 25 euro to 50
euro per day with all of those factors
considered so let's talk about those
daily costs one of the biggest things
being food for breakfast it's common to
see things like toast pastries
and tortilla which was one of my
favorite things that I ate in Spain it's
kind of like a quiche type thing but
anyway if you eat something like that
with a cafe con leche which is just
coffee with milk you can expect to pay
somewhere between 350 and 5 euro for
lunch sometimes I would eat at a bar
along the way and then sometimes I just
grab snacks and keep walking and eat as
I went
so I expected to spend anywhere from 3
to 7 euro on lunch or eating during the
day for dinner me and Martina usually
opted to go with the pilgrims menus
those are offered at the el bair gays if
they have a bar attached to them or if
where you're saying doesn't have food
then there are usually bars nearby that
you can go get a dinner and they'll have
what's called the Peregrino menu and
with that they serve a three-course meal
that has a starter so usually a salad or
some kind of pasta and then you have
your main course which is commonly a
meat with a side and then a dessert and
with that you get water or wine to drink
or sometimes both that usually runs
about 10 to 12 euro and at the beginning
if you don't really have that hiker
hunger going yet then it's probably a
little cheaper and more reasonable to
just get something ala carte from the
bar but as you go along you're probably
going to find that your hunger increases
and those pilgrims menus are really a
good deal now some tips if you're
looking to save a little bit of money on
food first of all shop at the
marketplace it's not all of the towns or
villages that you'll stay and we'll have
a market but usually once a day or every
other day you're gonna pass through an
area that has some sort of market so if
you get some foods from there some
snacks or things that you could eat for
breakfast and lunch and then only eat
dinner out you're probably gonna save
some money second aim to stay at all
bear gays that have kitchens because
then you can get food from the
marketplace and cook dinner which is
often the most expensive meal of the day
at that kitchen and even if they'll bear
gays don't have a kitchen like a full-on
kitchen a lot of times they'll have a
microwave or toaster oven some way that
you could heat food several times I saw
folks even pull together and they'd get
pasta one person might get pasta one
person might get some stuff to make a
salad and
they'd all sit down and eat together and
have a shared meal that was pretty
inexpensive between several people and
you can even do that yourself and then
tote some of that with you especially if
it's cooler temperatures lettuce is
gonna be okay in your pack from one day
to the next another way to save a little
bit of money is when you're walking
during the day instead of buying drinks
or bottles of water every place you stop
there are fountains everywhere so you
can just fill up a water bottle or water
bladder and then I got to where I got
tired of paying for water at dinnertime
and I mean I I usually just wanted one
but I also wanted water and didn't want
to pay that extra so I just bring my
bottle of water in with me and I know
that some places that might be a
health-code issue but I never had
anybody telling me excuse me you have to
you know leave or go dump out your water
or anything like that the next big daily
cost that you'll have is lodging there
are several types of albergue aids like
you've got the municipal all bare gays
and the private all bare gays the
municipal may not have all of the extra
comforts but they are gonna be a little
bit cheaper usually than the private
ones
there are also doughnut Evo's so those
are donation based and often times they
have a communal meal now a lot of people
think that this means that you can just
crash there for free but that really
isn't fair because the food that you're
eating the night that you stay there
came from the folks who donated the
night before so it's kind of a pay it
forward type thing so if you don't put
in your fair share you're really kind of
shorting somebody that stay in there the
next night so just keep that in mind and
if you do stay at a donut EVO make sure
that you are contributing just as much
as you would at least for a municipal
out bear game so depending on what type
of albear gay you stay at you can expect
to pay anywhere from five euro per night
all the way up to 20 euro per night but
the most common range is really between
10 and 12 euro of course there are
private rooms at the albear gays or even
other places that just offer private
lodging and those usually run anywhere
from 20 to 40 euro per night so some
tips to help you with lodging costs one
of the things that I didn't personally
do is get up early like really before
the Sun
comes up and set out as the Sun is
coming up that way you start your day
early and you get to where you're going
rather early before the lodging fills up
the municipal and donut EVO albear gays
tend to fill up the fastest because they
are the more budget-friendly options and
you might think well I'll just make a
reservation but a lot of times municipal
albear gays and the donut Evo's do first
come first serve so there really isn't
an option for booking ahead now the
private ones you could call and book
ahead and just pick the cheapest one if
there are several options also if you're
gonna splurge a little bit and you want
something more private but maybe you
don't want to pay for a whole private
room alone you could get a double room
and split with one other person that
you've become fond of and maybe doesn't
snore as loudly as some of the others
and so when you're feeling that you need
a little bit more privacy you can split
a room with somebody and even certain
places like especially when you get to
the end of the Camino and you're getting
closer to Santiago a lot of places are
more expensive for a single bunk and in
el bair gay so it ends up being a little
bit more cost friendly to split a double
room with somebody else another daily
expense that is really kind of optional
is laundry for me it didn't cost me
anything every single day but about once
a week to once every one and a half
weeks or so Montana and I would do a
load of laundry just so we could get a
good washing and a good drying and have
everything kind of freshened up because
we often did it by hand we started off
doing our laundry by hand every single
night and after a while we were like
this is this is just too much to have to
do so we did laundry about every other
day by hand and then allowed things to
air dry for a complete washing and
drying you can expect to pay anywhere
from 3 euro to 10 euro some albear gays
even take your dirty clothes for you and
deliver them after they're clean you'll
see all sorts of variety along the way
and somehow bear gays have no option for
washing clothes but this is just
something to think about if you are
gonna want to do laundry make sure you
include a little bit extra for that in
your budget and you could always wash
with the washer every once in a blue
moon
only have half of that cost and then air
dry or wash by hand and if you just want
a good fluffing and drying because you
got to the albergue a late and you don't
want wet clothes in the morning then
make sure you budget them out to use the
dryer every so often another daily cost
that you could encounter if you want to
go full on luxury or if you're not
physically able to carry your gear from
place to place they do have services
where you can send your bag ahead and
just carry a little day pack with some
snacks and water or whatever you might
need along the way but that usually
costs about five to ten euro from what
I've seen on flyers and such I never did
the service because I was never for sure
where I was gonna end up at night but
that's something that you could do if
you're not capable of having the weight
on your back or you just don't want the
weight on your back that's pretty much
it for daily costs I would say budget in
an extra euro or two per day for things
that you might not even think that
you'll need like band-aids or cold
medicine advil etc just little expenses
that you might not foresee but would
need along the way and again a lot of
people spend between twenty five euro on
the low end all the way up to fifty euro
per day as their budget I think it's a
good idea to ahead of time to kind of
sit down and go okay where do I fall in
this category and what am I willing to
spend and then each day you know kind of
look at that for me in Montana we were
about in the 35 to 40 euro range per
person per day and that's really because
we couldn't take advantage of the
staying at the albergue a's where you
can cook because when i got to town I
had to start uploading videos and
answering emails etc or doing live Q&A
with my patrons when we were in the
bigger towns I would have to take zero
day so again it took us a little bit
longer so I would say our daily average
was a little bit on the higher end and
also we were the late to rise late to
town kind of folks so we ended up having
to stay sometimes in private rooms
because that's all that was available
when we got there or the more
inexpensive options were already taken
now that we've got the daily costs taken
care of let's talk about other
cost associated with your Camino like
gear your will vary wildly depending on
the individual if you want to check out
my gear list and what I carried you can
even click on the links for the items if
you want to see what they cost but my
gear list is in the video description
below
I saw folks carry everything from a tiny
little day pack where it looks like they
had snacks and some water in there and
then I saw folks carry huge expedition
packs and they probably had several
changes of clothing and a mini kitchen
in there so some people will bounce
things ahead
some people will carry everything on
them I carried my gear every day from
place to place and took just the bare
minimum of what I felt like I needed of
course my pack is a little bit heavier
because I carry a lot of extra camera
equipment then other people probably
don't but for this if I had to just go
out on a limb and throw a number and say
for this amount I think that you could
probably take what you needed I would
say five hundred dollars or less you
could probably get what you needed now
the gear that I had personally does cost
more than that so it's just cheaper for
me to just go ahead and take what I
already had for wilderness backpacking
trips and use it on the Camino but I
don't think that that gear is necessary
and the basics of what you really need
are a pack to carry your stuff a couple
of changes of clothes a couple of pairs
of socks something to sleep with some
people carry just a silk liner I would
if I was gonna carry a sleeping bag
liner would at least need a fleece liner
because I'm cold natured and I'm still
not sure that that would be enough that
all bear gays do have blankets but I'm
not sure how often they're washed if at
all and not all of them have blankets
but you're not gonna die you're gonna be
inside out of the elements you just
might be a little bit uncomfortable
you'll need something to carry water in
some sort of water receptacle and then I
like having trekking poles and some good
Footwear so I think those items are
really the necessities of what you need
and for five hundred dollars or less and
in my mind you could probably get some
pretty decent stuff for that price but
again it'll vary a lot on the individual
and to show this if you've done the
Camino and you're watching this I would
love for you to share
the pieces of gear that you carried with
you in a comment and then what that gear
costs you before you went out there just
so folks can see the different variety
of things that people take with them
depending on where you're coming from
another large chunk of change will
probably be spent getting to and coming
back home from the Camino for me in
Montana we flew into Paris and then rode
a train from Paris down to st. John
because well we just really wanted to
see Paris we had never been there we
were willing to take a flight that was
gonna have a long layover in Boston but
we just looked at it as an opportunity
to enjoy seeing something different I
had been to Boston Montana had not we
had what was supposed to be a 12 hour
layover in Boston I booked the flight
not quite two months in advance and
because I was willing to have a cheaper
Airlines with not all the bells and
whistles and also that long layover it
only cost us a little over $700 total
for the two of us one way to Paris when
we were done with the Camino we returned
to Santiago because we walked from
Santiago to the coast by bus from
fusteria to Santiago then we took a taxi
cab to the airport flew into Rome spent
some time in Italy and I think our
ticket to Rome for both of us one way
was a little over $300 and then from
Rome back to Atlanta we had to lay overs
one in Portugal and one in Miami that
was about seven hours long I believe so
again we were willing to have those lay
overs and fly budget airlines and that
ended up costing us about 650 dollars
for the two of us so usually yes it does
help to buy an advance especially if you
want the most direct flight and you want
to get there quickly but even if you
schedule at the last minute because I
really hate having return flights at the
beginning of such a long journey because
you just never know what's gonna happen
and I hate having that specific date
that I have to finish by in my mind and
and feeling the pressure of that so I
was willing to kind of take the hit in
the end and have a little bit more of an
expensive flight but it actually worked
out because we were willing to not have
the most
primetime of flight hours and have those
lay overs and be a little bit more
uncomfortable on that if you do fly on
an inexpensive airline be sure to check
their policy ahead of time for luggage
and checking bags because sometimes they
do charge you for carry-on items
sometimes they don't sometimes carry-on
might be more expensive or just the same
as checking a bag so you really want to
look into that ahead of time because
those budget airlines do seem to nickel
and dime you to desk and you know it
could end up not being as cost-effective
if you don't do it the smart way so we
tried to make sure that we didn't have
to check anything on the way back and
that we could just carry our packs as
carry-on but just something to look into
because you might think like hey my
flight ended up being pretty cheap and
and you don't budget for much more and
then they gouge in other areas so be
mindful of that one more thing I want to
talk about because it's relevant to
money and cost is the use of ATMs and
carrying cash on the Camino a lot of the
businesses on the Camino are cash based
especially the albear gaze so you want
to make sure you have enough cash on
hand for at least a few days you're not
going to find an ATM every single day
but every few days or so you should find
one and to save on transaction fees at
the ATMs I often carry three to four
hundred euro at a time that way I didn't
have to stop at every ATM and then keep
having those transaction fees so you
could take out the max amount of cash if
you feel comfortable with that and then
you're good you know until you start
running low again but just keep in mind
that the more you visit those ATMs the
more cost you're gonna have overall
because of the transaction fees there
are areas where you can use cards
especially in some of the bigger towns
and cities so you can have a credit card
or a debit card with you make sure that
you talk to your bank about your debit
cards so you don't get over there and
then get them cut off because they're
wondering hey why is your money suddenly
being spent in Spain for a couple of
months and if you are gonna use a credit
card make sure you talk to the credit
card company ahead of time and find out
if you're gonna have foreign transaction
fees because some credit cards do you
have those and some of them do not so
that's another way to
Koslow REO that is all i have for you
today on what it costs to walk the
Camino de Santiago if you're watching
this and you have already done a Camino
you've got any other tips for saving
money or a cost that I didn't think
about and you want to include that
please feel free to do that in the
comments below so that way other people
can learn from multiple people and not
just me I'm just one person with one
experience I'm always happy to hear the
input of other folks if you found this
video helpful today don't forget to
subscribe before you go thank y'all for
watching and we will see y'all next time
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