Taxis & Buses on Camino - Camino de Santiago and Public Transport

[@robscamino]

A 'delicate' topic this week! Have you found he need to use Public Transport? Or maybe the very idea horrifies you!

[@woody6658]

Hi Robo! I used a taxi on 2 consecutive days(i was advised not to walk for five days) but after the two stages i missed i had 3 rest days booked in Baiona! That saved my Camino and i finished injury free in Santiago! If i had tried to walk on i know that would have been the end of my Camino! Like you i would imagine all pilgrims intend to walk every step of the way;but sometimes your own common sense comes into the equation. All the best Woody

[@robscamino]

A good illustration of how it might be an undesireable, but only option Woody.

[@delzimmerli3419]

Twice I took public transportation. First following bad food with sickness to catch up. The second was wind driven cold rain and snow. About 5k into that day; I caught a taxi with others. Before you think I am soft. For years, I worked long periods outside under severe cold and occasional blizzard conditions. But I was dressed for it. Being on a Camino does not mean you toss hypothermia conditions and personal safety aside.

[@robscamino]

Indeed, circumstances and conditions might make it a wise choice. Pat's first time over the Pyrenees was "interesting". High wind, rain, low cloud, some snow remaining. Very very cold. Hypothermia could certainly have been a risk, but we were dressed for the weather, and made sure not to stop!. I'm sure these experiences and comments will help Newbie Pilgrims. or put them off. 🙂

[@shaunminehan]

The idea does horrify me ! However, who really cares anyway? Health comes first. I did watch a group of very entitled cash rich American college kids take a taxi in order to ‘beat the crowds and nab the best albergue beds - talk about bed race ! I stayed far away from them. It is a walking pilgrimage at the core. Taking a taxi because it’s raining or something is poor but if you’re injured it’s just sensible. Another great video Rob.

[@robscamino]

Yes I agree. Public transport for me is a last resort really. Not a convenience.

[@sandrakramer1520]

Hi Rob. I’ve watched several of your videos on my TV but this one popped up on my phone when I searched for Camino by Bus. So I’ve now subscribed. Love your style. I’ve been obsessed with the Camino for several years - since watching The Way. I’ve read umpteen books and watched a bunch of videos. In 2017 I went to Spain for a month with the intention of walking what I thought would be the shortest and easiest route: the Camino Inglés. Well, when I flew to La Coruña from Madrid I saw how far downtown was from the airport I thought “screw this idea.” After spending some days sightseeing…I took the bus to Santiago. Five years later I still have the Camino bee in my bonnet but with more practical intentions. Sarah Murdoch (Adventures with Sarah) had a guest speaker (Fran Glaria) who is running two tours next year. One is the Camino Norte that includes occasional 2-3 hour hikes with their bus stopped along the way. I got really excited. My budget on my trips (I stayed in hostels and an occasional small hotel) is ab average of $100/day. I reckoned if this tour was $150-200/day I could swing it. When I went to his website (TravelingSteps.es I think) I was horrified that what he calls a 10-day tour is 9 nights and the 10th day is breakfast and adiós. The cost is $3,900, which, divided by 9, is $433/day! Waay to rich for my blood. I want to do the Camino Frances by bus. I’m not bothered about a pilgrimage. I want to do my walking around the towns and villages and stay in private hostels. In his book Iberia, James Michener describes is road trip (he drove) along the Camino. If it’s good enough for him… I know the subscribers here are walkers but can anyone point me to info for non-hiking tourigrinos? 😉 I grew up in Venezuela and am fluent in Spanish.

[@robscamino]

Hi Sandra. I'm not sure I can help you really. You see for most people, the Camino is about walking, and to some degree undertaking a 'pilgrimage'. It's a bit like asking on a channel dedicated to the Boston Marathon, Hey I'm not interested in running the marathon, but can you recommend some good sight seeing tours 🙂 When you say "I want to do the Camino Frances by bus. I’m not bothered about a pilgrimage. I want to do my walking around the towns and villages and stay in private hostels", perhaps just a coach tour would work? It sounds like the cultural and sight seeing aspect is more you thing. So you could do that anywhere really. You don't have to limit yourself to a Camino route. Pat and I have dome some great coach tours in Europe. Maybe search for cultural tours in Spain or something similar? Or is there something specifically about the Camino routes that appeals to you?

[@sandrakramer1520]

Thanks for the reply and I DO realize I was walking on eggshells. Actually, I do want to visit and sightsee the towns I’ve read so much about. Coach tours are not my usual thing and I already discovered that they tend to be pricey. I traveled solo staying in hostels and using public transportation in 2017 so I guess I’ll do it again. I like to meander and be on my own schedule. Oh. I remembered that after I returned to Miami in June 2017, I flew to Caracas (where I was raised) and walked the 10K Camino de Santiago de Caracas in the hills outside the city. And I have my certificate to prove it. So that was my wee pilgrimage. 😉

[@robscamino]

Don't worry about the Egg Shells 🙂 The worry at the back of my mind, is that you might not find the journey you have in mind, quite what you expect. Taking the Camino Frances as a example. The major towns along the way have a lot to offer in every sense. But many of the smaller towns and villages can be almost quite 'bleak'. Their appeal to pilgrims, perhaps coming from the sense of camaraderie and community of being 'thrown together' at the end of a tiring day, connecting over a shared meal and so on. It's the actual journey, a slow one, at a walking pace, the time to reflect, that I think provides the foundation of the enjoyment of the places for many. But hey, that's just me. To arrive on a bus in one of these smaller places, for me at least, could be a very lonely experience. There's nothing to really 'see'. There might not even be a store or a bar. Just a few places where Pilgrims are gathering to eat and sleep. And yet I had amazing experiences and memories of these places. Could I just throw something out there .......... What if? You pick a few of the larger towns to visit and spend time in. Thread that together by taking some public transport to some of the smaller towns. Then sprinkle that with a plan to walk a few short stages to some of the other even smaller places, where perhaps public transport is a little harder to find. That would give you the chance to see lots of places along the route, plus give you a 'flavour' of the Camino from a Pilgrims perspective, through a bit of walking. Just a thought...........

[@mlmitchell1502]

Rob: About that 16 km on the road, on the 3rd day of the VdlP: most of those who stayed in the private albergue at Guillena chose to take a taxi to Almaden de la Plata, but I wanted to walk. I sent my backpack in the taxi and walked the 16 km on the road, then through the Finca and over the hill to Almaden, carrying just a day pack with water and essentials for the day. This worked for me and you might consider it as an option. Buen camino.

[@robscamino]

Yes, that's another good option. I'm a bit torn. Like most people I want to walk it all. But I just know from experience, that 16 kms on 'hardtop' will really cause damage to my Achilles. I'll probbaly just se how I feel on the day.

[@KiwiPilgrim]

I walked in a group of four on my Camino Frances in 2019, and we did use a taxi - twice. It was for a somewhat unusual reason perhaps. We had spent the day walking to a small village where we had booked a room for the four of us only to find that there were small black bugs crawling over the beds and up the walls. We reported this to our host who was horrified - and who also blamed us for taking them into his albergue. The long and short of it was we found ourselves evicted late in the day (our money was returned) leaving us with the problem of what to do. The answer was quite simple as it was late and we were tired - we called a taxi and went back to where we had started out from that morning as we knew there were plenty of accommodation options there. We arranged for the taxi to pick us up in the morning to take us back to the village where we're supposed to have stayed and started our camino again from there. So getting a taxi doesn't mean you have to jump sections, you can actually go back like we did 😁 ...we never did know what the bugs were but they were too big to be bed bugs. We checked all our gear thoroughly and we didn't have any in our bags nor on us.

[@robscamino]

That's always an option of course if accommodation is not available. Taxi somewhere and taxi back the next day.

[@byrdsonawire]

I think it’s nice to hear that sometimes you just need it. And that’s ok. I have every intention not to use it when I go in May, but, life happens, so we shall see. Being flexible, physically and mentally will help. Crossing fingers!! Thank you for another great video. Words to ponder. And love the background this week!

[@robscamino]

I think that must be the most photographed section of the Camino Frances! Just past Cirueña, one of the most curious places on the Frances 🙂

[@klipitar2007]

I feel the same way as you did! Felt guilty but it was the only I would rest due to Injuries. Once on the Via de la plata just see and decide then! You never know, you might feel good on that day! Buen Camino!

[@robscamino]

Indeed, we never know how things will unfold! One of the most charming aspects of walking a Camino.

[@paulafitz532]

Thank you

[@robscamino]

You're welcome

[@paulafitz532]

I’ve been thinking about what you said and I’m glad I came across this video. I think you are spot on. It’s good to know the service is available and pilgrims can use it as needed. Having yet to walk a Camino, I have to say that from my perspective just being on the/a Camino is a huge huge huge accomplishment!

[@robscamino]

It's good to have a Plan B for sure. But I find there is a great senswe of accomplishment if you don't need to use them.

[@Motorallyrider]

I recall during a 9 mile road run (Battle Efficiency Test) in the Australian Army in the early 1970's one of the Sargent's who was a bit overweight and unfit called a Taxi ducking down so no one would see him. Failing the test allowed 2 1/2 hours (battle pack and weapons and in GP Boots about 15-20 kg) would lead to a loss of pay and remedial training. A few days later I noticed he was now a Corporal. I guess he was not as anonymous as he had hoped.

[@robscamino]

LOL. I can recall doing many of those. I spent 22 years in the British Army 🙂

[@billofford6964]

I appreciate the insight. Starting the CF in a couple of weeks. I scheduled out all my lodging, resulting in a couple of 23 miles days. I will try to avoid the taxi!

[@robscamino]

Scheduled, or booked? Booking accommodation for a whole Camino, can cause issues due to inflexibility.

[@billofford6964]

@@robscamino Booked - trying to ensure private accommodations, primarily to reduce Covid risk. My lack of flexibility and potential need for transport to "keep up" brought me to your video. I will make a concerted effort to walk the entire 435 miles (Pamplona start). Thanks for the informative videos!

[@DougASAP]

Great video. Happy Lunar New Year! The VdlP is much more difficult to remain a transportation purest. I easily did the Camino Frances all the way from SJPdP to Finistere on foot, but took a taxi several times on the VdlP (once because of extreme heat and length of stage, once because of extreme food poisoning, and once because the one you mentioned was strongly recommended by the hospitalero). ¡Buen Camino!

[@robscamino]

I suspect I'll be skipping that 16 km road section up front!

[@julianlord5366]

This is a touchy subject, though IMO motor transport in a Camino is primarily for 1) Injury 2) Illness 3) Handicap 4) You do not live in Europe ; but also 5) You need to do your Camino in stages. But it should NEVER be part of your Camino plan as an ideal, especially not any 1st Camino, which should always be best from whichever starting point to Compostela non-stop -- and there is BTW *nothing* special about starting in SJPP, that's just a pure myth. When I first went on these things in the 1990s, starting at Logroño 1st time, Paris 2nd, almost nobody started there (though quite a few Spaniards started in Roncesvalles). It's true that first timers in particular very frequently underestimate how much time it will take, and then feel rushed and might want to skip ahead - but the remedy to that is give yourself more time before setting out, not buses, taxis, or trains. Plan for 3 or 4 days in Santiago, 1 rest day a week, or better yet use an open or changeable date return ticket if you need to fly out. But to deliberately plan to skip these or those sections prior to setting out is the very thing that turns pilgrims into "tourigrinos" -- it's not that the tourism elements might somehow be "foreign" to the Camino ; No !! They are a significant and meaningful part of it !! And might be a primary motivation for many excellent pilgrims. But much of being a pilgrim is to accept the bad alongside the good, the "boring" with the gorgeous, the tedious trekking through suburbia with the amazing trails through the most beautiful that nature has to offer. And the "skip the boring bits" approach is destructive of pilgrimage as such. Having said that ... On every single one of my pilgrimages, except for some very short local ones, I've ended up at least once in motor transport. Even on my 2000 to Rome, at a pizzeria/restaurant, I started chatting with a couple of locals, it turned out they knew my sister from when she had lived nearby, they insisted on putting me up for the night -- so that involved a drive to their place, via their village bar. Interestingly, one was a woodcutter, so he gave me my first pilgrim's staff next morning, which is to illustrate that above the principle of never to get into a motor vehicle until you reach Santiago, there is a higher principle of accepting what the Camino wishes to provide. So -- plan to avoid ever needing any motor transport between your starting point and Compostela (or between the start and end points of that year's stage, if you need to do things that way) ; but never put ideology nor ill-placed "purism" before the Way itself, nor your needs on the Way, especially given that the "purist" ideal itself teaches : take a rest day when you need one ; if you're injured, get help, don't be stubborn ; if the Camino provides, take it ; if a hospitalero has insisted on coming to collect you in his car, get in, he's on a schedule too, and you don't get to impose yours ; and so on and so forth.

[@robscamino]

Some great points Julian. Particularly about allowing extra time if possible.

[@sharonlivingstone5956]

Lack of accommodation is another valid reason to get public transport - sometimes backtracking and getting transport back to where you left the trail the next day. At the end of the day, do what is right for you. I'm sorry Pat felt guilty but she needn't have - what's the point of making yourself miserable with pain for days or weeks when you can take a ride, get help and be in less pain? Pat (and Rob) made the right decision

[@robscamino]

Yes, back tracking or side tracking can be a handy option for accommodation. Though I have never needed to do it yet.

[@azby7933]

People put too much pressure on themselves (all situations). Often it backfires, that I've seen. If taking a taxi at one point helps in the overall plan then forgive yourself!!

[@robscamino]

As in all things, balance 🙂

[@azby7933]

@@robscamino agreed - similarly, my grandfather said "moderation in all things" and lived to 101&1/2!

[@JamesHill-i4i]

Do the Camino whatever way you wish! It is for many a holiday, so it is to be enjoyed. I dont know why you struggle to speak about getting a taxi etc. its your Camino………

[@robscamino]

Very True. You're right. For many it's just a holiday. For me it's a Pilgrimage, so please excuse my comments if they come from that perspective. I suppose this channel is more focussed on those that seek a pilgrimage of some sort, whatever that is, rather than a Holiday. Hence my videos and comments tend to come from that perspective. It's interesting to note, that according to the official Statistics for 2023, only 22.69% of Pilgrims who collected a Compostela, did not make the pilgrimage for religious or spiritual reasons, or at least an attitude of search.' So for almost 80% it's not really 'just' a holiday.