Refugio or Hotel

So much choice and its your camino - so you decide. Remember you dont need to book up so always walk weather and physicality dependant. If its too hot, or you're really sore, stop at lunch time, if its cloudy and you feel good, walk through to 5pm. If you are walking until 5pm make sure you know there is a large refugio you are heading to. By 5pm, your head will be a bit minced with exhaustion, so think clearly over lunch!

I've stayed in many different places and can recommend the following refugios particularly if you're going in September/October as that's when I've seen them. Depending on budget there is a wide choice. I like the idea I had of 500e for 30 nights, so  30 nights @ 6e, left me with 320euro spare to treat myself to some privacy and the odd bit of luxury.

17 nights @ 6e = 102e
10 nights @ 25e = 250e
3 nights @ 50e = 150e
Total spend on sleep 502e - and thats the budget blown !

First the must stay refugios. All three are big, clean and beautiful, situated in towns with good restaurants and if you're a motor pilgrim, park the car out of sight and hobble in the last 100 yards. Being large means they are empty in October.

Roncesvalles 6e, Azofra 6e & Pontomarin 7e

Great B & Bs - 25e - 30euro - My definition is usually that the best was clean and comfortable, we could use a washing machine and the bath or shower was ensuite or shared with only one other room. If you share for 12.50-15euro each it means loads. Single rooms rack up the camino costs.

Hontanas, Sahagun, Eirexe, Tricastela, Sarria,

Top Hotels

Burgos - opposite the catherdal - follow the route until you pss the cathedral and you'll see the hotel staring at you. You open your windows onto the cathedral - magnificent and 70-90 euros for a double room is worth it. When you come out the hotel walk down the steps towards the cathedral, then hang a right and go through the city walls and have a look at the river before returning through the walls to gorge yourself on a feast of Tapas to be found in the side streets by the cathedral.

Burgos also has another 500 hotels so booking.com is as good a guide as any.

Leon - Posada (del Rei ?)Magnifico, 50 euros, and yet it seems as 80 euros would be more realistic. Its on the route just as you hit the centre of town. If you get to the monastery you've passed it. Leon is the Tapas/Pinchos capital of the Camino. You get free pinchos with every drink so you just serenade the bars for as long as you have an appetite. This hotel is situated on the edge of Tapas heaven, a series of narrow streets, very similar to the outstanding tapas bars of Zaragoza, but a night out here will cost you a quarter of the price.

I stayed at the Albany Hostal in Leon 30euro for a single room, absolutely superb, again so central.....more like a boutique hotel

With 2 different trips, I tried to stay at the places I liked and avoid the ones I didn't

Roncesvalles - after a 10 hour climb up over and down, this is the luxury you'd expect for 8 euro. A new building opened up between 2007 and 2011 and what was a massive hall with unabated snoring is now beautifully laid out with silencers to limit the snoring noise, or at least break it up. The wash rooms are numerous and its 4 stars from me.

Zubiri - I'm going to try the municipal next time. There is a perfectly acceptable private 2 star 8 beds per room, compact but central, its the one you hit at the bottom of a tough hill, you get your clothes washed and dried, (7e) but very small. There is more space to dine in than to change your shirt, shower or sit in the toilet. A long lie is a bonus as the keen pilgrims all leave by 7am and as you're not huckled out, if you are having an easy third day to Pamplona, sleep on, go the shops, have a breakfast and leave town at 9am.

Pamplona - I've done hotels twice now. Easy to find, but expensive. The refugio is on the way in and everyone I spoke to said it was great, one to try in 2013.

Puente la Reina - After a lovely walk from Pamplona, through fields growing all sorts, visiting wee towns like Zariquiegui, rising up out of the plain, you climb up over the hill of Alto del Perdon and look at the valley beyond stretches into the distance. Superb. I've stayed at the last refuge on the hill 200m out of town, both times now. Its not far to walk back, but retracing your steps is difficult on a camino, you dont walk back! There is ahotel as you enter town and a couple of refugios that just looked too hot, smelly and compact. Going through the town, resisting bars and tapas, and out the other end ticks the box, has a semi private offering if there are two of you and offers a Dinner B & B option and also has washing machines and washlines. All a bit too entreprenuerial when all you want is a bed and a shower and then loads of food and drink. Top tip here is, buy some stuff in town and enjoy it in the afternoon sun by the swimming pool or on the benches in the huge grounds. It seems like penny pinching to buy stuff in town, but trust me its good practice, mix and match, buy some at the refugio but dont get legged over. There are the odd places where you pay 3e for a tin, annoying when you passed a shop selling 12 for that price. I am happy paying that when I'm having one or two but when you have more than that, its a bit toppy. After a long dusty walk these tins can go down like water, so best to buy 6 and leave 3 behind as a tip! A similar approach is to be taken with the wine. That way you can tip the Hopitalero a couple of euro and everyone wins. that was a long way to say I recommend this place which is at the end of the town, over the bridge and up a hill.

Lorca - the rooms looked good in this B & B, or private refugio at the end of town, we had lunch and the facilities were clean and the WIFI good.

Estrella - Up a hill indeed, and the next morning you climb a big hill so dont drink too much! After much walking you reach the road, which you cross and then meander again through the countryside dreaming, which is what I'm doing. Estrella has a coule of refugios and B & B's. I've tried the church on the way in, it was ok, but in a not very ok, kind of way. We looked at another one last time but walked in and out in the same motion. We then wandered up and found a B & B apartment which for 30e per tiny room was disgustingly expensive. Shame, as the town is worth staying in, the food was superb. I'm going to try the town before Estrella for accomodation next time, or do some more research on hotels. The church refugio had really groovy people in it which I think had put me off a bit, but it will be first choice next time if I dont get around to that research. Opposite the church and across the river, down the road on the right is a great bar cafe. Best food on the camino in 2011.

Villamayor Mont Jardin - A very short walk from Estrella, but this is a fantastically basic but excellently served refuge. This is a one cafe plaza with refugio. You have the option to eat in the refugio or in the bar. There's also the spiritual option with the refugio. The community we found ourselves in was superb, and whether you were dining in the cafe or the refugio, we all met up later over a glass or two and watched the sunset. We then rocked the refugio with our snoring, but that's another story. Its exceptionally basic and 4e is a fair price. The food in the refugio was described as being fantastic so I'll dine there next time. Its amust for the atmosphere for me.

Los Arcos - A lazy day would take you here, but in 2007 it was a longer walk from Estrella. It was great for food but I didnt rate our refugio. I cant really rate the other two in town, but as a destination it is well worthy. The food in 2007 was the best on the camino, downstairs in the cafe opposite the church.

Torres Del Rio was a hotel. 50e sharing, a dipping pool for swimming one length, and the best hidden shop on the camino. There were a few bars with WIFI, but this is a bout the hotel. It was worthy. A bit expensive but when you treat yourself its a joy to have a siesta in silence and then to have the energy to walk about the town. I may not stay there again, but I might, I'm glad to know its an option.

Viana is a big place but both time we passed straight on after lunch to Logrono and Navarette. I might stop next time for more than lunch. The long road to Logrono is almost worth bypassing. You are walking through a nature reserve but it feels like reclaimed ground as not much nature to be seen. You meander into town along with the motorway and only when you leave its side do you suddenly feel the big city and sense the party mood. Another bumper harvest means the late September early October partying is just beginning

Logrono is a big city. The wine festival is likely to be on. The Navarre harvest means the vino is pouring, either partake or walk on. In 2007 we walked into the centre of town and found a hotel, not cheap, like Pamplona, slightly more expensive than you'd like to pay for essentially a room with no view.

Navarette - Stayed in different places in Navarette, both to be recommended, as is the town. WIFI was short on the ground but I like it. D, B & B for 25e in a skanky single room was probably not for the faint hearted but in 2011 that was all there was and it was very empty. The previous time we'd stayed at a small private refuge but it was full this time. A lesson in turning up late! To be honest, we were heading there as there were only 3 people in it in 2007 and we were 2 of them. The food in Navarette was very good.

Ventosa looked a good clean refugio, and the food was good.

Najera is not a good refugio. Get bed bugs here and carry them on the camino was a story I heard many times. You wouldnt stop here apart from to enjoy the lovely riverside cafes. Get food in a supermarket as you walk into town, have a lunch or snack, but leave for Azofra!

Azofra - Completed the first stage of the camino for me. Every time I smile when I see the town. Its a one shop, 2 cafe town, but it has the best refugio, except for the health and safety. Be aware, there are no outside lights and if you get drunk you will need to use the local health centre (two rooms, one with a doctor in it, one with waiting patients - its very good though! Cuatro puntos, means 4 stiches as Banana could tell you, fat Al took the movie and Bananas took the fall.