Excluding travel expenses (plane tickets, train or transfers), and equipment (backpack-shoes, etc.), a daily expense of about € 40 can be estimated. The prices are divided as follows: Breakfast: breakfast in Spain is a little more expensive than the Italian one and for a coffee con leche and a napolitano (as the croissants are called) you can spend even 4 euros. It is true that in many hostels breakfast is served by the hospitaleros but after a few hours on foot the stop is almost mandatory so I advise you to count this expense in your budget for the Way. Lunch: For a quick lunch during the walk, or as soon as you arrive at the hotel, you will spend around 8 euros. Along the way you will find many places that will serve you a tortilla, a sandwich or some delicious dish at very low prices. Possible Snack: a drink, a bocadillo or a chocolate bar are almost always needed when walking for tens of kilometers. Consider another 3-4 euros so as not to get the accounts wrong. Dinner: The choice for dinner very often is between cooking in the hotel – perhaps sharing the kitchen with other pilgrims – or choosing to have a meal out. Cooking with others, exchanging advice on preparations, learning new dishes and having a chat is truly a wonderful experience. Alternatively there is the Pilgrim’s Menu in the restaurants along the route at a cost of about 10/12 euros, consisting of first course (usually pasta, paella or rice), second course (chicken breast with salad), side dish (potatoes, beans , green beans), dessert (pudding or yogurt), water / beer / a quart of wine and coffee. Remember that carbonated water often costs as much as a beer! To sleep the figure ranges from 10/15 € (this is the price for shared dormitories). Then logically it depends on us and our habits. These are indicative prices. As for the method of payment, you can use the ATM. You just need to check that your ATM is part of an international network that allows you to withdraw abroad. Along the way it is full of banks and ATMs. Remember that for withdrawals abroad there is a rather high commission, so it is advisable to withdraw large amounts at a time, which allow for weekly autonomy. Please note that many monetary transactions on the way are carried out in cash, as many shops do not have Postamat and many hostels do not have one, especially in the first initial stages.
To deepen the subject, to find out more and if you too have decided to walk the Camino de Santiago or dream of wanting to do it sooner or later, I suggest you buy my book where you will find out why every year, 300,000 people from all over the world, they decide to tackle the most famous Way in the world. If you too, like me, have always dreamed of giving up everything, aware that the life you lead is not the one you dreamed of as a boy, perhaps my experience could give you the courage that I lacked for 36 years …
Reading my experience, you will discover in detail and above all proven in the “field”:
- the history of the journey (historical notes, symbols and legends) and symbolic places;
- suitable clothing and shoes, which backpack to buy and above all what to put inside;
- duration and distance of the journey, how many days it takes to complete it and where to start based on the days available;
- how to train before leaving and the necessary physical preparation;
- how much does it cost to walk the path, where to eat and sleep along the path;
- whether walking the path alone can be dangerous for a woman and whether there is a possibility of getting lost;
- the answer to many questions and concerns (which were also mine) posed by many aspiring pilgrims and the possibility of contacting me to dispel all your doubts / hesitations;
- finally, I will tell you why a journalist and radio host gave up his whole life of comfort and materiality, to travel more than 900 km on foot from the Pyrenees to the Atlantic Ocean, alone and without a telephone, sleeping over that in the various hostels also on the street, in a stable, in a tent, in an abandoned monastery and living two days in a hippie community.
…. “I gave up everything, I left home, sold my car, motorcycle, clothes, my rolex and most of the material things I owned to follow that almost nagging, suffocating, undeterred feeling that once known does not make you find peace: SANTIAGO, the Camino de Santiago. My life needed answers that only a journey in complete solitude could give me “….
If you want to get to know me better, in the link below you will find an interview where I talk about my experience 👇👇👇
https://www.italianmadhouse.com/libri/i-dropped-everything-to-do-santiagos-way-cesare-desertos-book/
