The main reason I booked a tour company was simple. I wanted to focus on the Camino itself, not on where I’d sleep each night or whether I could hike 15 miles or more with a heavy pack on my back. I could have handled all of it myself, and for less money. I chose not to. Here’s how I got there.

A note before I start: I have no affiliation with any company or product mentioned here, and no one compensated me. These are simply the choices I made and why.

Getting There

The planning started with flights. I wanted to fly out of Erie so I wouldn’t have to add driving time and pay for parking for two and a half weeks. The closest major airports (Cleveland, Buffalo, and Pittsburgh) are all about two hours away, and Toronto meant a hotel stay, a border crossing of unknown length, and over two weeks of parking. Flying from Erie meant going through Charlotte and then across the Atlantic, but I could take a ten-minute Uber from my house and leave my car safely at home. Since it’s American Airlines that flies from Erie, this also meant I could get points that could be applied to British Airways, so another bonus for choosing this route.

As far as where to fly to get to Europe, Madrid would have meant a long bus ride or a very short flight to Oviedo, so I went back to my preferred airport, Heathrow, and booked a round trip from Erie to London. I built in a layover day in London to make sure there was no issue with my checked luggage, which gave me a day in my favorite city and dinner at one of my favorite restaurants. I couldn’t find anything reasonable direct from London to Oviedo, so I flew KLM through Amsterdam. For the return from Santiago to London, British Airways was surprisingly the cheapest, with a nice late-afternoon flight.

Where to Sleep

Once I had the flights mapped out, the right dates, and enough days in Spain to walk the full route, plus a rest day in Lugo and an extra day in Santiago so that I wouldn’t be rushed to explore the city when I arrived, I paused and asked where I was going to sleep.

I’ve stayed in hostel-style places before when I was younger, and the popular option for the Camino is the albergues that include dormitory sleeping. I thought about the lights, the snoring, and the interrupted sleep, and about my own nightly routine, where I’m up a few times a night. I decided it wasn’t what I wanted for this trip. I wanted my own bed, in my own room, with a guaranteed hot shower whenever I wanted it as well as no need to secure my belongings against theft (intentional or mistaking my hiking poles for their own, which I heard can happen).

Then I looked at what it would take to book hotels for that many nights, and it was overwhelming. I work full time, and I didn’t want to research which hotels were best and then book each one. This isn’t like booking a major U.S. chain. The hotels in this area are small and usually family-owned, and many have little online presence, so getting a reservation can mean messaging back and forth on WhatsApp or trusting a website like Booking.com where reservations sometimes get ‘lost.’

What to Carry

The related question was gear. Some “Camino bros” insist that you must carry everything on your back, not book in advance, and stay wherever there’s room. I never bought into that. My plan was to bring a full pack and a day pack, carry the pack when I felt like it, and send it ahead through a transfer company when I didn’t.

But as I looked into the hotel situation, I decided I didn’t want to weigh and measure everything to build a pack I could handle on my small frame, or be limited to what would fit in it. What I really wanted was to have a suitcase where I could bring my own hiking poles and have more flexibility on clothing and supplies. Carrying things like Swiss army knives and hiking poles is generally not allowed in security checkpoints at airports, so having a suitcase also meant I could bring my usual hiking gear without fear of it being rejected at security. (More on what I packed, and what I should have left home, in a later post.)

Choosing a Company

With that decision in mind, I decided I wanted a travel company to help with both the hotels and the luggage transfer. I used an AI tool to narrow down the companies, and it also suggested questions I should ask and things to evaluate before choosing. I asked three companies for quotes:

• AndaSpain: small, personal, and Spain-based.
• Macs Adventure: large, with a polished app and guidebook, and UK-based.
• The Natural Adventure: mid-sized, a walking specialist, and UK-based.

I went with AndaSpain. They weren’t the cheapest, and they weren’t the most expensive.

A lot of my decision came down to how each company responded, the level of detail in their response, and the customization. What matters most to me is whether a company seems to care about me as a customer. One of the other two sent what felt like a form letter, with no personalization and nothing to show a real person was on the other end. Kate at AndaSpain sent what felt like a personal note, with a very detailed and helpful response. If I get a canned, one-size-fits-all answer before I’ve paid a cent, I’m much less likely to want to do business with that company.

I knew the single supplement (the extra charge for traveling solo) would push up the price, but I went ahead with the €2,700 quote. The final bill was closer to €3,000 after I had them add the extra day in Santiago, so I didn’t have to contact that hotel separately. Could I have done it myself more cheaply? Yes. But I had enough planning with the flights and the training, and I didn’t want to be overwhelmed by the details of accommodations and luggage. The package also included breakfast every morning, which helped with meals on the trail.

What I Asked Every Company

An AI tool helped me draft an inquiry email, which I used to compare companies on the same terms. I said I was walking solo from Oviedo to Santiago and wanted a single room throughout, mid-range hotels or well-reviewed guesthouses with a private bathroom (not albergues), daily luggage transfer, and breakfast included. Then I asked each company to send me:

1. A suggested day-by-day itinerary with stage distances
2. The total package price, all-in, including the single supplement
3. The specific hotels or guesthouses for each night, with their category or star rating
4. What was included and what wasn’t (transfers to and from Oviedo, meals, insurance, and so on)
5. Their deposit and cancellation policy
6. What support they provide on the trip (a 24/7 contact, an app, route notes, GPS)

I also told them I was comparing a few operators, so the more specific they were about accommodations and inclusions, the easier my decision would be. Asking for the same information up front makes the companies much easier to compare.

How It Worked Out

The Hotels

The hotels were excellent. A few were at the low end, but in some towns, there may be only one hotel, and I knew it wouldn’t be four stars every night. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of some of them. Several were beautiful, with spacious, comfortable rooms, excellent restaurants, and great service. Two even had swimming pools.

How the Luggage Transfer Worked

Each morning my suitcase had to be ready by 8:00. The hotel staff would tell me where to leave it. Some places had a sign or a special storage room, and others took it at the front desk and held it for pickup. The stated delivery time at the next hotel was 4:00 p.m.

The delivery time matters on a short stage, when you can arrive well before your suitcase does. On those days I strapped my sandals to my pack and put a change of clothes in it, so I could shower and change as soon as I got to the hotel. I’d recommend that to anyone. In Santiago, my room was ready when I arrived at 11:15, but my luggage wasn’t there. I had my sandals but hadn’t packed a change of clothes that day, so I sat in the cathedral in my sweaty hiking clothes.

The Tradeoffs

The biggest tradeoff is flexibility. You can’t change your destination on any given day. The day I walked more than 24 miles, it was because I wanted to see the Hospitales route but couldn’t switch my stop to the next town beyond it, so I had to double back. On another day the stage was only nine miles, and I really wanted to keep going.

Support When I Needed It

When I lost my iPhone on day four (more on that in a later post), the company couldn’t really do anything for me. Still, it was nice to get a call from Kate, and it felt good to have someone I could reach out to. She checked in on me a few times afterward, and I appreciated the effort to make sure my trip was going well, all things considered.

One Caveat: The Mileage

The daily mileage on my itinerary ran short of my actual distances. I suspect the numbers were official counts rather than actuals. Once I realized they were approximate, I started expecting each stage to be about a mile longer than listed, and that worked out so that I wasn’t frustrated by not finishing when expected each day.

Is It Right for You?

You must be comfortable spending the money. If you’re trying to do the Camino on the cheap, a travel company isn’t a good idea. There are signs up all along the trail for taxi services that transport luggage, so that’s an option on a day when you’re not up to carrying your full pack.

One More Decision: Trip Insurance

I also bought trip insurance, mostly because of the uncertainty in Europe at the time, including wildfires in Spain and political issues. I used the comparison site Squaremouth to get quotes and narrow the field to three plans: iTravelInsured Choice, Aegis, and FlexiPAX. Then I used an AI tool to help me evaluate them, looking at price, coverage limits, and what reviewers said about the claims process.

I went with FlexiPAX. The trip cost I insured was about $5,800. That was more than the tour package. It also included my flights (a round trip from Erie to London, one-way for London to Oviedo, and one-way for Santiago to London) as well as two nights in a London hotel, one on the way out and one on the way back. The premium was about $301, or roughly 5% of that total. The policy included $100,000 in primary medical coverage, $500,000 for emergency evacuation, and 150% trip interruption coverage. Coverage varies by policy, so read the terms of any plan you’re considering.

Here is what I would check on any policy for the Camino:

• Emergency medical evacuation. Much of the route is rural, and an evacuation can be very expensive.
• Trip interruption, in case an injury forces you to stop.
• Whether hiking or trekking is excluded, and whether there is an altitude limit. My policy excluded mountain climbing above 2,700 meters. The highest point on the Primitivo is less than half of that, so it wasn’t an issue.
• How claims are actually handled. Read recent reviews of the claims process, not just the coverage summary.

Since I lost my iPhone during the trip, I did end up filing an insurance claim. I wasn’t certain it would cover the loss of the phone but figured even a small amount would help to offset this very unexpected additional cost to my trip. As of this writing, I’ve submitted all the documents they requested and am waiting for them to respond. It won’t cover the entire replacement cost, but anything is better than nothing. [I’ll update here when the claim is resolved.]

Would I Do It Again?

Yes. It was worth the price for me, especially since I’d never done a Camino before. If I ever decide to do another one, I might try booking hotels myself and using one of the luggage transport companies. But for a long trip of more than two weeks, it was a lot less stressful to have someone else making all the arrangements.