Where to donate your Camino gear in Santiago

Updated 18 August 2026.

It happens every day at the Pilgrim's Office and in albergues across the city: perfectly good gear abandoned because it doesn't fit, weighs too much, or airline rules won't allow it in the cabin. Most of it ends up in the bin, which is a shame, because Santiago has small volunteer-run circuits that collect that gear and put it in the hands of people who need it — pilgrims starting their route, or people in the city going through hard times. These are the drop-off points we know of, with one general caveat: they're small, changeable initiatives, so check on the spot before turning up with your whole pack.

Poles: San Martín Pinario and the Pilgrim's Office

Poles are the clearest case: officially airlines don't allow them in the cabin, so you either check them in or they stay in Santiago. At the San Martín Pinario guesthouse next to the Cathedral there's a pole collection run by the Camino Francés federation of associations: as their own volunteers explain on the pilgrim forum, poles are sent back to route starting points — the Pamplona pilgrim office and albergues in Estella, Los Arcos, Navarrete, Burgos and Ponferrada — for other walkers to reuse. Some pilgrims leave a note attached for the next owner, a small tradition that has been catching on.

The evergreen plan B is the Pilgrim Reception Office: dozens of poles are left there every day by people flying home the same afternoon. It's not an organised programme, but poles in good condition tend to find a new owner fast. Some albergues also keep a box of their own: pilgrims confirm that Santiago KM.0, one of Santiago's best albergues, in the old town, has a pole-donation box.

Clothing and boots: the Cáritas box on Rúa de San Roque

For technical clothing and footwear in good condition, the drop-off pilgrims themselves mention most is the red Cáritas donation box on Rúa de San Roque, next to the A Bodeguilla de San Roque bar, five minutes from the old town. Clothes go into Cáritas's social circuit, so the standard for any clothing donation applies: clean and fit to be worn by someone else. Boots destroyed by 800 km aren't a donation, they're waste — those go in the rubbish. If you're choosing the next pair, we counted what pilgrims recommend in what footwear to take on the Camino.

Gear in general: Pilgrim House

Pilgrim House (Rúa Nova, 19), the international welcome centre for pilgrims, is the most complete of the three, and in August 2026 they confirmed to us in writing what they do and don't take. Yes: hiking poles, shoes and clothes in decent condition and fit for pilgrim use, sleeping bags, microfibre towels, ponchos, unused medical supplies and backpacks, plus general gear. No: used toiletries, used medical supplies or water bottles.

What they take in they wash — everything except shoes — and they make no repairs: they only keep what can be used again. And here's the part almost nobody mentions: the gear doesn't go somewhere else, it stays there in stock for the next pilgrim to take. If you arrive without a poncho or something of yours has given up, you can walk in and pick one up exactly as you'd walk in to leave one. When they end up with a surplus of clothes and shoes, that does go on to organisations working with homeless people.

Two practical points. First: collection depends on their capacity, and there are times when they're full and have to turn donations away, so drop in and ask first. Second, and we had this wrong: they do run a left-luggage service, but drop-off has to be in person. They don't accept parcels or shipments — storage space is limited and their opening hours don't work for receiving deliveries.