---
title: "Xunta public albergues: 10 € and one night only"
description: "Galicia's public network: 10 € per person per day, no bookings, first come first served, one night per albergue. Hours, what's included, the 17 between Sarria and Santiago, and the two in Santiago."
url: https://santiago.es/en/camino-de-santiago/xunta-albergues
locale: en
---

# Xunta public albergues: 10 € and one night only

Sleeping on the Camino

It is the only network on the Camino with a flat rate, and the one that generates the most misunderstandings, because its three hard rules are not where people look for them. Here they are, quoted from the regulations, with what they include and what they don't.

**Price**

10 € per person per day

**Bookings**

Never accepted, in any case

**Stay**

One night only

**Hours**

Open 13:00 · out before 08:00

![Brújula antigua sobre un plano del casco histórico, grabado dorado](https://santiago.es/img/illus/brujula.jpg)

[© santiago.es · Ilustración](https://santiago.es)

By [Cesar Rodriguez](https://santiago.es/en/author)

The Xunta de Galicia's network of public albergues is the reason the Camino can be walked cheaply, and also the reason a lot of people arrive in Galicia with expectations that don't hold. It started in 1993, is run by S.A. de Xestión do Plan Xacobeo and covers ten routes. What makes it unlike anything else is the **flat rate**: 10 € a night in any of its albergues, from the 15 beds at O Mato to the 364 at Monte do Gozo. What makes it exasperating is that the rate comes with three conditions you cannot negotiate.

## The three rules that decide everything

They are in the network's own regulations, and they are worth reading in their own words, because second-hand versions almost always soften them.

**The conditions of Galicia's public network, per the Xunta's regulations**

| Rule | What the Xunta says | What it means in practice |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | “Payment of 10 € per person per day” | The same in all 77 albergues, with no reduced rate for anyone |
| Bookings | “Without the possibility of making reservations being accepted in any case” | There is no phone to ring and no site to hold a bed on |
| Stay | “Shall be one single night, except in case of illness or other force majeure” | You cannot use a public albergue as a base for a rest day |

The one-night rule is what breaks most plans

People who plan a rest day halfway usually assume it happens in the albergue they slept in. In the public network **it cannot**: the rule is one night and the exception is written for illness, not for tiredness. If you want two nights in one place, the rest day has to be in a private albergue or a guesthouse. That is a cost worth putting in the budget from the start, and it is accounted for in [what the Camino actually costs](https://santiago.es/en/camino-de-santiago/how-much-does-it-cost).

## How you get a bed, and it isn't just about arriving early

Beds go **in order of arrival**, but it is not a blind queue: the regulations set a priority, in this order. First pilgrims **with physical limitations**; then those **on foot**; then **on horseback**; then **by bicycle**; and last of all anyone travelling with a **support vehicle**. If you arrive by bike at an albergue filling up with walkers, that list decides, not the time you got there.

The hours are the other half of the problem. **Doors open at 13:00 and close at 22:00**, lights go out at 22:30, and you have to be gone **before 08:00**. Which means arriving at eleven in the morning guarantees you nothing except two hours waiting on the doorstep, and that is exactly what a lot of people do in high season.

The exception almost nobody knows: San Lázaro opens at 09:00

The **San Lázaro** albergue in Santiago **admits from 09:00**, not 13:00 like the rest of the network. It makes sense: it is the arrival albergue, and people walk into the city in the morning after the last stage. No guidebook publishes it; it is on the albergue's own official listing.

## What the 10 € includes, and what it doesn't

This is what most decides what goes in your pack, and two details surprise everyone.

- **Disposable bedding, yes.**The regulations say "the bunks have disposable bed linen", so a sleeping bag is not essential in the public network. Plenty of people carry one anyway, and that is a reasonable call for other reasons.
- **Kitchen yes, kitchenware no.**Literally: "use of the kitchen is permitted (it does not have kitchenware)". There are hobs and there are no pots, pans, plates or cutlery. It is the most repeated complaint about the whole network and it is not one albergue being careless: it is the rule. If you are counting on cooking to save money, you carry the kitchenware or buy it on the way.
- **Hot showers, washing sinks and drying lines.** Hand washing yes; washing machine and dryer depend on the albergue.
- **They are not liable for your belongings.** The regulations say so explicitly, so the padlock is on you. Some have lockers, not all.

And one warning that is not minor: breaking the rules can cost you a ban from **any other albergue in the network**, not just the one where it happened.

## How many there are: three official figures that don't match

Here we have to be straight, because the Xunta contradicts itself. Its **official brochure from April 2026** counts **77 albergues and 3,534 beds**, albergue by albergue, and it is the most precise source there is. Its **network page**still says "76 centres and over 3,000 beds". And its **live listing**, walked end to end, returns **78**. All three are theirs. We go with the brochure and call it approximate, because it is.

## The 17 Xunta albergues between Sarria and Santiago

This is the stretch most people walk, and where the public network stakes its reputation: 1,257 public beds across five stages, spread very unevenly. Melide, Arca and Monte do Gozo hold almost half of them, and between Ferreiros and Portomarín there are long gaps with one small albergue every so many kilometres.

**Xunta albergues from Sarria to Santiago, with bed counts from the official April 2026 brochure**

| Albergue | Beds |
| --- | --- |
| Sarria | 33 |
| Barbadelo | 17 |
| Ferreiros | 19 |
| Portomarín | 88 |
| Gonzar | 28 |
| Hospital da Cruz | 32 |
| A Eirexe (Ligonde) | 16 |
| Os Chacotes | 100 |
| Palas de Rei | 66 |
| O Mato | 15 |
| Melide | 138 |
| Ribadiso | 62 or 69, depending on the brochure page |
| Arzúa | 54 |
| Santa Irene | 35 |
| Arca | 124 |
| Monte do Gozo | 364 |
| San Lázaro (Santiago) | 66 |

The Ribadiso figure is not a mistake of ours: **the brochure itself prints two different numbers** for that albergue on two pages. We leave it as it stands rather than pick one, which is what would make the figure look firmer than it is. And if what you want is how the stages of that stretch divide up, it is in [the Camino de Santiago from Sarria](https://santiago.es/en/camino-de-santiago/stages-sarria-santiago).

## There are two in Santiago, not one

Almost every guide names Monte do Gozo and forgets the other, and both are still in the official listing and in the April 2026 brochure.

- **Monte do Gozo**, 364 beds (352 plus 12 adapted). Careful with the figures of 500, 620 or 800 that circulate: those are for the **whole complex**, which includes a privately run concession, not for the 10 € albergue.
- **San Lázaro**, 66 beds, on Rúa de San Lázaro, with lockers, towels and soap, and admission brought forward to 09:00.

## What we could not confirm

Two things, and we would rather say them than fill them in. First: **the Xunta publishes no seasonal calendar**for its network. We searched both network pages and the individual listings and there is not one mention of which albergues close in winter; the brochure marks some as "opening soon" and the secondary sources contradict each other. If you walk between November and March, the only reliable route is phoning the specific albergues on your stages. What we do know about the Galician winter is in [the Camino de Invierno guide](https://santiago.es/en/camino-de-santiago/invierno).

Second: **the network's official page never mentions the credencial** as a condition of entry. Whether they ask for it in practice is another matter, and carrying one is compulsory for the Compostela anyway, but we are not going to quote as a rule something that isn't written where it should be.

## Frequently asked questions

**Can you book a Xunta albergue?**

No. The regulations say beds are taken as pilgrims arrive, "without the possibility of making reservations being accepted in any case". There was a voluntary booking platform, alberguesxacobeo.gal, but it was a pandemic measure from July 2020 and today the domain does not even resolve. Booking and paying 10 € are incompatible: if they let you book, it is not an albergue in the public network.

**How many nights can I stay in a public albergue?**

One. The rule is "one single night, except in case of illness or other force majeure", and it is enforced. If you want a rest day in the same place, the second night has to be in a private albergue or a guesthouse.

**What time do you have to arrive at a Xunta albergue?**

They do not open until 13:00, so arriving earlier only buys you a wait on the doorstep. They close at 22:00, lights go out at 22:30 and you have to leave before 08:00. The exception is San Lázaro in Santiago, which admits from 09:00 because it is the arrival albergue.

**Do you need a sleeping bag in Xunta albergues?**

It is not essential: the regulations say the bunks have disposable bed linen. Plenty of people carry one anyway, for the private albergues along the way or out of preference. What you do need to carry is kitchenware if you plan to cook, because the kitchen may be used but "does not have kitchenware": there are hobs and no pots or plates.

**Do the public albergues fill up?**

Yes, and the idea that nobody is ever turned away no longer holds between Sarria and Santiago in high season. Beds go by a priority order set in the regulations: first anyone with physical limitations, then on foot, on horseback, by bicycle, and last of all support vehicles. On a bike, expect walkers to go ahead of you.

**Is there a Xunta albergue in the city of Santiago?**

Two: Monte do Gozo, with 364 beds, and San Lázaro, with 66. Monte do Gozo causes the most confusion because the figures of 500 to 800 beds that circulate are for the whole complex, which includes a privately run concession, and not for the 10 € public albergue.

Prices and hours are indicative, taken from the regulations and the official brochure of the Xunta de Galicia's public albergue network (April 2026 brochure) and from its live listing, consulted on 2 October 2026. The Xunta publishes different figures for the size of the network in three of its own places, so the count is approximate.

## Carry on here

**[Where pilgrims run out of beds](https://santiago.es/en/camino-de-santiago/beds)** — Sleeping — The towns and the exact dates pilgrims were left without a bed, with the contrast from the people who went to check. — See the towns

**[Camino de Santiago from Sarria: the five stages](https://santiago.es/en/camino-de-santiago/stages-sarria-santiago)** — Day by day — The stretch holding most of those 17 public albergues, stage by stage. — See the stages

**[What the Camino actually costs](https://santiago.es/en/camino-de-santiago/how-much-does-it-cost)** — Budget — 38 real daily spends from pilgrims, from 25 to 133 €, with the 10 € rate inside the calculation. — See the numbers