Angiep

My 24 year old daughter plans on completing the pilgrimage with another student. Can anyone tell me if we will be able to communicate by text or cell or email when she arrives in villages? She will be gone for 40 days and we will be meeting her then in Athens. Communication weekly would be great.

kenderina

Sure, no problem Cellphones should work most of the time.It is not in the middle of nowhere

Aduchamp1

My wife is on the Camino as we speak. Weight was issue so she did not take a cell phone more for the weight of the charger. She is traveling with her sister however.

If she does nto take a cell then communications can be limited.

lreynold1

Hi, angiep,
If your daughter will be walking the Camino Frances (the most popular one, beginning in Roncesvalles and ending in Santiago), she will walk through a number of cities -- Pamplona, Logrono, Burgos, and Leon are the biggest. No problem in any of those places, obviously. Public libraries in all villages and towns have free internet, with an occasional odd rule that disqualifies walkers. Communication should not be a problem. I've walked it several times, always without a cell phone, and was able to keep in close contact with home in the US either through email or by buying a cheap phone card that allowed me to call home for a few cents a minute. Spain still has a large number of public phones, which makes that option an easy one.

ribeirasacra

Living in the countryside of Galicia not so far away from a part of the Camino I can advise you that some service providers here in Spain have better coverage than others. So if you purchase a Spanish card or phone then I suggest Telefonica for the best coverage. They are not the cheapest.

NEDSIRELAND

Another vote for Tarjeta Telefonica, the kind with the I/C 'chip' on the card itself. They sell for base prices of seven and fourteen Euro; and, although I have never done so, relatives in Spain have told me I could add money (time) to the card from any Telefonica phone. They're at the blue kiosks. I've used Telefonica Phone cards across northern Spain and in Santiago. The only downside is that you can't use them from your Hotel room.

Most Cities of any size will have at least one 'Internet Café,' from which your daughter can send text messages or e-mails.

marigross

I went 3 years ago. I was amazed at the amount of public phones along the way, so the phone card is probably the best option. The big cities will have cyber cafés as well.

lreynold1

Just a couple more points on the phone card -- I don't know where Angiep's daughter will be calling, but I have found that it's best to buy the Telefonica cards with a chip in them for use in pay phones (though not all accept them) and for domestic calls.

For international calls to the US, hands down the best phone card I've found is "Euro City". Every tabacalera (tobacco shop) sells phone cards for international calling, but there are millions of them and they vary tremendously in terms of how many minutes you actually get. Some have connection fees, some have daily fees, etc etc. For me it was a matter of hit or miss and after several Caminos, I've concluded that Euro City is the best if you can find it. The international calling cards are not cards with chips in them, they're the cards where you dial a toll free number and then type in the ID number that you find when you scratch off the gray bar on the back of the card.

And another tip, if you are using an international calling card, the green and blue pay phones (but they have to be Telefonica phones) in bars/restaurants, etc. give you much better rates than if you use the card from an outdoor pay phone in a standard phone booth. Can't figure out why that is, but there is a huge difference.

Angiep

Dear All,

Thank you for all of the great tips. You are awesome.

Have a great weekend.