Follow the Camino Avis 

Beautiful Hotels but Gaps in Communication, Faulty App, and Flawed "24/7" Support

I recently completed my Camino walk from Tui to Santiago with Follow the Camino. While the accommodations themselves were lovely and the trail was beautiful, the overall service was marred by hands-off management, poor proactive advice, a glitchy app, and a stressful lack of "closed-loop" communication.

The Good: Beautiful Hotels & Smooth Airport Transfers
To give credit where it is due, the airport taxi transfers they organized were executed flawlessly. Furthermore, the accommodations themselves were excellent—some were absolutely beautiful with great amenities, and several were located directly on the Camino route.

The Bad: Faulty Navigation App & Distant Hotels
Unfortunately, getting to those hotels was sometimes a struggle. The provided navigation app worked most of the time, but it had a frustrating habit of crashing occasionally—especially during times of critical need, such as the end of a exhausting day when I was actively trying to navigate to my lodging. This app failure compounded the issue of hotel placement. Several hotels were not directly on the Camino route, requiring me to take a provided taxi transfer or hike an extra 4 km detour off-course just to reach the property.

The Gaps in Communication & Unmonitored "24/7" Emergency Line
Despite the successful airport transfer, the company failed to send a confirmation of the taxi pickup 24 hours prior. This lack of "closed-loop" reassurance left me chasing them, adding unnecessary hassle and stress right at the start of the trip.More alarmingly, their advertised "24/7 emergency number" is highly misleading. When I needed assistance over the weekend, it took them more than 12 hours to return my call, only to be told that the line is not actually monitored over the weekend. Leaving a client stranded for half a day is a massive safety issue and completely contradicts their website's promises.

Hands-Off Reality for First-Time Walkers.
As a first-time Camino walker, I expected more proactive guidance, like suggesting practical daily walking distances or offering splitting up longer days into two days.
Follow the Camino was extremely hands-off. They failed to provide vital, specific details that a beginner simply wouldn't know to ask—such as the fact that some properties do not have on-site laundry (forcing you to find external services after walking 20+ km) or the reality of the hotel detours.

Verdict:If you are an experienced walker who just wants premium hotel bookings, you will likely enjoy the accommodations. However, if you are a first-timer looking for seamless communication, helpful guidance, a stable app, and a reliable safety net, look elsewhere. Their lack of proactive support creates more stress than it eliminates.

What a great first time experience!!!
All of our accommodations were great 😊 I would not change a single place we stayed. Two of the places were a magical treat and would love to stay at either location for an extended stay.

Every part of this journey was wonderful. Suitcases were always at the hotel that we were staying in. In the hotels, one of them excellent. The tiny little town of Oia was quaint, clean and excellent breakfast. Santiago to Porto, unique and beautiful hotels. My only complaint was my own issue if I did this again, my walking would be shortened by a few miles; I should not have been so ambitious.

This is not the first time I have used Follow the Camino . They have been thorough, understanding, caring, guiding and there for you when you need them even when you are on the Camino. Their choices of accommodation is excellent and they listen and really try to forful your wishes and suggestions.
I can not recommend them more highly. I have even experienced a pretty bad situation to one of our pilgrims in a small group and they were incredible at making sure everything went smoothly.
I really found they were the best.
The person I booked with, Nadia, has a lot of local knowledge which I appreciated.
They really are the best
.

............Deadly buzz

The only thing is that the hotel o Muino de Pena muy bueno pero lejos de la ruta y no me avisaron que pasarían por mí q algún lugar en la ruta
Fuera de ese detalle todo perfecto
Gracias

Our 4th trip with Follow the Camino and the booking experience and service were excellent

This is the 2nd Camino trek "Follow the Camino" arranged for me. Every detail was arranged, and the logistics worked perfectly. Exactly how you want a vacation to work out. I'm now considering a 3rd Camino, and will most likely use this company again.

Excellent support by your travel coordinator. Excellent selections of accommodations. A pilgrimage full adventures and memories.

This was my second time using Follow The Camino and it proved to be just as good an experience as the first time. I am looking forward to doing it again in the future.

Clara in Follow the Camino made booking the hotels and arranging our luggage transfers very easy. The hotels selected all worked very well.
My brother and I had a fantastic time and enjoyed every day.

We, a group of 5 family members between the ages of 63 to 75 rode the Portuguese Camino from Porto to Santiago on Follow the Camino e-bikes. We had a fantastic time. The weather was great, the cycle track was varied, interesting and scenically beautiful. We were a bit ambitious to complete the ride within 4 days. They were full days and we were glad to reach our hotel at the end of each day. The hotels were well appointed, comfortable and bike friendly. The customer service from Follow the Camino was excellent from our inital enquiry to delivering the bikes. We have recommended them to others and would book another trip again.

The accommodations were good value for money. Food were delicious and provided substantial energy.

Had a fantastic adventure on with follow. The Camino met some amazing people really enjoyed the choice of hotels and luggage transfer was excellent. Would definitely recommend. Follow the Camino.

the patience and attention that I was given from my first contact was exceptional. the actual trip itself was outstanding: communication was great; accommodations met every expectation (some were beyond exceptional!); luggage transfer was amazingly without a hitch! would use Follow the Camino again without question!

The whole experience was very enjoyable.

I have used your services for the second time because they completely satisfy me. The hike was well planned, the accommodations were impressive and comfortable. The addition of an extra participant was handled promptly. I hope to use your services again.
Thank you,
Jānis
Latvia

It was such a great experience to travel with follow the camino. Everything from transport, information and hotells. We had an amazing time and would love to do it again. Highly recomended.

We did the Via Francigena from San Miniato to Siena from 12th June. While the route was scenic, there was no place to stop on the way, to get something to eat or a coffee. Bag transfers were good, however hotels were a little out of town, requiring extra walking or transfers.