Albergue del Monasterio de San Juan de Ortega

Stayed 28 August 2026 for €15 (card optional) and it was alright. The shower water pressure was amazing, but the beds were quite rusty and old, and the rooms are freezing at night. Would not recommend if you do not have a sleeping bag as my friends without one couldn’t sleep well.

There is no pilgrim menu (there is one at the albergue next door) but you can eat at the cafe you would’ve seen on the left when you first walked into town.

5 of us stayed here and found it fine. Registration was easy and it opened right on 1pm. The dorm (2) had been painted recently, the beds were good, and it was nice and cool. The bathroom had 3 showers & 2 toilets all of which worked well and they were clean enough. Would recommend staying if you are not expecting hotel style accommodation. There was washing basins and drying areas.

Please don’t rely exclusively on the reviews. I arrived here with some trepidation because of those reviews, having found other Albergues in San Juan full. Let’s get the big thing out of the way; there is no smell of sewage anywhere here on 4th Oct ‘24. In fact I had the best shower yet in a big shower stall with a view out to the back garden. Yes, there was mould but the good news is that it stays on the walls and is not known to attack. Yes, they could do with an interior designer in the dorms and furniture etc. shows its age. But the monastic heritage of the building more than makes up for it. If it turns cold tonight, there are plenty of well used but clean blankets to help out. This is vintage Camino and I love it.

We stayed here on April 16, 2024 only because everything to Burgos was booked by groups. The hospitalero was pleasant in an indifferent manner. It was cold and going below freezing overnight and there was no heat. We had to convince ourselves that the wet floors in the shower/toilets was only from the shower, the smell indicated otherwise. We ate at the first bar coming into town. Should have taken a taxi to Burgos and back. Stayed in Agès in 2017 for the same reason. Sorry to be a downer but this place is bad.

I haven’t seen any mold, the showers have reallly hot water which is pretty rare on the camino and mens and womens are separate which is nice (they have combined showers and bathrooms in many albergues).

Like other pilgrims I came into this albergue aware that it had a bad wrap but previous comments have been to kind. Mould on all walls. The smell of raw sewerage emanating from the bathroom and very cold rooms that 2 heaters on for a few hours make no difference to. Blankets were made available but they all seemed cold or damp or both. It’s a hard choice to walk on another hour or more after a long day in hope that you will get a bed. I would not stay here again and would pay the €40 to get a taxi to Burgos.

This place was cold, moist and covered in mold. Every corner of this albergue was disgusting, every room you entered there was a new terrible smell to get used to. There is only one smaller albergue in town, but it is worth it to walk the extra 4 to the next town. This place is bad for your health, breathing in the mold all night!

Do yourself a favor and don’t stay here. It’s is cold and damp, smells like mold. The bathroom is extremely unappealing. I’m not sure why this place is 15€, it should be 8€ at most. Go to the next town if you must

Awful

March 2024: This place was SO SO cold, much worse than other unheated places, probably because of the stone walls. It was like an ice box and everyone was freezing. No places to hang-out but outside. In generel this places lacks atmosphere… its “cold” in every way.

I stayed in San Juan de Ortega last night and this Albergue is now open again for the new season. I’ve stayed here a couple of times before, both times the ladies’ bathroom floor was flooded. I think it’s a drainage problem.
I stayed in El Descanso de San Juan last night…highly recommended.

Awful place. Dirty and no food unless you order by 4.00 pm. Seriously lacking basic facilities.

Dreadful beds and crammed together. Next morning I walked into the next village and wished I'd stayed there!

Give it a miss , lean and mean , lower end pilgrim meal ..

Back to the basica - outlets huddled along one wall, lots of beds in one room, and small showers and bathrooms. No food or kitchen

Not as bad as i thought it would be but one to avoid if possible.
Pros
Showers were hot
Toilets were clean
Cons
Damp
Dark
Cramped
No food available
Definitely would not stay here again

Cold and basic. Only one toilet block open. There was nowhere else to sleep so I stayed, lots of other pilgrims walked on. I actually slept ok.

The potential for this to be such a great experience on our Camino was huge. But we were sadly disappointed. The rooms resembled military barracks from the Cold War and the facilities had clearly not been cleaned for some time. The mattresses were tired, dirty and smelly and the place reeked of some form of insecticide when we entered. If there had been any other available options we would have left on the spot. Zero stars from us.

Stayed here September 2020. Price is now 15 euros. Cash only. Laundry facilities weren’t working and the kitchen is closed. It was quite cold and not my favourite stay

Price now 15 euros (23/08/2020)

There isn’t much in San Juan, and this albergue is old and run down. I suggest going to to Agés (3.2km/2mi).