Best arrival point to continue interrupted Camino

[Appalachian]

In June 2015, my Camino was interrupted just past Villafranca del Bierza when I fell and broke my hand. I want to come back to finish this coming May/June and wonder if anyone has advice about the best place to fly into and bus connections to Villafranca.

 

[whariwharangi]

Madrid MAD
http://www.aena.es/csee/Satellite/Aeropuerto-Madrid-Barajas/en/

Renfe Train from Madrid to Ponferrada
http://www.renfe.com/EN/viajeros/

Gonzalez de la Riva bus from Ponferrada to Villafranca del Bierzo
http://gonzalezdelariva.es/

ALSA bus from Ponferrada to Villafranca del Bierzo
https://www.alsa.es/en/home

 

[wayfarer]

I would suggest flying into Santiago, getting a bus to Ponferrada and then getting a bus or Taxi back to
Villafranca del Bierza. The bus from Santiago may even pass through on the way to Ponferrada.
Buen Camino.
Edit: have a look at this thread.

https://www.caminodesantiago.me/com...rom-santiago-to-villafranca-del-bierzo.11395/

 

[Deleted member 3000]

Buses from Santiago to Leon go through Villafranca. Another choice would be a train from Santiago to Ponferrada. Ponferrada has a dozen buses a day to Villfranca.

 

[Castilian]

Alsa has direct buses from Madrid (both airport and downtown) to Villafranca del Bierzo (and even to Ambasmestas if you walked that far your first time).

If you don't want to fly to Santiago de Compostela (to avoid backtracking), Alsa has direct buses to Villafranca del Bierzo and Ambasmestas from (downtown) A Coruña so A Coruña airport could be another option to consider for you.

 

[NualaOC]

Hi @Appalachian, the big challenge of getting to Ponferrada/Villafranca (IMO) is lining up the flight and bus/train times. It's worth doing some research on how your your potential arrival times in each of the suggested airports align with the available connections. We did this last year and ended up taking the night train from Madrid to Ponferrada. I don't necessarily recommend this (it arrives in Ponferrada at about 5am), but it was the most efficient way of getting there, in the context of our flight options.

Good luck with your planning and I hope you have an injury-free Camino this year!

 

[Kanga]

Alsa runs a night bus from Madrid that only takes 5 hours to Villafranca. The train to Pontferrada/bus to Villafranca take 7 hours plus, as does the daytime bus direct from Madrid. The advantage of the daytime bus is that there are more of them.

 

[Deleted member 3000]

By the way, the buses also stop at Ambasmestas (actually the truck stop downhill from the actual town of Ambasmestas at La Portela de Valcarce), so you can start there instead of walking the yellow brick road out of Villafranca del Bierzo. That starting point is 15km from O Cebreiro and 27km from Fonfria (the two better stops in that stretch).