Flying from western North America? Flights home from Porto are cheapest.

[JustJack]

I've been spending far too much time the past few weeks checking out flight options from Vancouver that will get me to/from the CF next spring. I've checked out cities all over Europe.

Many people advised that the simplest and cheapest way to SJPdP was Vancouver --> Paris --> SJPdP. And after checking many many different routes I fully agree.

I assumed that flying home from Madrid would be the cheapest and simplest, and that's what I was planning to do. However someone on this site suggested I check the flights from Porto to Vancouver, and that was a great tip. I never would have even thought of that option as Porto was completely off my radar. It's closer to Santiago, and much cheaper to fly from than Madrid. That tip will save me several hundred dollars, not to mention allow me to see what looks to be an incredibly picturesque city, in a country I didn't intend to visit, so a heartfelt thanks to that person! (I should probably look up who it was instead of referring to them as "that person", but I'm being lazy)

That's it, that's all I wanted to say. Just wanted to pass along what might be a useful tip to others traveling from my part of the world - check out flights home from Porto!

 

[trecile]

I'm a big fan of flying home from Porto, which is indeed a great city to visit. It's not big and overwhelming - the major tourist attractions are fairly close together, and it's very walkable (especially after a Camino!)

It's an easy bus ride of less than 4 hours with either Alsa or Flixbus.

 

[Vacajoe]

COMPLETELY agree! Porto is lovely and pilgrims should plan at least a day or two to see that city post-walk. TAP airlines is a low-cost flyer and usually the cheapest option when flying from SFO or LAX in California, especially since their one way fares are often simply half of a roundtrip fare, not artificially inflated.

 

[gvmelissa]

Funny that you should post this just now as I spent yesterday looking at the same thing!! Thinking of a May/April Camino, flying out of Vancouver. Found flights to Paris to be the best price and tried all sorts of return flights (Porto, Madrid, Dublin, and Paris). Ended up finding that the best price for my dates was to fly home from Amsterdam. Vueling has cheap flights from Santiago to Amsterdam, so I'm leaning that direction. Open jaws, YVR to Paris, then Amsterdam to YVR. That said, both Porto and Madrid are great cities and worthy of a visit, post Camino.

 

[C clearly]

Vueling has cheap flights from Santiago to Amsterdam

Be aware of the risk you take by having this flight on a different ticket from your long flight home. If your flight from Santiago to AMS is delayed and you miss the connection, you will need to buy an expensive one-way flight home. If you have both connecting flights issued on the same ticket, you are guaranteed a flight when the missed connection is not your fault.

 

[gvmelissa]

Be aware of the risk you take by having this flight on a different ticket from your long flight home. If your flight from Santiago to AMS is delayed and you miss the connection, you will need to buy an expensive one-way flight home. If you have both connecting flights issued on the same ticket, you are guaranteed a flight when the missed connection is not your fault.

Very true! And Vueling has a habit of canceling flights on short notice. My plans would include several days exploring Amsterdam. I am absolutely NOT comfortable doing a self-connect that involves same day International travel (or even next day travel, in the case of Vueling!)

 

[Brmickelsen]

I've been spending far too much time the past few weeks checking out flight options from Vancouver that will get me to/from the CF next spring. I've checked out cities all over Europe.

Many people advised that the simplest and cheapest way to SJPdP was Vancouver --> Paris --> SJPdP. And after checking many many different routes I fully agree.

I assumed that flying home from Madrid would be the cheapest and simplest, and that's what I was planning to do. However someone on this site suggested I check the flights from Porto to Vancouver, and that was a great tip. I never would have even thought of that option as Porto was completely off my radar. It's closer to Santiago, and much cheaper to fly from than Madrid. That tip will save me several hundred dollars, not to mention allow me to see what looks to be an incredibly picturesque city, in a country I didn't intend to visit, so a heartfelt thanks to that person! (I should probably look up who it was instead of referring to them as "that person", but I'm being lazy)

That's it, that's all I wanted to say. Just wanted to pass along what might be a useful tip to others traveling from my part of the world - check out flights home from Porto!

Thank you for sharing!! I too, have been feverishly checking flights from & back to Oregon for the most cost effective trip. I will check Porto now. Thank you!!

 

[trecile]

Very true! And Vueling has a habit of canceling flights on short notice. My plans would include several days exploring Amsterdam. I am absolutely NOT comfortable doing a self-connect that involves same day International travel (or even next day travel, in the case of Vueling!)

Good plan!

 

[J F Gregory]

I've been spending far too much time the past few weeks checking out flight options from Vancouver that will get me to/from the CF next spring. I've checked out cities all over Europe.

Many people advised that the simplest and cheapest way to SJPdP was Vancouver --> Paris --> SJPdP. And after checking many many different routes I fully agree.

I assumed that flying home from Madrid would be the cheapest and simplest, and that's what I was planning to do. However someone on this site suggested I check the flights from Porto to Vancouver, and that was a great tip. I never would have even thought of that option as Porto was completely off my radar. It's closer to Santiago, and much cheaper to fly from than Madrid. That tip will save me several hundred dollars, not to mention allow me to see what looks to be an incredibly picturesque city, in a country I didn't intend to visit, so a heartfelt thanks to that person! (I should probably look up who it was instead of referring to them as "that person", but I'm being lazy)

That's it, that's all I wanted to say. Just wanted to pass along what might be a useful tip to others traveling from my part of the world - check out flights home from Porto!

You pointed out that flying from Vancouver is less expensive. It is. We fly internationally a couple of times a year and we use the Vancouver Airport rather than Seattle it usually saves a at least 200.00 dollars and we used Porto as our in and portal about a year ago.