From Calgary to nonFrances routes

[jgiesbrecht]

A few years ago I walked the Frances, flew into Paris then Biarrittz with bus to SJPdP and back from Santiago through Paris. This was from Ontario.


I'm just wondering for those of you specifically who have flown over through Calgary, or even Edmonton too I guess, how did you do your routes... Im specifically looking for ones who walked from Seville or Lisbon....what did you find was cheapest for your setup with flights (and trains etc)?

I know prices have gone up since I last went, so looking more for cost then speed but willing to listen to all input from Alberta

Don't plan on going back til at least next year, and know the northern routes would just use biarritz again, so just putting out feelers for info on southern ones.

 

[C clearly]

Simply search in Expedia or such, for flights from Calgary to your destination city, and then book on the actual airline website. There will be many connections - through Toronto to Madrid, or through another major city in Europe or North America to various cities in Spain. Then you can compare for cost, timing of departure/arrival, and travel time.

Personally I usually prefer to fly through Toronto to Madrid and then take a train to wherever I want to start walking. That's what I would do for Seville.

 

[jgiesbrecht]

Simply search in Expedia or such, for flights from Calgary to your destination city, and then book on the actual airline website. There will be many connections - through Toronto to Madrid, or through another major city in Europe or North America to various cities in Spain. Then you can compare for cost, timing of departure/arrival, and travel time.

Personally I usually prefer to fly through Toronto to Madrid and then take a train to wherever I want to start walking. That's what I would do for Seville.

I've done plenty of searches, but want to know what others have experienced.

 

[C clearly]

want to know what others have experienced.

I have flown from Vancouver to Toronto and Madrid several times, and then taken train to Seville, Merida and Valencia. I've flown to Frankfurt or Munich and then flown to Almeria and Malaga. In each case, my choice depends on the price and on convenient timing - I don't like to start or end my journey in the dark. Many flights from western Canada get to Europe in the morning, so usually it is possible to get a same-day connection to a destination in Spain.

If you watch the train schedules for a couple of months in advance, sometimes you can book a very good price, but then there is the risk of a delayed/cancelled flight causing you to miss that train. In that case, the last-minute ticket would be expensive unless you have booked a flexible fare.

In any case, for your flight tickets, make sure you buy the complete trip at the same time on a single ticket. Then, if one flight is delayed/cancelled, the airline will have to put you on another flight for no additional cost. If you have separate tickets and miss a flight, you will have to pay for a new ticket.

 

[Friend from Barquinha]

A few years ago I walked the Frances, flew into Paris then Biarrittz with bus to SJPdP and back from Santiago through Paris. This was from Ontario.


I'm just wondering for those of you specifically who have flown over through Calgary, or even Edmonton too I guess, how did you do your routes... Im specifically looking for ones who walked from Seville or Lisbon....what did you find was cheapest for your setup with flights (and trains etc)?

I know prices have gone up since I last went, so looking more for cost then speed but willing to listen to all input from Alberta

Don't plan on going back til at least next year, and know the northern routes would just use biarritz again, so just putting out feelers for info on southern ones.

Not specifically a "caminho" answer because I'm a watcher but not (yet?) a walker, but from western Canada, we find breaking the trip in Montreal is pleasanter than going through Toronto, flying into Portugal. We come from Vancouver, but I think any of the domestic airlines can provide you with Alberta >> Montreal, and Air Transat has excellent service to both Porto and Lisbon from Montreal. Usually a red-eye (overnight) from Montreal.

The airport is much smaller than Toronto's (transfers are definitely easier).

We have had very good experience with Air Transat, and their prices are pretty standard.

 

[auburnfive]

Would second Air Transat, they work well for arriving and leaving from different cities,

 

[NorthernLight]

Out of Calgary? I’d keep an eye on possibilities using Westjet to London, England and connecting to a budget flight from there. I’d make sure there were many hours between those flights since they would not be on one ticket.

 

[Luz de Luna]

A few years ago I walked the Frances, flew into Paris then Biarrittz with bus to SJPdP and back from Santiago through Paris. This was from Ontario.


I'm just wondering for those of you specifically who have flown over through Calgary, or even Edmonton too I guess, how did you do your routes... Im specifically looking for ones who walked from Seville or Lisbon....what did you find was cheapest for your setup with flights (and trains etc)?

I know prices have gone up since I last went, so looking more for cost then speed but willing to listen to all input from Alberta

Don't plan on going back til at least next year, and know the northern routes would just use biarritz again, so just putting out feelers for info on southern ones.

We walked the Portuguese starting in Porto in 2022/23. We flew with Air Transat from Calgary both times. In ‘22 we connected in Toronto but this year we had a long layover in Montreal coming home, ten hours in PET which was very long. Otherwise we were happy with Transat. They had the best price for a direct flight. Buen Camino!

 

[Friend from Barquinha]

Out of Calgary? I’d keep an eye on possibilities using Westjet to London, England and connecting to a budget flight from there. I’d make sure there were many hours between those flights since they would not be on one ticket.

Only issue with this (maybe not a problem?) is that you're going through a third jurisdiction, now that UK is not in the EU, which can complicate things a bit. There are bargain flights out of other EU countries to Spain and Portugal as well. EasyJet flies from a lot of places...same with RyanAir.

 

[NorthernLight]

Only issue with this (maybe not a problem?) is that you're going through a third jurisdiction, now that UK is not in the EU, which can complicate things a bit. There are bargain flights out of other EU countries to Spain and Portugal as well. EasyJet flies from a lot of places...same with RyanAir.

I flew to the EU from Toronto in April, via Heathrow, although mine was a through ticket. I did not have to clear immigration. I suppose the issue would be that any checked luggage would have to be claimed and rechecked, but if there were no checked bags you wouldn’t need to leave the secure area.

However, now that I am thinking about it, a few years ago I returned home on a Santiago-Gatwick-TO flight on two tickets. Because there were too many hours between those flights, including overnight, I had to go through immigration and wait in the non-secure area until check in time. This was before Brexit too.

Still something to consider if the price is right.

 

[jgiesbrecht]

Would second Air Transat, they work well for arriving and leaving from different cities,

The problem with airtransat is they stop most of the routes over winter ( or late fall/early spring) which is when I would probably go, so they very likely wont be an option

 

[Friend from Barquinha]

The problem with airtransat is they stop most of the routes over winter ( or late fall/early spring) which is when I would probably go, so they very likely wont be an option

They now seem to have Lisbon and Porto as year-round routes. We've used them in non-peak times, several times now.

 

[C clearly]

The problem with airtransat is they stop most of the routes over winter

Yes, and even when they have flights, the good fares tend to disappear if you need to travel from airports other than Toronto or Montreal.

 

[auburnfive]

I was able to get a good fare with Air Canada. Calgary to Madrid, ten return from Santiago to Calgary, but the Santiago to Calgary leg wasn’t available everyday of the week. We knew our dates so booked pretty far in advance.
To clarify, the flights were not direct, but booking on the same ticket means the airline will accommodate if there are flight delays.

 

[OCHAR]

We know there are NO direct flights to Madrid from Calgary nor are there any direct from Santiago back to Calgary.
We did Calgary DIRECT to Barcelona (seasonal) with Westjet. It has been our best flight so far avoiding stopovers in Toronto, Montreal, Amsterdam, Paris, Frankfurt etc. From Barcelona you then have several choices, Plane, Train etc.

My advice would be to look at Expedia and pick a route that satisfies your needs (Price, timing, connecting, overnighting etc).