How to Get There??

[Jeff Johnston]

Second post for this newbie to the forum.
Planning my Camino from St Jean in Spring of 2017.

I live in Michigan and from my reading this far, it appears the best methods of getting there would to be to fly from here to either Madrid or Barcelona and then utilize trains, busses and taxi to finish the journey.

Am I missing any other better options? The transportation will be my largest cost, so open to ideas that might save a few dollars.

Thanks to all.

Jeff

 

[whariwharangi]

St Jean Pied de Port is connected to Bayonne by SNCF train and by CONDA bus from Pamplona.

The closest airport to SJPdP is Biarritz BIQ. Biarritz is connected to many major European centers.

Santiago has an airport too.

So one possible plan would be fly to London (Heathrow) then discount airline from London (Gatwick) to Biarritz. When the camino is over fly discount airline from Santiago to London (Stansted). Note you'd have to connect the London airports by bus or train.

There are endless similar permutations using Madrid,
Barcelona, Lisbon, Dublin, London, Paris ... just to name a few.

Madrid or Barcelona are probably good choices.

We can give greater detail on connecting to SJPdP once you decide how you will invade Europe.

 

[Bjarni Andersen]

My cheapest option was to fly to madrid. You can get to pamplona from madrid with bus or train. And from pamplona to SJPDP with bus from pamplona busstation. The renfe train takes about 3 hours from madrid to pamplona and leaves from Atocha railway station in madrid. You could also take the bus from the airport to pamplona The bus has drives several times to pamplona a day and takes around 5-6 hours. Both train and bus costs around 30 euros. You can get more information here: bus https://www.alsa.es/en/home train: http://www.renfe.com

 

[Castilian]

Compare the cost of getting a return ticket to Madrid with the cost of an open-jaw ticket outbound to Biarritz; inbound from Santiago de Compostela. Another open-jaw ticket you may research is outbound to Biarritz; inbound from A Coruña (for this one take a look at the web of British Airways for fares).

If you finally get a return ticket to Madrid, overland transport to SJPP and from Santiago de Compostela shouldn't be a problem.

If you decide to build a flight route using separate tickets/bookings (e.g.: one to London plus another one separately booked with another airline from London to Biarritz), be sure to allow yourself enough time between flights because if you miss your second flight due to a late arrival (or a cancelation) of your first flight, you'll have to look for alternatives on the spot, at your own expenses and it won't be cheap.

 

[J Willhaus]

Jeff
It was cheapest for us to fly to Paris and return from there too. We live in the Pacific Northwest and can fly Icelandair out of Seattle. Not sure where else they fly from. The flights for us into Madrid were not very convenient time-wise. I would look at cost and also arrival times. Kayak travel site will give you a good idea of what is available from and to various cities.
Janet

 

[naplesdon]

I live near SJPdP in Biarritz and travel from Ft. Myers, Florida several times a year. I have found flights to Spain, specifically Bilbao, are less expensive than flights to France. I always compare Bordeaux to Bilbao before I book. Both cities are about two hours from Biarritz via public transport and from there it is an easy connection to SJPdP. Obviously arrival times make a big difference in making these connection and in some case may require an overnight stay.

 

[J Willhaus]

Jeff,
It is may be difficult to know costs and times this far out from your journey. You may have to wait until winter for the actual flights and costs to open up depending on the carrier. I booked on Icelandair back in August 2015 for our May 2016 trip, but other carriers did not have their bookings open that far out in the fall.
Janet

 

[Catahoula19]

Second post for this newbie to the forum.
Planning my Camino from St Jean in Spring of 2017.

I live in Michigan and from my reading this far, it appears the best methods of getting there would to be to fly from here to either Madrid or Barcelona and then utilize trains, busses and taxi to finish the journey.

Am I missing any other better options? The transportation will be my largest cost, so open to ideas that might save a few dollars.

Thanks to all.

Jeff

Bilbao. Air Berlin