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nomadko

Member
Time of past OR future Camino
Camino Frances to Santiago de Compostela (2016)
Hello! I'll be traveling from Los Angeles in the spring of 2016... would appreciate input on where to fly into and how to get to Roncesvalles.
Also would like input on how to go from Santiago de Compostela back to Los Angeles. Thank you in advance for your input!
 
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That is a bit far off, but you can fly into Pamplona and back from Santiago on Iberia Airlines. Flights will connect through Madrid. You can travel from Pamplona to SJPdP on bus or taxi. Have fun planning.
 
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That is a bit far off, but you can fly into Pamplona and back from Santiago on Iberia Airlines. Flights will connect through Madrid. You can travel from Pamplona to SJPdP on bus or taxi. Have fun planning.

I was surprised a few days ago when I checked in to this. It was VERY little difference in price to fly in to Pamplona and out of Santiago compared to flying in to and out of Madrid and much more convenient! I did my search on Kayak dot com and instead of round-trip chose multi-city. Pamplona airport code is PNA and Santiago de Compostela is SCQ.
 
That is what I am doing next month...flying LAX to Madrid to Pamplona.
And on the way home, Santiago to Madrid to LAX.

Cheers and happy planning.
 
St James' Way - Self-guided 4-7 day Walking Packages, Reading to Southampton, 110 kms
Hi,
  • What I found interesting is that bus/train companies do not like to cross international borders. To get to SJPP you must come thru France, if not it gets complicated. To start at Roncesvalles you must come from Pamplona, that didn't suit me as I wanted to see the way first by walking and not first by bus or train.
 
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Hi,
  • What I found interesting is that bus/train companies do not like to cross international borders. To get to SJPP you must come thru France, if not it gets complicated. To start at Roncesvalles you must come from Pamplona, that didn't suit me as I wanted to see the way first by walking and not first by bus or train.
You are partially correct but there are cross border transport services. The primary reason for the difficulty of crossing the border is the Basque Country is mainly a rural mountainous province and the end of the line as far the two respective countries treat us. The French and Spanish rail service do not connect, due to the difference in the gauge of the rail systems in french Hendaye and spanish Irun. There is the Pesa bus service from Bilbao and San Sebastian to Biarritz and Bayonne along the coast. A recent post also mentioned an ALSA service from Bilbao, via Pamplona to SJPdP. Trust me, you are not going to see much of the Camino from your bus window.
 
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Buz, it sounds like you know about Corozon Puro ....Do it, you will not be disappointed. Great way to start.
Buen Camino
 
€2,-/day will present your project to thousands of visitors each day. All interested in the Camino de Santiago.
Buz, it sounds like you know about Corozon Puro ....Do it, you will not be disappointed. Great way to start.
Buen Camino
I found out about this pension through another post on somewhere on this forum. Checked it out, and about 6 weeks ago made a reservation for the 30th. Looking forward to staying there and meeting the owners. Glad to know that you had a great experience there. I expect no less. :)
 
I lived in Spain for 2 years and have flown there many times from the USA then of course did the Camino last summer. I suggest purchasing a multi-segment round trip flight. Normally the most economic and convenient flight will be to Pamplona and your return home from the airport outside of Santiago de Compostela. For example a quick search produced a flight with this criteria from Denver, CO (where I live) for a total of $1,342 USD total per person.

Many choose to buy a round trip to and from Madrid, a major hub in Spain. The same criteria as the flight above gave me a roundtrip cost of $1,220 USD. Obviously cheaper but getting to St. Jean or even Pamplona from Madrid and then from Santiago back to Madrid will easily eat up your savings in terms of both time and money.

Now, if you fly to Pamplona and plan on starting in St. Jean you must catch a bus from Pamplona to St. Jean. This will cost around 12 euros (15 USD). That same bus will stop in Roncesvalles so you simply get off there if you would like. You will use ALSA which is Spain's national bus service and there are usually 2 departures per day. Don't bother buying your tickets in advance (I have never had trouble getting a ticket the day of AND ALSA site does not process american credit cards well and they won't list your bus times until closer to your departure date. The ALSA site is here. http://www.alsa.es/ More tips here http://gabrielschirm.com/camino-de-santiago-resources/
 

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