Buses on the Camino

[Gabby233]

Hello all! I will be starting my first Camino in May 2017 and will not have time to complete the entire adventure. If I start at SJPDP and walk as far as I can manage, how easy will it be to get a bus back to an airport? Also any suggestions on which airport to head to? It seems like quite the headache to go back to Paris where I am flying into. I appreciate all your help!

 

[Anemone del Camino]

Getting back to Paris is a pain. It would have been much easier to leavefrom Madrid.

Lots of buses from largish towns/cities to Madrid from where you can fly to Paris. Also flights to Paris via Santiago or A Coruna, Bilbao, etc.

How many days do you have to walk? That will give you an idea of where you might end.

You can get a taxi from any small village with a bar to a larger town with a bus station to take you to a city with an airport. Connection tomes may not be optimal, but it's easy to do.

 

[Deleted member 56069]

Consider a bus from where you get to, back to Madrid and fly out of Madrid. We flew into Paris last year, but left from Madrid. Check The ALSA site to confirm which towns/cities you can catch the bus from. We enjoyed the bus trip to Madrid as we got to see more of the Spanish countryside.

 

[Gabby233]

How many days do you have to walk? That will give you an idea of where you might end.

I have 3 weeks off but that includes my travel to and from Minnesota. I figure that I safely have 15 days to walk.

 

[Tincatinker]

So fly to Madrid, get a bus, walk for a bit, get a bus, fly home. And be aware that St Jean Pied de la Porte is not the start of the Camino. It is just a town in France. If you only have 15 days to walk consider starting in Leon and taking your time to enjoy Santiago.

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

This website won't be much help right now when you have so many choices of places to leave from but nearing the end of your time on your camino check out http://www.rome2rio.com to find connections from place to place.

 

[Anemone del Camino]

I have 3 weeks off but that includes my travel to and from Minnesota. I figure that I safely have 15 days to walk.

So you'll basically make it to Burgos. Plan for returning to madrid from there. Bus or train.

If you get into Burgos with still a few days to walk, do so, and then take a bus back to Burgos to catch your bus or train back to Madrid.

If ypu get to Burgos and still have many days to walk, consider getting back to Madrid from Sahagun.

You will get an idea of where you will be on which date as you start walking. In the mean time, the Brierly stages can gove you an idea, as does Eroski: http://caminodesantiago.consumer.es/los-caminos-de-santiago/frances/

And yes, the Frances does start in SJPP if yo want to walk every step of the Frances Spain has to offer, if you want the views of the Pyrenees, if you want to see what you are made of as you walk up, up and up. I would not miss it for the world.

 

[whariwharangi]

Hello all! I will be starting my first Camino in May 2017 and will not have time to complete the entire adventure. If I start at SJPDP and walk as far as I can manage, how easy will it be to get a bus back to an airport? Also any suggestions on which airport to head to? It seems like quite the headache to go back to Paris where I am flying into. I appreciate all your help!

There is bus service to towns and most villages on the camino. Typically, you'll travel to a major hub such as Burgos or Logrono, then onward to a destination such as Madrid, or the Irun/Hendaye border crossing where you can catch a train to Paris.

Aena manages all of Spain's airports. You can find destinations and service providers from airports along the route. Be advised that most of the airports have only limited flight service and that typically goes to Madrid.
http://www.aena.es/es/pasajeros/pasajeros.html

 

[SMBHNL]

• It's an easy and comfortable bus ride from Burgos to the Madrid airport on the ALSA Bus Line. The Burgos bus station is about a block from the main entrance to the Cathedral. I think it takes a little bit longer than by train but the location of the Burgos bus station and arrival inside the Madrid airport make it worth it. It costs about 20 Euros, I think. Just a general note, I had trouble viewing bus schedules on my iPad, they weren't Apple friendly. The same websites worked great on a windows PC, when I could find one.

 

[Rhun Leeding]

As Anemone says, I think Burgos is a reasonable target - I'm planning a similar length of time on the trail, and have planned thirteen days into Burgos, and then a couple of rest days, although I may also just do a few shorter days and enjoy the Apres Camino a little more. I have previously found Spanish buses to be excellent, although as mentioned their websites were a little frustrating when using mobile devices. The best thing I found is how affordable all public transport in Spain was, with trains very similar in cost to buses, and the train to Madrid from Leon was very quick and comfortable.

 

[Susan finn]

Hello all! I will be starting my first Camino in May 2017 and will not have time to complete the entire adventure. If I start at SJPDP and walk as far as I can manage, how easy will it be to get a bus back to an airport? Also any suggestions on which airport to head to? It seems like quite the headache to go back to Paris where I am flying into. I appreciate all your help!

We flew in and out of Paris. We walked as far as Leon and caught a train back to Paris ( took about 18 hours). I had already booked the train ticket before we started the walk. Next time I will fly in and out of Madrid.