If you arrive mid afternoon from the US, once you get through customs all you are going to want to do is eat and then sleep. I agree that staying at one of the hotels close to Chamartin would be best as I don't think that you are going to want to "sight see" in Madrid at that point. Just make...
The insurance offered when you purchase your ticket may only be trip cancellation insurance. If your are looking for medical coverage- purchase separately. We use GEO Blue Global to supplement our health insurance. Medicare does not pay for services internationally. Check with your current...
I agree with J Wilhaus. We have often taken a flight from DC that arrives at about 6AM. Sometimes we have been at our hotel in Madrid to sleep by 8AM, but the last time our flight arrived with eight other flights and there was no one in immigration control. We arrived at our hotel about 10:30...
The Renfe site has an option to change the language to English or French as well as other commonly spoken languages in Spain. I have never had a problem with navigating their site. Renfe however does not like my US credit/debit cards so I just process the transaction through Paypal. Easy peasy!!
If I could find the arrow or the pop-up I would, but the 'format' is even more illusive- however, as I type this it appears that everything self corrected. Thank you!! I prefer Chocolataria 1902 for more choices, but there can be confusion when entering. We have visited and have had to order and...
Chocolataria 1902 (off Calle Arenal) makes churros and porras as well as flores (plain, chocolate and honey). Another small business that makes churros and porras is Chocolate Madrid on C. Sta. Maria. We always plan a night or two in Madrid to sleep off jet lag- since we arrive at 6AM we have a...
There is a direct train as well. We took the train from Santiago to Ferrol on a direct Renfe and walked to Santiago. Afterwards we returned to Ferrol by bus before taking off on the FEVE across the northern coast. Both were fine, but I prefer trains.
Lydia- I have purchased tickets to Spain for less money than my sister has to spend to fly from Michigan to Colorado to visit her daughter. There are often better prices on international travel than on domestic which is why we head to the east side of the Atlantic, and hopefully Ireland this...
Not Bakelite, but we do still have one of those, this works and is used on our landline. Just so I don't take this off track: from the US I look for tickets at the end of Jan. for Apr-May and a few months later for fall travel. 🥾
We walked at the end of Nov. a few years ago. We do not stay in albergues, but met pilgrims along the way who told us they had no problem finding places to stay. Since you will be walking almost a month earlier it doesn't seem that it will be a problem. We walked short days, but prepare for some...
After we walked the Camino Ingles last fall we returned to Ferrol to take the FEVE as far as Santander. Our first stop was at the Playa de las Catedrales- just make sure you plan to be there at low tide! We enjoyed our ride and stopped at other places along the way- we only had a week so enjoy...
Since that 11:10 is available the previous week, and you are looking for a Monday departure I would absolutely check this coming Monday to see if the train is available.
We always fly into Madrid from the US so we can fly out of Madrid easily to home. We fly from the east coast- this time we are leaving from Dulles in two weeks and found the best fares. We have the time so we are staying in Madrid two days to recover from jet lag (which seems to take longer as...
Thank you. We plan to take a taxi to the downtown and stay in Madrid for a couple of days before heading to Ferrol. I have been searching for this information, and I only was able to find info from Sept 2020. I knew I should have looked at the forum first!!! 🙃
My father was a pilot (not commercial airline), but he always said to keep your seat belt fastened at all times, just loosen it a bit so you can sit comfortably and sleep. Having the belt fastened keeps you in your seat in case of turbulence.
I just checked the Renfe website. The 9:30 train is not available for booking, but the 3:30 PM train can be booked. I have found that some trains are not available if they are more than 60 days out from the day you are looking. Keep trying. I use Renfe and paypal.
On our first camino we used Correos (on Rua do Franco) to send home some clothing and walking sticks. When sending a package of used clothing/sleeping bag etc. to the US write: "Used Clothing" or "Used Sleeping Bag" etc on the outside of the box and they will be duty free. If I remember...
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