Best destinations to/from Camino Frances from New York

[marthaslatoncook]

Planning to walk the Camino Frances in September/October. I fly to/from New York. Where best to book a flight to and how then to travel to St. Jean Pied de Port? Once I reach Santiago, how do I plan to get to the nearest international airport? I want advice as to how to find the least expensive way to get there and back. Thanks!

 

[Deleted member 3000]

I would suggest that you book directly with an airline. Iberia Airlines, which is partners with American Airlines and British Airways, has direct flights to Madrid. You can spend a lot of time taking ground transportation from Madrid, so a ticket to Biarritz or Pamplona for your arrival, and a return flight from Santiago will save you time and money.

For an example in July, for $1,318

AMERICAN AIRLINES 66 JFK
New York Jul 08, 2013
05:20 PM BCN
Barcelona Jul 09, 2013
07:15 AM 763 Economy
View Seats 3832 Dinner
Continental Breakfast 10 hr
55 min

AMERICAN AIRLINES OPERATED BY AIR NOSTRUM FOR IBERIA 5474 BCN
Barcelona Jul 09, 2013
09:10 AM PNA
Pamplona Jul 09, 2013
10:15 AM CRJ Economy
View Seats 216 N/A
Alert: Overnight flight or connection.

AMERICAN AIRLINES OPERATED BY IBERIA 5630 SCQ
Santiago De Compostela Aug 20, 2013
06:50 AM MAD
Madrid Aug 20, 2013
08:00 AM 320 Economy
N/A 11 hr
55 min

AMERICAN AIRLINES 95 MAD
Madrid Aug 20, 2013
10:25 AM JFK
New York Aug 20, 2013
12:45 PM 757 Economy
View Seats 3589 Lunch
Snack or Brunch

 

[hotelmedicis]

Flying into France with a connecting flight to Biarritz will get you very close to the start in Saint Jean Pied de Port but then you'll have to take a bus back from Santiago. That might work. Or just a round-trip NY-Paris and buy your train tickets to Bayonne from Paris and from Bayonne a local train to St Jean pied de port. In and out of Madrid would work too but more difficult to get to St. Jean pied de port but probably easier at the other end from Santiago.

 

[lindseh]

Re: where to fly in and out of, it's not necessarily to your advantage to fly in and out of the same city. For my last camino, I flew round trip to Paris, which was fine for reaching the Camino via train, but not so fine for getting back to Paris (ended up flying RyanAir, from Porto). While budget intercontinental airlines are very cheap, you still might waste more time and money getting back there than if you were to fly open jaw (multi-city). And I prefer a scenic train journey to a new city than a cheap, cramped flight full of annoying ads over the PA to a city I just came from!

Having learned from last time, this time I'm flying into Barcelona, and out of Madrid. This allows me to see both these cities, neither of which I've been to before. Since the distance by bus or train to French border cities is about the same from Madrid and Barcelona, it doesn't really matter which one you fly into - but Madrid is so much closer to Santiago than Barcelona that it definitely makes it worth it to book a flight home from there instead.

The best part is, for my flight from Vancouver, it's exactly the same price to fly YVR - BCN, MAD - YVR as it is for a round trip flight from either!

Basically, just really look into all your options. A few hours of research can save you days of travel time!

 

[lindseh]

Or, fly into a major hub like London, Dublin, Amsterdam or Frankfurt, and then exploit the cheap European airlines. And when people say cheap, they mean cheap. We're talking like <50 euros (plus a baggage fee... usually). Look into where EasyJet and RyanAir go to and from. IE on EasyJet, you can fly London - Biarritz, and Santiago - London. Getting flights on the right dates might be your biggest problem with these airlines, as they can be quite inconsistent. But worth a look.

 

[tyrrek]

Or, fly into a major hub like London, Dublin, Amsterdam or Frankfurt, and then exploit the cheap European airlines. And when people say cheap, they mean cheap. We're talking like <50 euros (plus a baggage fee... usually). Look into where EasyJet and RyanAir go to and from. IE on EasyJet, you can fly London - Biarritz, and Santiago - London. Getting flights on the right dates might be your biggest problem with these airlines, as they can be quite inconsistent. But worth a look.

Yes, definitely worth a look. Just be careful with somewhere like London where the onward flight to Biarritz would be from a different airport from the one you arrive at from the States. London is expensive too, but if you have friends there it could be a good place to spend a day or so on their sofa recovering from jetlag! Buen Camino!

 

[scruffy1]

Flying out of Santiago is easy and fun, if you are still in a walking mood you can even walk out there but its much easier to take the shuttle bus which has convenient stops around town. Santiago is a very small airport, very user friendly however not many flights so if this is your plan book well ahead of time!

 

[Deleted member 3000]

For five dollars less you can fly to Paris with American Airlines (see above). You then go from the airport to the Roissy station at the airport, buy a ticket for 36 to 78 Euro to Bayonne, connect to the local train for SJPdP for another 10 Euro. If you miss your connection to SJPdP, you spend the night in a hotel in Bayonne (a nicer town than Bayonne, New Jersey). Total transit time: almost forever!

The bus from Pamplona to SJPdP stops running at the end of the high season, so you may have time and expense in getting to SJPdP in September or October. You can avoid that by starting in Pamplona. From Pamplona your start will be gentler, but there still are challenging parts in the early days; just nothing like crossing the Pyrenees, which are very scenic if the weather is good, and treacherous if it is bad.

The bus to Roncesvalles from Pamplona runs all year at 1800, though not on Sunday. A morning arrival at the airport will give you time to explore the city a bit, conquer some jet lag, buy a SIM chip for your mobile phone, and head for Roncesvalles. Roncesvalles to Zubiri has some major downhill that is often described as the worst on the Camino, and albergues in Zubiri and Larrasoana get some of the worst reviews! Those descriptions may result, however, from the arduous first day out of SJPdP and bad attitude more than the actual conditions!

 

[CaminoGen]

Ryanair offers direct flights to Paris. Just bought my ticket today for October...85$CA including one checked baggage. Flights from Montreal to Paris is the cheapest option for us (750$ for Sept 5 to Oct 25). Kayak.com is my go-to website for getting good deals and checking all my options

 

[hueppi]

Have you checked out Iberia connections?

They give you nearly the same price for any Spanish city.
You could fly into Pamplona or Bilbao and out of Santiago for instance.

 

[tyrrek]

Santiago is a very small airport, very user friendly however not many flights so if this is your plan book well ahead of time!

Not so small since they opened the new terminal. It's like walking round Heathrow, but without any passengers! Goodness knows whose idea it was, but now they probably have the capacity to increase traffic there by about 300%!

Buen Camino!

 

[Terrri]

I am coming from BC but will be flying out of Calgary, into Toulouse, then out of Madrid to head home again. Flying out of Santiago is around $800 more from what I can find right now for Madrid. Toulouse appears to be a fairly direct route to get to St Jean. Looked at options such as Paris but currently it is the same price so I might as well get as close as I can to the starting point. I was hoping for somewhere closer than Madrid to fly out of but so far everything costs too much.

 

[lindseh]

I am coming from BC but will be flying out of Calgary, into Toulouse, then out of Madrid to head home again. Flying out of Santiago is around $800 more from what I can find right now for Madrid. Toulouse appears to be a fairly direct route to get to St Jean. Looked at options such as Paris but currently it is the same price so I might as well get as close as I can to the starting point. I was hoping for somewhere closer than Madrid to fly out of but so far everything costs too much.

The budget airline RyanAir has flights from Santiago to Madrid for about 35 euros (plus baggage fee ~25 euro) if your backpack is too big for their tiny carry on restrictions).

 

[Marcilb]

I am coming from BC but will be flying out of Calgary, into Toulouse, then out of Madrid to head home again. Flying out of Santiago is around $800 more from what I can find right now for Madrid. Toulouse appears to be a fairly direct route to get to St Jean. Looked at options such as Paris but currently it is the same price so I might as well get as close as I can to the starting point. I was hoping for somewhere closer than Madrid to fly out of but so far everything costs too much.

Hi Terry
I'm flying to Toulouse from Ottawa at the end of April. I taie the train to Bordeaux-Bayonne and Will overnight in Bayonne. A one hour train ride NeXT am to SJPP. I fly out of Santiago to Madrid with good olé Ryanair. Cost 50$ Canadian
Buen Camino
Bernard

 

[Deleted member 3000]

Taxi from Toulouse airport to train station - 20 Euro, and time :30
Train from Toulouse to Bayonne - 40 Euro and time 4:30
Hotel in Bayonne - 35 Euro

Cost: 95 Euro and five hours. Balance it against a flight into Biarritz, or a flight into Pamplona and starting there!