bilbao to los arcos

[simeon]

Hi,
I am hoping to do about 7 - 10 days from los arcos to burgos (picking up from where I left off some years ago) Flying into bilbao seems the best airport from dublin. does anyone have ideas or experience of this route?
Thnks
S

 

[Castilian]

Bus from downtown Bilbao to Logroño with www.autobuseslaunion.com and bus from Logroño to Los Arcos with www.laestellesa.com There's a local bus linking the airport with downtown Bilbao every 15 minutes.

 

[whariwharangi]

Burgos to Madrid is a LOT more convenient than Burgos to Bilbao.

 

[NualaOC]

Bus from downtown Bilbao to Logroño with www.autobuseslaunion.com and bus from Logroño to Los Arcos with www.laestellesa.com There's a local bus linking the airport with downtown Bilbao every 15 minutes.

I did this (in reverse) last month. It worked perfectly.

For your return journey, consider flying back from Madrid, as @whariwharangi suggests. There are direct buses from Burgos to both Bilbao and Madrid, but some of the Bilbao ones are very slow. It would be worth looking at both timetables (alsa.es for Burgos to Madrid) to see how they line up wth your flight times.

Buen Camino!

 

[Castilian]

The main advantage of flying back from Madrid instead of from Bilbao is that (some) buses from Burgos to Madrid leave you at Madrid airport itself while buses from Burgos to Bilbao leave you in downtown Bilbao and you have to take the local bus to the airport. Although if you don't fly out terminal 4 in Madrid airport, you'll have to take a shuttle bus among terminals to go to your departure terminal so the hassle would be similar.

Alsa (www.alsa.es/en) makes both the route from Burgos to Madrid and the route from Burgos to Bilbao.

 

[julia-t]

Flying from the UK, I have checked and double checked flights into Madrid v Bilbao against trains and buses, and until I reach Carrion de los Condes, Bilbao always comes out on top.

Admittedly, Bilbao suits me best to fly to and from as I get the best deal using my Avios/airmiles as it's only 8,000 per return trip. The aerobus into the central bus station runs every 20-30 minutes and takes around 25 minutes. It's a very small airport so it's all very easy to negotiate and find your way around.

My next stage of the Camino I will be walking Navarrete to (probably) Carrion de los Condes - and as long as I get the 17-something pm bus back to Burgos for the night, I shall stay there, explore and get an early afternoon bus (less than 2 hours) back to Bilbao in time for my early evening flight back to Heathrow.

My research shows me travel to Carrion de los Condes and before is best via Bilbao, but to Sahagun and after, then Madrid comes out best.

 

[Castilian]

To go from Carrión de los Condes to Madrid, you don't need to go via Burgos. You can take a bus from Carrión de los Condes to Palencia. Once in Palencia, take a high speed train (AVE, Alvia or AV City) to Madrid (Chamartín station). From Madrid Chamartín station to the terminal 4 of Madrid airport you can take a Cercanías (commuter) train. However, check locally the schedule from Carrión de los Condes to Palencia (especially if you are traveling on a weekend or a public holiday); If there wasn't a bus running on your travel date, look for a bus to Burgos or León with Alsa. Once in Burgos or León, you can take a bus (with Alsa too) or a train to Madrid.

P.S.: There are also buses from Palencia to downtown Madrid and a few to Madrid airport but they are much more slower than the high speed trains.

 

[simeon]

thanks for all your replies. A happy weekend of planning lies ahead...... I realy enjoy the planning and looking forward part to my caminos!