Bus or Taxi Service along the norte route

[suesayers]

I will be walking the norte route starting in late August with my husband and friend. Because of knee issues I do not plan to walk the distances they will be able to walk each day. Is it likely that I will be able to find a bus or taxi to our next destination from the intermediate small towns? It would be wonderful to know about bus service ahead of time so that I can plan my stopover point, but I have not found information on local bus service online.

 

[grayland]

The short answer is yes...both bus and taxi is usually available.
The best tactic would be to research the various bus companies and download their app with schedules.
Alsa is the most common bus company but it does vary in places.

Taxi information is usually found in bars and in albergues.

 

[Castilian]

Hi suesayer! Welcome to the forum!

Is it likely that I will be able to find a bus or taxi to our next destination from the intermediate small towns?

Yes.

It would be wonderful to know about bus service ahead of time so that I can plan my stopover point, but I have not found information on local bus service online

It's a long route (more than 800 kms) with tons of possible ending points each day as well as tons of possible intermediate points. To list all the possible combinations with all the bus companies involved would made a long list. If you want specific info, it'll work better if you quote your planned stages. Knowing the ending point of each stage, we can make suggestions of intermediate points with bus or train service to that ending point.

 

[Anemone del Camino]

Oh yes. A great guide book for that, even if you do not speak German is the Rother guide book for the Norte. Its maps show the train and bus stations in relation to the roads and Camino. Well worth the money if only for that. After knowing where the routes join you can look on line for schedules.

The Norte ks quite touristicky so lots of options. For a taxi budget 1€ per km.

 

[whariwharangi]

The best place to find out about bus service is to look for 'concello' or 'ayuntamiento' website for the village in question.

Next, look for 'estacion de autobuses' for the town in question. This tends to work for the larger centers where there actually is a bus station instead of a bus kiosk. Often this works for a hub city such as Burgos which bus station website lists bus companies and routes to all the surrounding villages.

Another option is to look up the region's transport pages. IE use 'Asturias' and 'Transporte' as key search words.

Lastly, try google earth. It shows bus stops with the bus company and the route number.

A less reliable tool is Rome2Rio website. Its good but leaves out a lot of smaller companies.

 

[suesayers]

Hi suesayer! Welcome to the forum!



Yes.



It's a long route (more than 800 kms) with tons of possible ending points each day as well as tons of possible intermediate points. To list all the possible combinations with all the bus companies involved would made a long list. If you want specific info, it'll work better if you quote your planned stages. Knowing the ending point of each stage, we can make suggestions of intermediate points with bus or train service to that ending point.

Thanks for being to respond in such detail. I will post several of the beginning and end points of our days in hopes of getting an idea that I will be able to find public transportation at the approximate mid point.

San Sebastian to Getaria
Markina to Gemika
Portugalete to Castro Urdiales
Bustio to Llanes
Llanes to Ribadesella
Villaviosa to Gijon
Aviles to Cudillero
Vilalba to Leocadia
Leocadia to Sobrado des Monxes

 

[whariwharangi]

San Sebastian/Donostia
http://www.estaciondonostia.com/en

San Sebastian has a new bus station ... located next to the Renfe Station.
http://www.sansebastianturismo.com/...bastian-pronto-tendra-nueva-estacion-de-buses

Euskotren is a series of commuter trains from San Sebastian to Bilbao. This site has links to the Pais Vasco regional bus systems.
http://www.euskotren.eus/es/Autobus

FEVE is now operated by Renfe. It runs trains along the north of Spain from Bilbao to Ferrol. See Renfe site - middle right for FEVE services.
http://www.renfe.com/EN/viajeros/

Bilbao Termibus
http://www.termibus.es/index.php?idi=es

Cantabria
http://www.transportedecantabria.es/web/guest/home

Asturias
http://www.consorcioasturias.com/es/portal.do

ALSA provides bus service to many towns along Norte, in particular Asturias and Cantabria regions.
https://www.alsa.es/

Arriva provides bus service in Northern Galicia
http://www.arriva.gal/

 

[Castilian]

San Sebastian to Getaria

Orio would be a good intermediate point to take public transport to Gernika. Zarautz too but may it's too close to Gernika. Lurraldebus link both Zarautz and Orio with Gernika. For info about schedules: www.euskotren.eus/es/Autobus/Lurraldebus (Click on Urola Kosta)

Markina to Gemika

Munitibar is an option. Elexalde is another one but not on weekends (not sure about public holidays). Bizkaibus links both towns with Gernika. The Bizkaibus web isn't easy to navigate but if you want to give it a try, you'll find a link at: www.euskotren.eus/es/Autobus/Bizkaibus (click on the link with 3 w)

Portugalete to Castro Urdiales

Ontón is linked by bus with Castro Urdiales (ask locally because I'm not sure if online schedules are updated).

Bustio to Llanes

Pendueles has buses to Llanes operated by Alsa: www.alsa.es/en From Pendueles to Llanes, you have also the option of narrow gauge train operated by RENFE FEVE: www.renfe.com/EN/viajeros/feve

Llanes to Ribadesella

Alsa has bus service to Ribadesella from Nueva (de Llanes) and Belmonte (close to Cuerres) to Ribadesella.
RENFE FEVE has train service to Ribadesella from Nueva, Villahormes and Belmonte (Belmonte isn't on the Camino but it's very close to Cuerres).

Villaviosa to Gijon

Peón has buses to Gijón operated by www.autocaresmariano.com Get in touch with them to ask for updated info. If the info on their web was updated, it wouldn't be service on Sundays and public holidays and on Saturdays service would be just one bus (departure in the morning) but check with them the current situation.

Aviles to Cudillero

Alsa has bus service from Soto del Barco and from Muros de Nalón to Cudillero.

Vilalba to Leocadia

I'm not sure if there's bus service to Santa Leocadia but you could take a bus from Vilalba to Baamonde and walk from Baamonde to Santa Leocadia.

 

[Tia Valeria]

The FEVE train can work well but there are only 2 per day between Santander and Llanes and 4 per day between Llanes and Oviedo so do check out the times and stops if using that route. There are more (cercanias) between Santander and Torrelavega. Also there is a local bus service between Santander and San Vicente which passes through some of the the coastal villages on the Camino not served by the FEVE and maybe not by ALSA either, but our experience is from 3 years ago. again only 2 or 3 per day maybe so times need checking carefully.

 

[suesayers]

I cannot tell you all how appreciative I am of all of your detailed and informative responses. I feel so encouraged that I will be able to walk as much as I can and figure out how to take public transportation the rest of the way to meet up with my husband and friend. These responses have really made the difference for me to not feel like I have to completely cancel out of this trip. I walked Camino Frances two years ago and it has been so discouraging to experience the degeneration in my knees since then, so now I am encouraged that I can do this Norte trip and then address the total knee replacement option later.