Buy Plane Ticket to Oviedo in Spain or Beforehand?

[nichollsb]

I'm doing the Camino Primitivo in October, and I need to buy a plane ticket to Oviedo from Madrid. My traveling companion prefers to buy the ticket when we land in Madrid while we're at the airport. Being a planner, I worry about flight availability at the last minute, as well as the possible additional cost of buying a ticket the day before we leave. Does anyone have any advice on this?

 

[annakappa]

We fly with Iberia to Spain, so added on the additional stretch Madrid/Oviedo to our main ticket. We actually fly "open jaw", because we then fly back Santiago/Madrid /S.José It costs far less than either an additional bus or train, which would be your other possibility. I'm sure that this ticket, bought at Barajas when you land, would cost much, much more! Anne

 

[PadreQ]

I am also heading there in October, the 1st. I have purchased my ticket already - "open jaw" like Anne. I have a tight connection in Madrid, but I also know there is a later flight to Oviedo. When are you going?

 

[nichollsb]

I am also heading there in October, the 1st. I have purchased my ticket already - "open jaw" like Anne. I have a tight connection in Madrid, but I also know there is a later flight to Oviedo. When are you going?

I'm flying to Madrid on Oct. 1. I've priced one-way tickets. $200.

 

[annakappa]

Oh boy, that's expensive! I guess you aren't flying with Iberia, because the extra leg would have cost you next to nothing! I think if you are looking at costs, you might be better taking the bus or train to Leon and then on to Oviedo. If you don't know Leon, take advantage of being there and stay overnight, carry on to Oviedo the next morning and enjoy! Anne

 

[annakappa]

By the way, the airport for Oviedo is Gijon, from where you then still have to take the bus to Oviedo.

 

[angulero]

¿Gijón?.

El Aeropuerto de Asturias no está en ni Oviedo ni en Gijón. Está entre las localidades de Ranón y Santiago del Monte. Dista unos cuarenta kilómetros de Gijón y unos cuarenta y cinco kilómetros de Oviedo.

Desde el aeropuerto salen autobuses hacia Oviedo y Gijón.

Gijón?.
Asturias Airport is neither Oviedo or Gijón. It is between the towns of Ranón and Santiago del Monte. It is about forty kilometers from Gijón and about forty-five kilometers of Oviedo.
From the airport buses to Oviedo and Gijón.

 

[indyinmaine]

I'm flying to Madrid on Oct. 1. I've priced one-way tickets. $200.

Buy it online at www.iberia.es and make sure you buy a round trip(!) and throw away the return. Use an unlikely return date for the cheapest ad on! That way it will cost you a little over 100 euros! Buen Camino

 

[annakappa]

¿Gijón?.

El Aeropuerto de Asturias no está en ni Oviedo ni en Gijón. Está entre las localidades de Ranón y Santiago del Monte. Dista unos cuarenta kilómetros de Gijón y unos cuarenta y cinco kilómetros de Oviedo.

Desde el aeropuerto salen autobuses hacia Oviedo y Gijón.

Gijón?.
Asturias Airport is neither Oviedo or Gijón. It is between the towns of Ranón and Santiago del Monte. It is about forty kilometers from Gijón and about forty-five kilometers of Oviedo.
From the airport buses to Oviedo and Gijón.

Sorry, my mistake! Anne

 

[angulero]

Sorry, my mistake! Anne

No te preocupes, es normal que te puedas equivocar si no eres de aquí.

Por cierto, aunque no se distingue bien, se ve en la foto de mi firma....

Do not worry, it's normal you can go wrong if you're not from here.

By the way, although it is well distinguished, seen in the photo of my signature ....

 

[fraluchi]

Angulero, perfect explanations and translations
Como dicen donde nosotros en Costa Rica: "actitud pura vida"
And....we'll travel to aeropuerto Asturias. Of course!

 

[angulero]

Je, je.

Las traducciones son casi todas de google, mi inglés es casi nulo. Supongo que ya os habréis dado cuenta de ello.

 

[fraluchi]

Entonces "pura google"

 

[angulero]

¡Puxa!.

 

[fraluchi]

¡Puxa!.

Aquí Google no sirve! (o por lo meno todavia no)
We are ready to take off for Oviedo next Tuesday (which immediately becomes Wednesday with the time difference between Spain and Costa Rica). IBERIA permitting we should be arriving in town late evening by bus from Asturias airport.
Tickets were purchased by us quite some time ago with IBERIA and the all-in cost per person for the flights SJO-MAD-OVD (out) and SCQ-MAD-SJO (return) was just under 1'000 Euros. With our frequent transatlantic flights we believe that this is a fair price.
If I would intend to fly into Madrid with another airline and then consider a flight within the country, I would do some internet shopping on the local availability and costs before buying the long distance flight. Remember though that last minute purchases have their convenience, but if delays are causing a stay-over, you may have to foot the bill.

 

[peregrina2000]

Buen camino fraluchi! Keep an eye out for Susanna, she's starting the Salvador tomorrow, and maybe you guys will overlap in Oviedo. I'm interested to see how your Naranco-Escamplero alternative works. Hope it's a wonderful camino for you both.

 

[PadreQ]

Fraluchi, I'm heading there two weeks from Sunday. Where are you staying when you arrive in Oviedo? I haven't figured out that piece yet. I'm scheduled to arrive there in the early afternoon on Iberia, but my connection in Madrid is very tight. I'm hoping they will get me on the later flight if the connection doesn't happen. So I am kind of worried about finding the albergue late in the day. I'll take any wisdom anyone might have to offer.

 

[annakappa]

PadreQ, I can reply for Adriaan ( fraluchi) as he's my husband! We have booked at the Hotel Vetusta, as we always take somewhere private for our first night after our long flight and 8 hours jet lag. By the way, looking at your dates, we might see you in Santiago as we will be working for 2 weeks in the Pilgrim Office, starting 2nd October. Burn Camino!

 

[peregrina2000]

I absolutely love the Hotel Vetusta. I am a real sucker for those old buildings that have been rehabbed, and this one is really nice. http://www.hotelvetusta.com/ I've stayed there a number of times, and the staff is just wonderful. The staff behind the desk (typically women) also do a lot of cooking of cakes, etc, for the little cafeteria that's connected to the hotel. It's a very nice place, great location.

I'll also throw out the name of a very good hostal, Los Arcos , for a less expensive option. I've stayed here twice now, and the owners are young guys who are working very hard to stay alive in this economy. If you stay there, tell them the peregrina americana with the white hair recommended it. Much more simple than the Vetusta, but much cheaper as well. It also has a great location, right at the arched entrance to the square with the Ayuntamiento (town hall), and a few feet from the library and its many free computers.

http://www.hostal-arcos.com/

Either place is a great way to start the Primitivo, IMO! Buen camino to all those lucky pilgrims starting out soon. Laurie

 

[annakappa]

I absolutely love the Hotel Vetusta. I am a real sucker for those old buildings that have been rehabbed, and this one is really nice. http://www.hotelvetusta.com/ I've stayed there a number of times, and the staff is just wonderful. The staff behind the desk (typically women) also do a lot of cooking of cakes, etc, for the little cafeteria that's connected to the hotel. It's a very nice place, great location.. Laurie

Apart for their nice web page showing an attractive old hotel, I was particularly enticed by their cafeteria and promise of home baked cakes and pastries! Anne

 

[peregrina2000]

Ah, Anne, if it's the sweet tooth that drove you to choose the Vetusta, I don't think you will be disappointed.

 

[nichollsb]

PadreQ, I can reply for Adriaan ( fraluchi) as he's my husband! We have booked at the Hotel Vetusta, as we always take somewhere private for our first night after our long flight and 8 hours jet lag. By the way, looking at your dates, we might see you in Santiago as we will be working for 2 weeks in the Pilgrim Office, starting 2nd October. Burn Camino!

My friend and I are starting our Camino on Oct. 4. Perhaps we'll see you at the Pilgrim Office.

 

[nichollsb]

I absolutely love the Hotel Vetusta. I am a real sucker for those old buildings that have been rehabbed, and this one is really nice. http://www.hotelvetusta.com/ I've stayed there a number of times, and the staff is just wonderful. The staff behind the desk (typically women) also do a lot of cooking of cakes, etc, for the little cafeteria that's connected to the hotel. It's a very nice place, great location.

I'll also throw out the name of a very good hostal, Los Arcos , for a less expensive option. I've stayed here twice now, and the owners are young guys who are working very hard to stay alive in this economy. If you stay there, tell them the peregrina americana with the white hair recommended it. Much more simple than the Vetusta, but much cheaper as well. It also has a great location, right at the arched entrance to the square with the Ayuntamiento (town hall), and a few feet from the library and its many free computers.

http://www.hostal-arcos.com/

Either place is a great way to start the Primitivo, IMO! Buen camino to all those lucky pilgrims starting out soon. Laurie

Thanks for the suggestion. I'm going to check those out.

 

[nichollsb]

Buy it online at www.iberia.es and make sure you buy a round trip(!) and throw away the return. Use an unlikely return date for the cheapest ad on! That way it will cost you a little over 100 euros! Buen Camino

Oh, darn. I should have done that. I bought a one-way. Oh well.

 

[bimblingalong]

I absolutely love the Hotel Vetusta. I am a real sucker for those old buildings that have been rehabbed, and this one is really nice. http://www.hotelvetusta.com/ I've stayed there a number of times, and the staff is just wonderful. The staff behind the desk (typically women) also do a lot of cooking of cakes, etc, for the little cafeteria that's connected to the hotel. It's a very nice place, great location.

I'll also throw out the name of a very good hostal, Los Arcos , for a less expensive option. I've stayed here twice now, and the owners are young guys who are working very hard to stay alive in this economy. If you stay there, tell them the peregrina americana with the white hair recommended it. Much more simple than the Vetusta, but much cheaper as well. It also has a great location, right at the arched entrance to the square with the Ayuntamiento (town hall), and a few feet from the library and its many free computers.

http://www.hostal-arcos.com/

Either place is a great way to start the Primitivo, IMO! Buen camino to all those lucky pilgrims starting out soon. Laurie

Many thanks for the reccomendations, not walking until April next year but the lure of home baked goodies may just influence my decision on where to stay ;-)
Also thanks to you for supplying much good info on the Primitivo itself, am happily spending hours in the fun planning stages...have a slightly odd route planned, Primitivo from Oviedo, backwards along the Frances as far as Ponferrada ( some places I need to revisit! ) then the Invierno if all goes to plan...

 

[peregrina2000]

Many thanks for the reccomendations, not walking until April next year but the lure of home baked goodies may just influence my decision on where to stay ;-)
Also thanks to you for supplying much good info on the Primitivo itself, am happily spending hours in the fun planning stages...have a slightly odd route planned, Primitivo from Oviedo, backwards along the Frances as far as Ponferrada ( some places I need to revisit! ) then the Invierno if all goes to plan...

That's the first time I've seen that combination, and it sounds like a great one. I think the Frances is the only Camino I would ever walk "backwards" on, just because you can count on the flow of pilgrims coming towards you to show you which way to go.

I'm not sure why, but the Invierno doesn't seem to be increasing in numbers as much as some of the other untraveled caminos. But it is well marked and beautiful, with some nice ups and downs, so what more do you need for a wonderful camino?

 

[PadreQ]

I'm booked into the Hostal Arcos on Monday of next week. I will start walking on Tuesday. Many thanks for the recommendation.

 

[piogaw]

I'm doing the Camino Primitivo in October, and I need to buy a plane ticket to Oviedo from Madrid. My traveling companion prefers to buy the ticket when we land in Madrid while we're at the airport. Being a planner, I worry about flight availability at the last minute, as well as the possible additional cost of buying a ticket the day before we leave. Does anyone have any advice on this?

Your best bet is as suggested by anna. However if push come to shove. You can take the train from madrid to oviedo. There are many departures daily from madrid. The cheapest is the 07:30 train which takes 4 hours and 56 minutes at a cost of €30.10.

By the way when is your arrival time at madrid barajas?

Buen camino.