Closest airport to Leon

[scubajunky]

HI All,
I think I may have decided to walk from Leon to Santiago to finish my Camino.
Coming from the UK can anyone recommend an airline / flight path to get me as clos to Leon as possible ?
Thanks in advance.

 

[SYates]

Madrid and then a bus up to Leon. Alsa.es is your friend. Buen Camino! SY

 

[Deleted member 3000]

The airport for Leon is in the suburb La Virgen del Camino. The number of flights has dwindled over the years, so the new airport terminal is barely use. Air Nostrum and Iberia are the primary airlines with flights almost exclusively from Madrid.

 

[CaptBuddy]

scubajunky, coming from the UK, you could fly to Santander (from Stansted, I think), then train to Leon via Palencia. Avoids Madrid.
I had a plan to do this if we had to divide our last camino into two parts.
Falcon is on-track about the limited flights to Leon.

 

[Deleted member 3000]

 

[Whalleyranger]

Ryanair fly from Stansted to Valladolid. There (used to be) a bus from the terminal to Leon which is shorter than the journey from Madrid.

 

[miguel_gp]

Easyjet fly Stansted to Asturias (Oviedo). There is a two hour rail transfer to get to Leon from Oviedo City, although I believe the airport is the best part of 50km from the city.

There also appears to be an hourly bus link (Alsa) from the airport to Leon with a change in either Oviedo or Gijon.

 

[scruffy1]

Getting to Leon is the easy part, I am assuming you want to return home. Santiago to Madrid by bus is a killer, few stops so you need a bladder the size of a watermelon-while promising Santiago-Madrid Barajas the bus first enters Madrid and then you change buses for the airport.. Trains are a more expensive option with the same indirect connection. With a good travel agent, you may find a deal with Iberia etc, England-Madrid-Leon and Santiago-Madrid-England priced as connections on same flight/same airline and therefore cheaper than all separate ticketing. Talk with the pros before deciding.

 

[scubajunky]

Thanks for everyones input so far, it's all sounding a bit of a hassle, how many hours by bus is it from Santiago to Madrid ?

 

[jefferyonthecamino]

HI All,
I think I may have decided to walk from Leon to Santiago to finish my Camino.
Coming from the UK can anyone recommend an airline / flight path to get me as clos to Leon as possible ?
Thanks in advance.

Madrid then bus from airport. Closer airports to leon or in leon really only do regional flights,

 

[mikevasey]

If you know your flights then you can book trains in advance.You can get a single as low as 20 euros on the Madrid to Leon line and back from Santiago to Madrid it could be low as 28 Euros on the day services(5-6 hours), on the overnight train including a bed it could be as low as €60(9 hours+) without a bed from €35 euros, if its a busy time then prices go up dramatically.

 

[Deleted member 3000]

how many hours by bus is it from Santiago to Madrid ?

About nine hours. The overnight bus is hell on wheels! Take the train...

 

[Castilian]

you could fly to Santander (from Stansted, I think), then train to Leon via Palencia.

Depending on the arrival time to Santander and on the day of the week you arrive to Santander, bus might be an alternative although it seems there's just one direct bus and it doesn't run daily. On the other hand, there are many options changing buses in Oviedo. Take a look at the web of Alsa for info about schedules and fares.

Ryanair fly from Stansted to Valladolid.

They don't fly anymore from London to Valladolid.

Getting to Leon is the easy part, I am assuming you want to return home.

Returning home is quite easy if your outbound flight is a low cost flight to either Asturias Airport or Santander Airport or even Madrid airport because your inbound flight could be a direct low cost flight back to London from Santiago de Compostela airport with Ryanair or with Easyjet. Or, alternatively, if there isn't a low cost flight back to London from Santiago de Compostela on your travel dates, you could look for fares to London from A Coruña airport with Vueling...

 

[scubajunky]

Seems there are quite a few options and I'm slightly confused at the moment. Santander seems like a good option, has anyone done the route recently and how did they do it ?