First Camino -- April - May 2012

[bcskibdy]

After a lot of back and forth (Francés v del Norte) I am committing to the North Rte. I want to start late April 2012 and have 6 weeks or more. I live in Seattle WA. About to book travel. I read someone went first to Bilbao for a day or so to get over the travel time. This sounds good to me. Any advice on flying to Madrid vs, say, Paris? Book directly to Bilbao? Any places where it would be good to book a room in advance, though I'd prefer not to do that in general.

Just want to say how impressed I've been reading the various posts.
Also posted this in the into section.

 

[mikevasey]

Hi

Six weeks is a good amount of time to walk the Norte, you will have the option to stop off in a few places and rest or take in whatever it has to offer.

If you do decide to fly in to Paris then I would not go to Bilbao there would be a little bit of unnecessary travelling by train or bus and air flights are quite expensive. I would go for a stopover point before Hendaye(the traditional start). You have Biarritz http://www.biarritz.fr/Website/site/tourisme_en.php, Bordeaux or even a couple of nights in Paris. The advantage of Biarritz it is a short train, bus or taxi ride away from the start and you could leave your hotel that morning and be walking by 8am at the latest. You could also visit Saint Jean Pied De Port and get a taste of the Camino Frances, you might want more.

If you do fly into Madrid there are bus and train connections to Bilbao and also flights with Easyjet http://www.easyjet.com/EN they seem relatively cheap and there is a few flights most days. Check the tourist office for places to stayhttp://www.bilbao.net/bilbaoturismo/. If you do go tell us where you stay, I go through Bilbao probably on a weekend and I do not want to stay in a private hostel they can get quite noisy at weekends,the pilgrim albergue in Bilbao does not open until June.

Good Luck and Buen Camino

Mike

 

[mralisn]

In 2010, I flew San Francisco-London-Madrid-San Sebastian. It was quite easy and economical. It seems like much, but it really isn't. The airport in San Sebastian (EAS) is closer to Irun (10 by bus?), the starting point, than it actually is to the city itself. Although I didn't spend anytime in San Sebastian that time as the way goes through there anyway, I was able to stay for several days after I finished the Camino Frances in '05. I would choose either San Sebastian or Biarritz as mentioned above. Both are not far from wherever you'll want to start. On that note, I also spend several days in Biarritz and loved every minute of it on the beach!

¡Buen Camino!
Simeon