From the Coast to Oviedo

[musicagl]

Hi:

I completed the Frances this past June and am planning to walk the Primativo in September. What is the best route from the coast to Oviedo? I need a few days to "wake up" before hitting the Primativo. Many thanks in advance to this incredibly valuable Forum. If there are prior threads that would help, please point me in the right direction.

 

[peregrina2000]

Hi musicgal, which coast do you mean? I'll take a guess that you mean East Coast USA, but if I'm wrong, just let me know. Oviedo has a small airport, but I've flown in and own of it and it's got a fair number of flights to Madrid so you could fly Boston-Madrid-Oviedo. Oviedo "shares" an airport with the other two major cities in Asturias, Gijon and Aviles, so it is about a 45 minute ride in public transportation into the city.

If you don't want a connecting flight once you get to Europe, you can easily fly into Madrid and take a train up to Oviedo. The trains leave from Chamartin train station, which is easy to get to from the airport, at least if you land in T4. I decided years ago that there was a big advantage in flying into Spain on Iberia or an Iberia partner like American or British Airways, for two main reasons -- you arrive in T4 which is much better connected to trains and buses than the other terminals (and getting from T1, 2, or 3 to T4 is a proposition of about a half hour, or more); and the other reason is because it is much easier to connect to a domestic flight on Iberia.

If it were my ticket, I'd check the price of Boston-Madrid-Oviedo and then coming home Santiago-Madrid-Boston. You may find that the fare is not much more than Boston-Madrid-Boston. (do the "multi-city" search function).

And Oviedo is a great city to spend a few days to get over jet lag before starting the Primitivo. One of my favorite Spanish cities in fact! Hope this helps, buen camino, Laurie

 

[musicagl]

Thank you! I was thinking of the coasr of Spain, the Camino Norte, actually, and flying from Boston to London and then to Spain. I guess I was looking for a way to maybe a walk a day or two before Oviedo. But I so appreciate your insight. Thank you.

Ann

 

[grayland]

Thank you! I was thinking of the coasr of Spain, the Camino Norte, actually, and flying from Boston to London and then to Spain. I guess I was looking for a way to maybe a walk a day or two before Oviedo. But I so appreciate your insight. Thank you.

Ann

Thank you! I was thinking of the coasr of Spain, the Camino Norte, actually, and flying from Boston to London and then to Spain. I guess I was looking for a way to maybe a walk a day or two before Oviedo. But I so appreciate your insight. Thank you.

Ann

I am flying into Bilbao in June....so that is a possibility if you can get a flight there. But...it is a pretty long way to Oviedo from Bilbao so you would have to get some ground transportation to your desired starting point.

Actually, if anyone has some suggestion about the best way from Bilbao to Oviedo, I would appreciate it. I know there are trains (Feve) and buses but what would be best?

 

[Tia Valeria]

If landing at Asturias airport you can go to Villaviciosa and then walk from there. It is the change-over point from the Norte to the Primitivo in the CSJ guide (Caminos de la Costa F - Camino Primitivo). You might need to go through Oviedo or Gijón to get there. Hopefully someone like Angulero can help with that information.

 

[Jan_D]

grayland - There is only one Feve per day Bilbao-Oviedo, leaving at 1pm and getting in after 9pm, costing about €25. It's only really worth it if you wish to make a stopover in Santander, or one of the smaller towns along the way, maybe in Asturias. You just buy your ticket at the station. The bus on the other hand only takes 3 hours 35 mins, with a 'no frills' cost of €19 (check the Alsa website).

Ann - if you have 3 or 4 days before Oviedo, you could do the following: start at Ribadesella and walk to La Isla, one of the most beautiful walks on the del Norte (in my opinion): nothing but cliffs, verdant farmland, blue ocean, a manageable distance for the first day (17km?), ending with a nice albergue along the sea-shore. From there you turn inland and walk to Villaviciosa (20km), not much in this town, but the next stop is probably too far. On day 3 you can choose to walk to the monastery of Valdedios, where the pilgrim awaits an incredible welcome, or else push on to Pola de Siera (28km). If time is a problem, you could even just catch a bus from Pola de Siera and spend the night in Oviedo (17km away), to avoid a day of walking through the outskirts of the city.

 

[peregrina2000]

Thank you! I was thinking of the coasr of Spain, the Camino Norte, actually, and flying from Boston to London and then to Spain. I guess I was looking for a way to maybe a walk a day or two before Oviedo. But I so appreciate your insight. Thank you.

Ann

Ok, now I get it. So, where is your arrival point in Spain? I don't think there any direct flights from London to the Oviedo airport. So you'll probably be going through Madrid anyway, which might make it just as easy to fly there from Boston.

I agree with the suggestions about walking down to Oviedo from the coast, the best route is the one Tia and Jan describe. Valdedios is an amazing spot with a pre-romanesque church sitting in a beautiful meadow in a valley. Just beautiful. Buen camino, Laurie

 

[Deleted member 3000]

EasyJet operates from Stansted to Asturias/Oviedo (Sun., Mon., Wed., and Fri.). Iberia goes from Barcelona and Madrid to Asturias/Oviedo.

 

[musicagl]

Thank you all for the great suggestions. I very much appreciate the collective wisdom of this forum.

Ann

 

[Tia Valeria]

@grayland - if you want to use the FEVE then there are 3 trains daily from Bilbao to Santander and 2 daily from Santander to Oviedo. Depending on your time of arrival you could break the journey either overnight or for lunch in Santander. You can check out the FEVE here, but be aware that you need to set the date to at least next day as it doesn't seem to show trains which have already departed and the date is defaulted to 'today'.
We love the journey and are looking forward to doing it again this year from Santander to Oviedo.