Getting back to Lisbon from Santiago

[tmlsholt]

Walking from Porto to Santiago in April/May and I can hardly believe this but in spite of all my scouring this forum and other online resources, I didn't really pay attention to how to get back to Lisbon to catch flights home. I'm somewhat surprised how little info there is about options...hoping someone can shed a little light on that for me.

I realize there's a bus..and I hope to find alternatives to that option if possible. Would love to rent a car and drive, but I'm not coming up with much info on that as well -- I recognize there's a border crossing issue that may not make that a possibility. Has anyone successfully rented a car in Santiago and taken it into Portugal on a one-way rental?

Other suggestions welcomed! Thanks, in advance....

 

[Camembert]

Walking from Porto to Santiago in April/May and I can hardly believe this but in spite of all my scouring this forum and other online resources, I didn't really pay attention to how to get back to Lisbon to catch flights home. I'm somewhat surprised how little info there is about options...hoping someone can shed a little light on that for me.

I realize there's a bus..and I hope to find alternatives to that option if possible. Would love to rent a car and drive, but I'm not coming up with much info on that as well -- I recognize there's a border crossing issue that may not make that a possibility. Has anyone successfully rented a car in Santiago and taken it into Portugal on a one-way rental?

Other suggestions welcomed! Thanks, in advance....

I just tried it out.. At the AVIS rental website I gave in the Santiago airport as a beginning and clicked at the checkbox , delivering the car at another airport, this time Lisbon.
They offered me different makes of cars and different price catagories. So maybe you can try it to !
During my working career I often rented cars in Copenhagen Danmark and flew back from either Oslo Norway or Göteborg Sweden to the Netherlands where I live, leaving the Danish registrated car at the mentioned foreign airports.

 

[Deleted member 3000]

ALSA page here:

http://www.alsa.es/rutas/santiago-lisboa.htm

 

[peregrina2000]

Hi, tmlsholt,

I have always found that one way car rentals are extremely expensive in Europe. Thinking that maybe things have changed, I just tried what Albertinho suggested using orbitz to get a sense of car operators. I found lots of cheap daily rates, but the one way drop-off fee pushed the total to well over $1000 US.
So, Albertinho, if you have some tricks up your sleeve about how to get that fare down, let me know!

I have taken the bus from Santiago to Lisbon, it is a dreary all day affair with a 45 minute stop in an awful highway cafeteria. I think there is just one bus a day leaving Santiago around noon, but you can easily find that information on the web.

The train involves a change in Vigo, I have never done that. But if I had to make the trip again, I would go for the train. Not that there was anything specially wrong with the bus, it's just long and boring and you are trapped in your seat. Buen camino, Laurie

 

[Deleted member 3000]

Current weekday schedule:

 

[whariwharangi]

At least three options:

Renfe train from Santiago to Vigo. Transfer at Vigo to Oporto - Renfe or Celta (CP). Transfer at Oporto to CP train to Lisbon.

Monbus bus from Santiago bus station to Vigo bus station. Autna bus from Vigo to Lisbon. Autna has buses that start in Santiago but I'm not sure of the frequency.

ALSA bus or Renfe train to A Coruna. There are flights from A Coruna to Lisbon.

There are frequent CP trains from Valenca but I haven't figured out yet how to get from Vigo to Valenca.

Estacion de Autobuses Santiago
http://www.tussa.org/web/interior.php?txt=arbore_web5&lg=cas

Estacion de Autobuses Vigo
http://vigobus.com/

Monbus bus company
http://www.monbus.es/index2.htm

Autna bus company
http://www.autna.com/es/

ALSA bus association
http://www.alsa.es/en/buy-and-schedules/national/?searchType=common

Renfe train
http://www.renfe.com/index.html

CP train
http://www.cp.pt/cp/displayPage.do?vgnextoid=87cbd5abe2a74010VgnVCM1000007b01a8c0RCRD

A Coruna Airport
http://www.aena-aeropuertos.es/csee/Satellite/Aeropuerto-A-Coruna/en/

 

[Camembert]

Hi, tmlsholt,

I have always found that one way car rentals are extremely expensive in Europe. Thinking that maybe things have changed, I just tried what Albertinho suggested using orbitz to get a sense of car operators. I found lots of cheap daily rates, but the one way drop-off fee pushed the total to well over $1000 US.
So, Albertinho, if you have some tricks up your sleeve about how to get that fare down, let me know!

I have taken the bus from Santiago to Lisbon, it is a dreary all day affair with a 45 minute stop in an awful highway cafeteria. I think there is just one bus a day leaving Santiago around noon, but you can easily find that information on the web.

The train involves a change in Vigo, I have never done that. But if I had to make the trip again, I would go for the train. Not that there was anything specially wrong with the bus, it's just long and boring and you are trapped in your seat. Buen camino, Laurie

Hi Laurie. I did not go that far to find out what the prices were. Just to find out if there is any possibility to drop of a rentalcar in a different country.
I should either go for the bus or train but I have an easy job this time. I take my car and caravan with me so my only concern (?!) is after finishing my camino to get back to the place we were starting from. A campingsite in Ferrol. And I read there is a decent busconnection.

 

[Diogo92]

I think that all the best options were advanced by @whariwharangi .

@peregrina2000, I don't remember stopping 45 minutes in a highway service area. We stopped for a hour in Porto (for lunch), 10 minutes in Vigo, 15 minutes in Coimbra, and time only for passengers get in the bus in Braga, Santarém, Fátima and other one also.

Best Regards
Diogo

 

[peregrina2000]

Hi, Diogo,
Interesting. My trip was in 2009, I believe. We picked up passengers (no drop offs) in Spanish towns along the Portugues (Tui, Pontevedra, Redondela, etc), short stop in Vigo, then I´m virtually certain we only stopped in Porto (just to drop off and pick up) Leiria, Coimbra, and Fatima (definitely not Braga and I don´t think Santarém), so maybe things have radically changed. But so long as starting point and ending point remain the same, I guess these intermediate stops don´t matter much to the average pilgrim. Or maybe there are several bus companies doing the Santiago-Lisboa run?

 

[Diogo92]

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Hi, Diogo,
Interesting. My trip was in 2009, I believe. We picked up passengers (no drop offs) in Spanish towns along the Portugues (Tui, Pontevedra, Redondela, etc), short stop in Vigo, then I´m virtually certain we only stopped in Porto (just to drop off and pick up) Leiria, Coimbra, and Fatima (definitely not Braga and I don´t think Santarém), so maybe things have radically changed. But so long as starting point and ending point remain the same, I guess these intermediate stops don´t matter much to the average pilgrim. Or maybe there are several bus companies doing the Santiago-Lisboa run?

Hello Laurie. Well, Leiria, yes, I think we also stopped in there. I remember stopping in Coimbra, and in Leiria they washed the bus! That's it, it was the missing part of the puzzle

The only spanish town where we stoped was in Vigo, nothing more.

For what I know, only one company doing that route, but from Santiago to Porto I think that there are 2 or 3.

Best Regards
Diogo