Getting home from Santiago de Compostela

[PEI_Heather]

I haven't yet started my Camino; I leave for Europe in less than a month (start my walk on 9 Oct)! Because I am taking a course outside of London after I finish, I will need to get back that way for 17-18 November--lots of time to do my walk (I hope)! Knowing I have a date with a classroom afterwards, I have started to think about how I will get back to London from Santiago. What is the best way to return to London but at the same time being able to visit a few places along the way?

What I would like to do is to go to Paris to try to meet up with a friend. After that, I guess I can take the train from Paris to Belgium (to meet another friend) then travel over to London.

I've found an airline ticket for 55E from Santiago to Paris (Orly); it overnights in Barcelona. It would be lovely to take advantage and visit Barcelona, but the flight leaves at 10:15 pm and arrives in Barcelona at 11:15. Then it leaves in the morning to arrive at my time of choice into Paris.

Taking the train is my preferred method of transportation but it seems like it's not the easiest way; I'm not having a lot of luck navigating the Spanish rail or the Eurorail websites. And from the information I am able to get, it looks like I would be on the train for a full day without even leaving Spain. I don't know if that is on the high-speed rail or not!

I am figuring that my departure day from Santiago will be 14 November. That gives me three days of travel and some fast visiting/looking around time. If the travel takes up lots of time, I may have to postpone catching up with the friends (which would be a shame, since I will be so close)!

Getting out of Santiago seems a wee bit more difficult than getting into it!

Any advice, suggestions and stories of your experience in leaving Santiago after you have completed your Camino would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

 

[Caminobd]

My group walked the Camino Frances in July and finished in Santiago on the 10th of August. We had a flight booked from Madrid to London for August 13 and then the flight from London to Vancouver the next day. What we were unable to do was book the train from Santiago to Madrid on the Renfe website from Canada or in Spain, either because we were incompetent or needed a Spanish address or? What we ended up doing was going to a travel agent in Santiago and having the "tren hotel" booked for us which travels at night to Madrid, arriving in the morning. The cheaper way of doing this however might have been to go to the train station in Santiago a few days earlier than the day we left and buying a ticket from there. The train station is small and is not overwhelming. The train arrives around eight in the morning and leaves around 10:30 in the evening. I believe there is also a overnight train to Paris from Madrid but am not sure about this. We also thought later that another way to have booked the train might have been on a rest day in Leon, Burgos or any other city at a travel agents. Hope this helps,

Kelly

 

[mspath]

There is a RENFE train which goes from Santiago to Irun/Hendaye which is the French border everyday. This leaves Santiago about 9 am and arrives at the border about 9 pm. In Hendaye you can get a night sleeper train to Paris which leaves about 11 pm. arriving at Paris Austerlitz about 8 am the next morning. If you prefer you could stay the night in a small hotel near the Hendaye station and then take the fast TGV train in the morning to Paris Montparnasse. Whenever you wish to leave from Paris to London take the Eurostar TGV train from the Gare de Nord.

All these trains NEED reservations. After many of my Caminos I have traveled on the RENFE to Hendaye and the connecting night train to Paris. Both were easily booked directly at the rr station when I arrived in Santiago. As long as you are NOT traveling at a peak time such as a holiday you should have no trouble booking these trains two or three days before you wish to travel.

Buen Camino,

Margaret

 

[robertt]

Not sure if my experience is right for all. After my Le Puy-Pamplona Camino, I elected to check out just two towns which lay on the track back to Paris: San Sebastian and Bordeaux. It broke the trip, and both towns turned out to be good choices.

After my second Camino, Pamplona-Santiago-Valenca-Santiago-Fisterra, I just took a bus from Fisterra to Santiago and got on a train to Segovia, which was right on the track back to Madrid. Easy! I can certainly recommend Segovia, by the way. If Pontevedra is my fave Spanish city, I found Segovia the loveliest (so far).

Using some sight-seeing to break a long trip is a way of adding to the interest while reducing the fatigue. I even insist on stopping in Singapore en route to and from Oz. (Plus, I have a thing about chicken-rice.)

Anyway, Heather, a great experience is in front of you

Rob

 

[PEI_Heather]

Thank you everyone; most helpful!