Ideas please

[Jax11]

Hi, I'm flying to Bilbao in October and would like to have a taster two or three day walk along the Camino. Do you have any suggestions for perhaps catching a bus or train and walking for a couple of days? Much appreciated, I'm clueless.

 

[tomnorth]

You might want to post your question in the Camino Norte group. Regardless, your question is difficult to answer. Many of us on this forum have walked thirty to forty days on our Caminos. Asking us to pick two or three days out of that is extremely difficult. A pilgrim’s Camino lives as an entirety. It doesn’t subdivide well.

 

[DirtAmy]

Having not walked the Norte and only having taken the train from Bilbao to Santander, it strikes me that the distance is 3/4 days walking. More importantly, both cities have excellent transport connections.

 

[Anamya]

Do you have any suggestions for perhaps catching a bus or train and walking for a couple of days?

Hi Jax! It is indeed hard to choose just 2-3 days of a Camino.

I have not walked the Camino del Norte (route that passes through Bilbao), but everyone says it is beautiful, especially the first days, from Irun. So, why don't you take the ALSA bus to Irun (it's only a 1.5 hour ride) and walk from there to San Sebastian, another amazing city? That's 2 days. If you like the taste of it, you can keep going until you reach Orio and its old city centre, and finish at the Church of San Nicolas and visit the reserach centre for the Camino de Santiago over there

Suggested itinerary:
Irún - Passages de San Juan (17km)
Passages de San Juan - San Sebastian (8km)
San Sebastian - Orio (17km)

That's a way to start in a very tradional starting point, finish in interesting places and still be at ease to return to Bilbao

If you want more information on that route, check the Camino del Norte part of this forum and also the website https://www.gronze.com/camino-norte. It is in Spanish, but it has a list of all acomodation along that trail and some maps.

 

[Walking Lover]

You could start in Sarria and do 3, 20 mile days.

 

[Anamya]

You could start in Sarria and do 3, 20 mile days.

I considered suggesting that, but getting from Bilbao to Sarria seems a bit convoluted. If Jax does not mind, though, I agree that Sarria to Santiago is a nice route - all the infrastructure, lots of pilgrims to talk to, getting a certificate in the end...

 

[Former member 49149]

Another option: go to Pamplona and walk from there to Puente la Reina, and on to Estella. Two days. Then back to Bilbao...