Leave from Barcelona, Madrid or Paris? to Saint Jean de Port

[mhiggins]

I am flying from the U.S. with a few friends and trying to figure out the best city to fly into (Barcelona, Madrid, Paris) to get to Saint Jean de Port. I am just trying to decide between total travel time and cost as my major considerations. If there is not much of a difference then great i'll flip a coin, but if there are some significant differences in terms of cost, length of time, scenery etc. then I would really like to hear recommendations. We are going at the beginning on June if this matters.
And if you know of any website links that address this please let me know as well. Thank you

 

[mralisn]

I am flying from the western U.S. I will go to London Heathrow, bus to London Stansted, fly to Biarritz, bus (20 min.) to Bayonne, and train to SJPdP. For me, it seems the least expensive option and the best of all connection times. I had also looked into the options you have. The timing didn't work out as smoothly.

I could also catch a flight from Santiago back to London and then return home from there. However, I'll spend some days in Dublin for about the same price.

Perhaps you could look into arriving in London?

 

[walkingtotheend]

We are from Australia and took the same route as Mraslin in May 2009 It worked very well for us. Convenient and if you play the Ryanair game regarding bags and weight and on line check ins etc it is very cheap. We left Stansted during the middle of day and finally got to SJDP early evening after getting the bus and then the train. The pilgrim office was still open even though it was I think it was around 7pm. We were then able to start first thing the next day
Ryanair flies back to uk from Santiago at the end as well.
Ideally, financially you get the return ticket well in advance and it will very cheap. However this does mean you then have a deadline to get to Santiago which can put pressure on your walk which if you have a choice you should try to avoid. Buying an air ticket at short notice in Santiago I understand is an expensive exercise. On our next Camino (2013) we will return to uk by bus and train but won't worry about buying the tickets until we are ready to leave Spain
Buen Camino
Ian

 

[sharon w]

We flew into Paris, caught the TGV to Bayonne, then the local train to SJPDP. This worked very well as far as times and ease of transfers.
Sharon

 

[k-fun]

In Sept. 2011 we flew to Barcelona from the USA and spent four days there to adjust to the time shift and visit the city. We flew out of Madrid, after spending several days there. Barcelona to me was a much nicer city, very metropolitan and friendly, on the ocean, and with lots to do and see. I highly recommend going to Barcelona. From there, you can take the train to Pamplona and a bus to St-Jean-Pied-de-Port or to Roncevalles. We went to Roncesvalles and then hiked down to STPDP and returned to Roncesvalles via the lower route. This way, we minimized the climb and saw both passes.

Buen Camino.

 

[tyrrek]

Hi

If it came down to the toss of a coin I'd go for the Paris route, but if the timings work and you get a good deal London would be fine as outlined above. The transatlantic routes from Heathrow are quite competitive.

With London you'd have to be on one of the overnight flights that arrive early morning to get the bus from Heathrow to Stansted (about 2 hours) for the only flight to Biarritz (around lunchtime). If you arrived in Paris instead, you'd have a choice of trains down to Bayonne throughout the day, which might take some of the stress out of it if your flight was delayed or anything.

However, if you decide you want to break your journey, London might not be a bad idea. Central London hotels are expensive, but if you stayed near Stansted it would be much cheaper as the airport is a good distance outside the city. I stay at the Travelodge hotel (approx £40/$60 booked in advance) near Bishops Stortford a couple of miles away from Stansted, but there are other reasonably priced hotels. Bishops Stortford is just a market/commuter town but has all facilities and could be a good place to get over your flight, get some sleep and decent food etc. You'd also have a reasonably easy journey to SJPP the following day. If you broke the journey in the other cities you'd probably find yourself staying in the city centre, where prices might be higher.

Buen Camino!

 

[peregrina2000]

Hi, mhiggins,

I'll add a second to the suggestion that you fly in and out of Spain. No matter whether you fly into France of Spain, getting to St. Jean takes a couple of steps. From Madrid or Barcelona, it's a train to Pamplona, then a bus/taxi to St. Jean (last year there was a bus from Pamplona to St. Jean, but it was seasonal, and I don't think we've heard confirmation that it will run again this year). But that's not more complicated than the way to St. Jean from Paris.

IMO, the big difference is on the return. It's cheaper and easier to get to Madrid or Barcelona from Santiago than it is to get to France. I don't think there are any non-stop flights from Santiago to Paris, but maybe one of the cheap airlines has something.

If you can get an open jaw ticket, arriving in one place and leaving in another, that might change things, but if you have to arrive in and leave from the same city, I'd choose either Madrid or Barcelona. Madrid's more central, but some people think Barcelona is more fun, and there are good flights from Santiago to either.

Buen camino, Laurie

 

[dougfitz]

We flew into Paris, caught the TGV to Bayonne, then the local train to SJPDP. This worked very well as far as times and ease of transfers.
Sharon

I took a similar route in 2010, but took the bus from Bayonne to SJPP. From Australia, this was the cheapest option for the airline I travelled with. This might be different coming from other countries.

When comparing prices for the air legs, the key was to avoid London. When I finished the Camino, I visited friends in the UK, and originally planned to depart from there. It was only a little more expensive to take the Eurostar to Paris, stay four days with HI, and leave from there! The difference was in the very high airport fees charged at LHR.

Regards,

 

[micbook]

I also flew into Paris in early June (last year), then took the train to Bayonne, and then the local train to SJPP. It ended up working very well. Depending on the day, sometimes the trains from Paris can get full, so you might want to order the ticket online and arrive at the train station carefree. Otherwise, the ride was smooth and I think I had about 45 minutes in Bayonne before catching the next train. It gave me some time to discover a delicious bakery close to the train station

Buen Camino!
Michal
--
http://michalrinkevich.wordpress.com/tag/camino-de-santiago/

 

[Geo2w]

Hi,
I have just managed to get my new passport and rather than wait until nearer the time (Early April) to travel I am going to book my flight to Paris and then travel by train down to SJPP. Before I book I would be interested to hear from other Forum members about the travel arrangements and the bookings I will have to make before I book up for my journey. I will be travelling from Scotland, most likely flight from Glasgow to Paris CDG. 8)

 

[CaminoGen]

Depending on where you are in the US, I suggest you look into flying into Montréal, Québec then flying direct to Bordeaux or Toulouse. If you are flying to Paris, Iberia has non-stop flights to Paris (I took to 6PM flight to Paris-CDG and got there at 8:30, slept at the Formule 1- free shuttle- and took my flight home the next morning). My open-jaw ticket cost 679$ last Spring.

 

[NOHOOLIGAN]

Consider this: I'll fly to Barcelona, and start right from the airport. After all, you'll start your journey when leaving home, eh?

 

[Nandy61]

again, depending upon where in the US you are flying from, another option would be flying into Dublin. From there you can take a cheap Ryanair flight to Biarritz and then the Express Bouricot van to StJPP. From SDC there are Aerlingus flights that return (in summer) to Dublin. I found this to be much less expensive option (from Boston) than flying into London or Paris.

 

[Torrent1964]

Has anybody done Madrid to SJDP? My cheapest flights are Liverpool to Madrid return. There will be 4 of us and we will have MTB's (were cycling). I can do a return flight for about £100 with bike, but want to explore best way to SJDP from Madrid. Suggestions, advice all very welcome and needed.

 

[Torrent1964]

Has anybody done Madrid to SJDP? My cheapest flights are Liverpool to Madrid return. There will be 4 of us and we will have MTB's (were cycling). I can do a return flight for about £100 with bike, but want to explore best way to SJDP from Madrid. Suggestions, advice all very welcome and needed.

#Anyone? can you even point me to an appropriate point in the forum?

 

[angelita_peregrina]

Has anybody done Madrid to SJDP? My cheapest flights are Liverpool to Madrid return. There will be 4 of us and we will have MTB's (were cycling). I can do a return flight for about £100 with bike, but want to explore best way to SJDP from Madrid. Suggestions, advice all very welcome and needed.

#Anyone? can you even point me to an appropriate point in the forum?

Hey Torrent-

I went from Madrid to SJPP in September of last year. I walked the Camino so I cannot personally attest to how bicycle friendly this route is. But here is the breakdown of what I did. I’ll write it twice: the first time with only the itinerary, the second with further information for each step.


1) Flew into Madrid - Barajas T2 , arrived 7:15 am
2) Took free interterminal shuttle to Terminal 4
3) Took 10:45 am ALSA Bus from Barajas T4 to Soria. Switched buses in Soria. Took 2nd ALSA bus from Soria to Pamplona.
4) Spent the night in Pamplona to adjust to the time difference
5) Took the Express Bourricot van taxi the next day from Pamplona bus station to Saint Jean.


++++++++++++++++++++++


1) Flew into Madrid - Barajas T2 , arrived 7:15 am

2) Took free interterminal shuttle to Terminal 4

3) Took 10:45 am ALSA Bus from Barajas T4 to Soria. Switched buses in Soria. Took 2nd ALSA bus from Soria to Pamplona.

*** I bought my ticket on ALSA's website in advance by searching for an "Aeropuerto Madrid Barajas T4 - Pamplona" route. I would recommend buying the ticket online, it was easy. There are about six buses that run this route throughout the day but only the 10:45 am bus is express. All the Madrid Barajas - Pamplona routes make you transfer somewhere, either in Soria or Zaragoza.

Here’s some information from ALSA’s FAQ regarding passengers with bikes:

“Transporting bicycles, surfboards or skis has an additional cost, 5 euros for short-distance routes and 10 euros for long-distance routes.
Because of the limited space, we admit 4 objects (bicycles and surfboards) total in each coach, one per ticket. They have to be good conditions to travel without causing any damage to other baggage, so it is obligatory for them to be well packaged in boxes or bags suitable for transportation.
You can buy your ticket on our website along with bicycle transportation, indicating it in the box in “Step 3” of the purchasing process. Tickets with bicycle transportation must be bought individually, so it's impossible to check this box if you’re trying to reserve two or more seat simultaneously under the same reservation.
If there is no space in the selected coach, you will be unable to select this box.
Once the ticket is bought, the passenger must be at the bus station at least 15 minutes before the departure time with the indicated bicycle or surfboard.”

4) I spent the night in Pamplona to adjust to the time difference (I came from California) then I …

5) … Took the Express Bourricot van service (http://www.expressbourricot.com) directly to SJPP from Pamplona the next day. If you’re coming from the UK then clearly you don’t have to spend the night in Pamplona, hehe. Express Bourricot picks up at the Pamplona bus station and their price per person depends on how many people are riding in the van (see expressbourricot.com/en/services/personstrasportation.html ) I had a good experience with their service.

If Express Bourricot is too expensive, an alternative from Pamplona is the following:
5) Take the Autocares Artieda bus from Pamplona to Roncesvalles. (6 Euro, 1.5 hours travel time. Departs 18h Monday-Friday; 16h on Saturday; no service Sunday).
6) Take a taxi from Roncesvalles to SJPP.

*Here's a translation of the information Autocares Artieda (http://www.autocaresartieda.com) has on their website about bringing a bicycle on the Pamplona - Roncesvalles bus:

"Persons traveling with a bicycle cannot reserve a space for said bicycles online. The bicycles should be checked in at the ticket window upon arrival at the bus station. The passenger needs only to remove the front wheel and the panniers from the bicycle. Having purchased a ticket online for the passenger does not guarantee free space for his/her bicycle ... hence, it is recommended to arrive at the bus station with ample time before departure."

Please PM me if you'd like further information. I believe ALSA has an English website but Autocares Artieda doesn't. I'm more than happy to help navigate either one if needed.

Rehashing this itinerary reminds me of that clear autumn morning I arrived in Madrid, the sun baking my right cheek as I jammed it against the bus window in a jet lag-induced coma ... haha. Funny to look back on that moment when I was unknowingly on the brink of so much joy. Best of luck to you y buen camino.

*angela

 

[Torrent1964]

Thank You I shall start digesting this and get back to you with any other assist questions. Most appreciated.