Lisbon to St Jean Pied de Port

[jsalt]

Can anyone help with the best way to get from Lisbon to SJPDP? The overnight train, Sud Expresso, to Hendaye looks like a good option. www.cp.pt gives a price for a 4-bed berth as E37, but when I try to book, it links to the Spanish RENFE site, and the price jumps to E56. What am I doing wrong? Date of travel is 10 Oct. Thanks for any help!

 

[Bajaracer]

Can anyone help with the best way to get from Lisbon to SJPDP? The overnight train, Sud Expresso, to Hendaye looks like a good option. www.cp.pt gives a price for a 4-bed berth as E37, but when I try to book, it links to the Spanish RENFE site, and the price jumps to E56. What am I doing wrong? Date of travel is 10 Oct. Thanks for any help!

Try flying to Bilbao through Expedia for $76.10 USD, with first bag checked in for free, then take a bus to Pamplona (20 euros) and then another bus (20 euros) on to SJPDP. If if all times out just right, you could be on the 1730 bus to SJPDP the same night.

 

[peregrina2000]

I really don't know what could explain the price difference, jsalt, but the fact that the CP website puts you automatically over to RENFE suggests that you're going to have to pay whatever price they quote.

I hope you're not in the US/Canada unless you have magical powers. In 13 years of walking Caminos, I have only been successful once in buying a RENFE ticket online through their website. There are many threads here about how to do it, many threads on tripadvisor and other travel forums, but those of us who live in US or Canada just seem to have bad luck when it comes to RENFE. I have tried every single suggestion offered, including getting your card "verified," telling your credit card company you will be using it on RENFE, etc etc, and I have failed repeatedly. I have no idea what accounts for my good luck, which was, I think in 2010 and has never been repeated.

Good luck to you, let us know if you are successful in getting a ticket though! (And btw, I think the train sounds a lot less complicated than the flight to Bilbao, especially because the bus from Pamplona to SJPP may not be operating in October, I read that it stops in Sept.: http://www.caminodesantiago.me/comm...om-pamplona-to-saint-jean-pied-de-port.11081/ )

Buen camino, Laurie

 

[jsalt]

Many thanks for both your replies. The overnight train looks easier than a flight, especially as I can board the train at Entroncamento (I shall be in Tomar on 10 Oct). It arrives 11:30am in Hendaye, where I can get another train to Bayonne, then train to SJPDP. Laurie, I live in South Africa, and I successfully and very easily bought the ticket, and printed it, from the RENFE website. The payment process did go via my bank for authorization, which took about 5 seconds for a confirmation one-time password. I paid E56.40 for a berth in a 4-bed "cama" for "senhoras". The seats cost E26.10, but I decided the extra E30 was worth it to stretch out and sleep overnight. Regards, Jill Salt.

 

[peregrina2000]

Hi, Jill,
You will love Tomar! I assume you are going to see the monastery, and it is perched up on a hill overlooking the old town. Very pretty little place with a river, nice old bridge, etc etc.

Congrats on your luck. I know that the RENFE site has been changed quite a bit recently so maybe that included a major upgrade. I am hoping that the next time I try to buy a ticket I will be luckier than in the past.

I've taken a couple of those trenhotels and always splurge on the berth. And especially now that they are sex-segregated it is relaxing and usually very quiet. Buen camino!

p.s., you will see yellow arrows all around Tomar because it is on the Camino Portugues from Lisbon to Santiago.

 

[jsalt]

Hi Laurie, glad to hear you recommend the trenhotel. I walked the Camino Portugues from Lisbon to Santiago last year. Had one "rest day" in the whole 600 kms . . . in Tomar . . . and spent the whole day walking around! This time I hope to be living in Tomar for a few months . . . Jill

 

[Bajaracer]

Flying to Bilbao would be better than an overnight train, you'd be in Bilbao by noon, with plenty of time to take a train/bus to SJPDP and get there the same day.

 

[peregrina2000]

Hi, Jill, best of luck to you with your dream of living in Tomar for a while. It's really a very pretty part of Portugal, IMO. I was reading a post from a forum member who was there recently, and it reminded me that another forum member (anniesantiago, I think) highly recommends the match museum and the synagogue for visits. I have not visited either -- have you?

Glad you sorted the travel out -- seems much easier and cheaper by train. Laurie

 

[jsalt]

Hi Bajaracer, just checked the flight price for Lisbon to Bilbao on 11 Oct, and it's coming up with 62 euros, so train is cheaper at 56 euros, and that includes my overnight accommodation, and it goes right through to Hendaye, arriving 11:30am, so still plenty of time to get to St Jean that evening, but very many thanks for the suggestion. Will definitely check out the match museum and synagogue in Tomar, Laurie. I intend going back there after I get to Santiago around the end of Nov.