London to Leon by air, Monday 30th June 2014

[yogaflowjo]

I am about to start the third (and final) leg of my Camino beginning Leon to Santiago... and cannot believe how difficult it is to get into Leon from London. Does anyone have any ideas of airports nearby with direct flights from London (most of them seem to go through Barcelona from London, having flown from Melbourne the thought of backtracking does not appeal at all, not to mention the higher costs). I usually fly into Barcelona which makes life easier, however this time do not have that option.... I think I can get into Biarritz on this day , but then not sure how I get to Leon from there. Unfortunately (yet again) I am on a tight timeframe and have to make this journey on 30th June! Any suggestions would be most welcome (yes I know this has been covered in forum before, but I have googled and googled and googled some more... flights and routes this morning and about to have a melt down! so thought I'd turn to the experts once again)... Thanks in advance, Jo

 

[tyrrek]

Hi. Leon is a tiny airport, so depending on your plans around staying in London I suspect you might end up flying to Madrid and getting the bus/train. You won't be able to fly to Leon direct from outside Spain. Biarritz is definitely not a good idea.

 

[piogaw]

Hello jo,

Welcome to the forum.

I would strongly recommend that you fly from london to madrid. There are quite a few lcc and regular airlines that fly into madrid from london gatwick airport. Once you get to madrid barajas airport, you can go to the renfe office at the airport and buy your train ticket from the airport to leon if you are travelling by train. Your train ticket will be from madrid barajas airport to madrid chamartin station. This ticket will include a free transfer from the cercanias line (commuter's train) from the airport to chamartin where you will board your train to leon.

There are 9 trains daily to leon with the high speed alvia trains and the regular trains. The first train is at 06:50 and arrives at leon at 09:36 and costs 39.80€. All alvia trains cost the same and takes 3 hours duration more or less. The following schedules of the high speed trains are 11:00, 14:30, 18:30, 20:15 and a night train at 22:10. The regular trains depart at the following hours: 11:30, 14:30, 18:30 and take approximately 4:15 hours. I don't think you are old enough (over 60) to obtain a senior card which will give you more discount on the train.

There are available alsa bus that leaves from madrid barajas airport to leon. I do not have any info. However you can dropped by the alsa bus office to make enquiry. However if you want to take the bus, you will have to buy a metro ticket that will take you to the alsa bus station in estacion sur (mendez alvaro) in madrid for your leon destination. There are 11 buses that go to leon daily. With regular ticket (20.74€) and premium ticket (35.00€), the bus schedules are departing 07:30, 08:30, 09:30, 11:30, 14:30, 15:30, 17:30, 18:30, 21:00 and 22:30 hour.

Hope this helps in your planning.

Buen camino and god bless.

 

[karenfromcali]

Hi. Leon is a tiny airport, so depending on your plans around staying in London I suspect you might end up flying to Madrid and getting the bus/train. You won't be able to fly to Leon direct from outside Spain. Biarritz is definitely not a good idea.

Hi Tyrrek. Just curious as to why Biarritz is not a good idea. First time camino and still in the planning stage so all info is helpful.
Thanks

 

[piogaw]

Hi Tyrrek. Just curious as to why Biarritz is not a good idea. First time camino and still in the planning stage so all info is helpful.
Thanks

Hello karen,

Biarritz is not a good idea because there are no good transportation links to go to leon from biarritz. It is good for going to saint jean pied de port or pamplona.

Madrid has both good train and bus connections to leon.

Buen camino.

 

[karenfromcali]

Hello karen,

Biarritz is not a good idea because there are no good transportation links to go to leon from biarritz. It is good for going to saint jean pied de port or pamplona.

Madrid has both good train and bus connections to leon.

Buen camino.

Oh I see. Thanks for clarifying

 

[yogaflowjo]

Thanks everyone... and special thanks to piogaw... bingo, problem solved. I can fly to Madrid, and train to Leon ... now why didn't I think of that!! That's what makes this forum so wonderful and helpful, the local knowledge certainly helps us who are so far away. Thanks again (and good luck Karen!)

 

[whariwharangi]

Here is Aena link. Aena operates all airports in Spain.
http://www.aena-aeropuertos.es/csee/Satellite/aeropuertos/en/

Find at the top left a link to Airport Network
http://www.aena-aeropuertos.es/csee...s/en/Page/1237548207921//Airport-Network.html

Using the Aena website, you can find information about each airport including which airlines fly there and destinations they connect to.

My suggestion is that you fly to Madrid then take the train to Leon. Easyjet flies to Madrid from London and is relatively low cost. There are several trains that pass through Leon from Madrid Chamartin. Leon is a train hub. Time is variable from 3 to 5 hours.

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

Probably the next best option is Bilbao. One bus and one train daily. Here is Bilbao bus station
http://www.termibus.es/index.php?idi=es

Ryanair flies to Santander 3 times per week.
Many buses go from Santander to Leon daily. ALSA:
http://www.alsa.es/portal/site/Alsa?portal.alsa.request.locale=en_GB

 

[tyrrek]

Hi Tyrrek. Just curious as to why Biarritz is not a good idea. First time camino and still in the planning stage so all info is helpful.
Thanks

Hi Karen.

Yes I should have been more specific, and the main reasons have been made very clear by others. The other reasons are that flights to Biarritz leave from Stansted airport while most inter-continental flights arrive at Heathrow, so if Jo isn't planning to stay in London at all she would still have to transfer airports to get to Biarritz, which would take several hours. Many of the flights into Heathrow from Australia, the States and South Africa arrive early morning (around 6am), so by hopping on a plane to Madrid at, say, 9am you can be in Madrid by lunchtime and train to Leon for dinner (I'm thinking with my stomach! ). If the additional flight to Madrid could be added to the original booking it may be cheaper than booking separately, and provide more protection if there were delays and she missed it.

Buen Camino!

 

[fortview]

Not to confuse you... But you can also fly to Asturias from London Stansted, and get the bus to Ovido bus station, and bus or train to Leon from Oviedo. John did this in September, and it was the quickest, cheapest option at the time.
Buen camino, Helen

 

[StuartM]

Not to confuse you... But you can also fly to Asturias from London Stansted, and get the bus to Ovido bus station, and bus or train to Leon from Oviedo. John did this in September, and it was the quickest, cheapest option at the time.
Buen camino, Helen

I did this as well to start the Salvador. Remarkably painless and efficient operation. My first time from Stansted and it was ok.

The flight to Asturias was reasonable priced and the bus system was great compared to the UK. You can change either in Gijon or Oviedo. If you change in Oviedo the bus station is maybe 15-20min walk from the old town or 30min from the Naranco sites if you have a bit of time spare. Bus station in Leon is on the other side of the river, maybe 20min from the big albergue in the convent.

I've thought about going back for a couple of days in Leon and would do Asturias Airport again. It's an easy trip.

I'd say book your bus ticket in advance though. I booked mine the week before I went and got the 2nd last seat. There are regular buses but you dont want too long a layover. Alsa dont accept uk cards online but you can use Paypal instead.

And one more thing, the scenery is amazing, it follows the route of the Camino San Salvador.

 

[jpflavin1]

Jo:

While all the options mentioned above can get you there, I believe your choice to fly from London to Madrid offers the most/best options.

If you check Kayak you will see several London airports offer flights to Madrid. That said, you will probably have to transfer to either Luton, Gatwick or Stansted. You can fly from LHR but that would be the most costly and not a non-stop flight.

Upon arrival in Madrid, you can take a cab to Chamartin station. There are several trains to Leon from Chamartin station (3 hrs.) You can also take a bus, if you prefer, from T4 at the airport. (5 hrs.) I believe the train and bus station are right next to each other in Leon. I have only taken the train. The Albergue is a short walk from the train station (under 10 minutes).

Ultreya,
Joe

 

[karenfromcali]

Hi Karen.

Yes I should have been more specific, and the main reasons have been made very clear by others. The other reasons are that flights to Biarritz leave from Stansted airport while most inter-continental flights arrive at Heathrow, so if Jo isn't planning to stay in London at all she would still have to transfer airports to get to Biarritz, which would take several hours. Many of the flights into Heathrow from Australia, the States and South Africa arrive early morning (around 6am), so by hopping on a plane to Madrid at, say, 9am you can be in Madrid by lunchtime and train to Leon for dinner (I'm thinking with my stomach! ). If the additional flight to Madrid could be added to the original booking it may be cheaper than booking separately, and provide more protection if there were delays and she missed it.

Buen Camino!

Thanks tyrrek

 

[piogaw]

Jo:

While all the options mentioned above can get you there, I believe your choice to fly from London to Madrid offers the most/best options.

If you check Kayak you will see several London airports offer flights to Madrid. That said, you will probably have to transfer to either Luton, Gatwick or Stansted. You can fly from LHR but that would be the most costly and not a non-stop flight.

Upon arrival in Madrid, you can take a cab to Chamartin station. There are several trains to Leon from Chamartin station (3 hrs.) You can also take a bus, if you prefer, from T4 at the airport. (5 hrs.) I believe the train and bus station are right next to each other in Leon. I have only taken the train. The Albergue is a short walk from the train station (under 10 minutes).

Ultreya,
Joe

Hi joe,

If you buy your train ticket at barajas for madrid* to leon (madrid barajas to leon), renfe will throw in the cercania train fare for free from barajas to chamartin station. The cercanias train runs frequently. It is not worth it to spend the extra money to take a taxi from barajas to chamartin station. It does not get you to chamartin any faster.

 

[yogaflowjo]

Thanks everyone ... Have it all sorted, Madrid it is .. So grateful to you all .