Madrid to Conques?

[ziggy007]

Hi Everyone!

I was wondering if someone knew the best way to get from Madrid to Conques? I am planning on arriving in Madrid on Monday, Aug 13th.

I am choosing Madrid because it is cheaper roundtrip and also easier when returning from Santiago...

Thank you all!!!

Buen Camino!!!!!!

 

[peregrina2000]

I'm not really an expert, but I have had to get home from Conques, so I'll take a stab.

The only place you can get to Conques from by public transportation is Cahors. There is a bus, once a day, or maybe twice. From Cahors, you can get to Toulouse by train.

So, turning that around, I'd say the best option, or at least one option, is to get from Madrid to Toulouse. Easyjet does a non-stop flight that was around $100 on the several random days I checked. Then from Toulouse, train to Cahors, then bus to Conques. This may take a while, but both Cahors and Toulouse have things to see and do if you have a layover.

Buen camino, and good luck with this, Laurie

 

[KiwiNomad06]

From Conques you can get out to railway stations at either Rodez or at St Christophe-something or other. (I know this as I left Conques with a foot injury in April.)

The bigger station of these two is Rodez. You can get there from Conques via the morning bus that services the school children. There is also a bus station next to the railway station at Rodez, and I used this to catch a bus to get to Montauban which is a large city and connects to all kinds of places including Toulouse. The buses to Montauban seemed to be more frequent than the trains.

There is a taxi service that connects with the St Christophe station which is closer to Conques than Rodez is.

I guess you might then find that the easiest place to aim for would be Rodez- but you are likely to need a taxi connection onwards to Conques. You might also need to transfer between a few buses and trains to get there.
Margaret

 

[peregrina2000]

Hi, Margaret, I had a brain freeze and said Cahors instead of Rodez. Thanks for clarifying. I remember taking the school bus from Conques to Rodez, and from there a train to Toulouse. I didn't know about this St. Christophe option.

I'm surprised to learn that the transportation in and out of Conques hasn't gotten any better with the increase in pilgrims.

Might Ziggy be able to use the school bus taking the kids home from Rodez to Conques instead of a taxi?

Sorry to have misspoken. Buen camino, Laurie

 

[KiwiNomad06]

I guess it would be possible to take the school bus home- but the tricky thing would be to find out when it left Rodez- and to make sure you arrived there in time for it, and on a day that it ran... As I only went in the direction leaving Conques, I am not sure when that might be.

There is actually some other pilgrim transport out of Conques now- one of the baggage transport companies does a run that a lot of people were using to get back to Le Puy etc where they had started from and left their cars. I can't quite recall all the places you could go using that, but I think you could also get to Figeac, and possibly even Cahors- but it ran around 1pm or so, too late in the day for me to get further south to Moissac in the one day. I presume it also leaves from Figeac to come to Conques, but I suspect it would be too early in the day for someone coming from Madrid, unless you stayed a night in Toulouse beforehand.
Margaret

 

[ziggy007]

Thank you all!!! So I guess Madrid to Toulouse to St. Christophe or Rodez to Conques sounds best.

Buen Camino!!!