Overnight train to Burgos?

[fiona]

Has anyone taken the overnight train to Burgos from Paris? It arrives at about 5.30 in the morning. Is anything open at the station at that time of day? Are there any taxis?

My last Camino finished abruptly and unexpectedly at Tardajos, so it feels right to start from there this time. I was hoping to take a taxi to Tardajos (about 12km) and start walking from there. Will there be any taxis to meet the train? Does about 1euro per km sound like roughly the right amount to budget?

Fiona

 

[gaulsdog]

Fiona,

I have travelled on the Paris to Burgos train twice, as you said it arrives at about 5.30 in the morning.
You will find absolutely nothing opened in the station.
It is a new station only opened about 2 years, it is about 3 or 4 kilometers outside the town.
I never got a taxi but I have always seen at least one their.
I always started walking from the station and never seen anything opened in burgos at that time in the morning either.

Nickie

 

[fiona]

Nickie - Thank you!

If I end up walking from the station, is it easy to find the route into Burgos? On Googlemap it looks like you have to walk on a dual carriageway for a while. Should I just head south and hope for the best? At some point that should intersect the Camino (somewhere between the airport and the cathedral?).

Fiona

 

[gaulsdog]

Good evening Fiona,

It is a very straight forward walk from the train station into Burgos.
When you leave the station turn right down the dual carriageway trying to cross to the other side as soon as possible before the traffic gets heavy.
Continue past the petrol station and the new hospital, when you get to the underpass go to the roundabout on top and turn left, carry down this street, you will need to cross to the other side and when you reach Ave de Los Reyes Catolicos turn right and this will take you to Plaza de Espana and from their it is easy to find the cathedral.

In 2009 when I left the station I walked to Hornillos del Camino that day and I did not find a cafe opened until reached Villalbilla.

Beaun Camino

Nickie

 

[frasert]

Hi Guys is that a direct train from paris and if so how long does it take?

 

[jirit]

Hi Fiona

I did the overnight train from Burgos to Paris back in June 2011. A couple of things to consider:

There is a local bus that runs from the "far out of the way" train station in Burgos into the centre and it runs frequently enough that you can spend the evening in Burgos having dinner, sightseeing before catching the local bus back to the train station in order to catch your overnight train to Paris. Yeah!

There is nothing to do at the Burgos train station, almost nothing to eat and I place one should not spend anytime waiting around. Did I mention it is miles away from anything? Hmmmm.

This said, my overnight train ran late than evening - like almost an hour late if I remember correctly!
So I headed up waiting around in the train station late in the evening for more than hour with nothing to do, trying to rest on the stiff chairs, and finally catching the train sometime before midnight I believe.

Worse the same train was then late getting into Paris - by 1 1/2 hours!!
So do not plan any tight connections just in case!

Do I plan to take the overnight train again from Burgos to Paris?
Nope

 

[peregrina2000]

I also took the trenhotel once from Burgos to Paris. You've already got a good description of the desolation of the station's location, it is really pretty awful.

I had a "bed" in one of those little rooms with two on top two on bottom. The ride itself was fine. I had a plane to catch in CDG and remember talking at night on the train with a Spanish woman who rode this train frequently, and she said something along the lines of -- I hope you have built in a lot of time because this train is often very late. Well, I hadn't, so I spent a few hours worrying before falling asleep. Lucky for me, the train was right on time, and the Air France bus right outside the station whisked me out to the airport with no delays or problems.

Had I know about the frequent delays I probably wouldn't have used this particular option! I assume that if it's late in one direction, it's late in another. But maybe arriving into Burgos a few hours later would just make for a more civilized arrival time and wouldn't cause the same problems as in the other direction.