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Wow Laurie, Lots of great thoughts there for me to consider. I appreciate you taking the time to "lay" this out for me in easy terms. Since I have a few months before I really should book my flights I will ponder your ideas and keep you posted on what seems to be the best. In the meantime, I wonder what the effect would be to keep my return date open to allow more flexibility verses selecting a date then needing to change it...Hi, Ed,
Until very recently, nearly all North American pilgrims started in Roncesvalles and it was easy to get from Pamplona to Roncesvalles by bus. So landing in Spain made the most sense. Madrid to Pamplona is an easy flight, train, or bus ride. Now that people want to start in St. Jean, it has gotten more complicated. A few years ago, a bus company started a Pamplona-St. Jean route, but that bus only runs from June-Sept (I think). Outside of those months, you're stuck with sharing a taxi.
Iberia or one of its union-busting spin offs, Air Nostrum or Iberia Express, is the only airline flying from Madrid into Pamplona (I think). Delta isn't partners with Iberia, so I don't know how their pricing will work, but you should price your RT ticket this way -- US to Madrid to Pamplona, and then Santiago (if you want to try to fly back) to Madrid to US. This is called an open jaw ticket, and usually you cannot do this online. So you will have to call for help. Or do a RT US-Madrid and then just price the short segments separately, but that is almost always more expensive.
There is no one answer that works best for everyone, but as you go through the pricing, you obviously have to weigh in more than just the flight to Madrid or Paris. Remember, if you fly into Paris, too, though it may be quicker and cheaper to get to St. Jean, it is likely to be much more expensive to get back to Paris from Santiago than it costs to get to Madrid from Santiago.
It isn't too complicated to compare the costs of paris to St. Jean and Santiago to Paris against Madrid to ST. Jean and Santiago to Madrid. For information on prices and schedules, for some reason the German train website seems to give the best info on European trains generally. http://www.bahn.com/i/view/index.shtml
This is kind of complicated -- oh for the good old days when we had travel agents who did this for us! Happy to try to help as you work your way through this, Laurie
I will take a look at this. Thank you!!!Take a look at flying into Bilbao, some flights are cheaper to here versus Pamplona or Biarritz, if you're willing to deal with trains and buses to SJPDP, it was cheaper for me to fly to Bilbao from Lisbon compared to other places people fly into to start their Camino.
Thank you Falcon. I will take a look at this as well. Appreciate your reply....This also has merits....Iberia, British Airways, and American Airlines code share (BA now owns Iberia), and JFK is one of their hubs, so consider JFK to Pamplona, Santiago to JFK. I think you will find that it is faster and cheaper than trying to combine planes, trains, and buses.
Sheesh. AA Is $3000 one way to Pamplona.....R/T to Madrid was $1100 on Delta for comparison....Did I say "Sheesh"?Iberia, British Airways, and American Airlines code share (BA now owns Iberia), and JFK is one of their hubs, so consider JFK to Pamplona, Santiago to JFK. I think you will find that it is faster and cheaper than trying to combine planes, trains, and buses.
Yes that is good to know!! Thank you.Just one thing to add to Una's comments, which you may already know. It's really a risk to book a separate Santiago to Madrid flight and hope that it gets you to the airport in time for your flight from Madrid. If the flight is late and you miss the connection, that's your problem and you are at the mercy of the airlines (this has happened to my husband, and he just basically had to buy another ticket, lost the whole amount). BUT, if you book your Santiago-Madrid-home ticket all as one ticket, then if the Santiago flight is late, the airlines will accommodate you and get you on the next available flight, no cost to you, it's not your fault.
For most flights leaving from Madrid for the US, the departure time is 1 pm or earlier. That means a flight at 9 or 10 from Santiago to Madrid should get you there on time, but you never know.
Laurie
Thank you Unadara. High speed train sounds like fun!!I flew from Santiago to Madrid, can be very cheap, many queued for the popular night bus to Madrid but it was way more expensive. You would have to have the Santiago-Madrid leg booked to meet your outgoing flight to JFK. Also American friends were on United and had flown via Dublin, Ireland (MY country) and on to Madrid/Pamplona. (They got a train to from Madrid by choice to see High speed in Spain). And went back Santiago/Madrid/USA (can't remember which airport).
Thank you so much!You don't say what time you arrive, but there are buses to Pamplona at 10:45, 11:15, 13:15, and 15:15, leaving from T4 at the airport. If you don't arrive in T4, you can take an intra-airport bus from your arrival terminal to T4.
Once you're in Pamplona, you can get a bus to St. Jean, There is one bus a day, at 2:00 pm. Service will stop at the end of September for the year, so you are lucky! Buen camino, Laurie
I plan to start my Camino end May 2014 after flying from JFK to Madrid to Pamplona and then bus to SJPDP (I guess that bus is the best way to get to SJPDP) then return via train from Santiago to Madrid and fly Madrid to JFK. Does this sound like a good way to get there and back? I will be flying Delta into/out off Madrid from JFK. What airlines take me to Pamplona and is busing from there to SJPDP best?
I looked at the cost of roundtrip JFK to Paris and it as about $300 more than Madrid on Delta. I notice that very few Pilgrims seem to get to SJPDP thru Madrid and go thru Paris instead. Just wondering why....
Thank you and responses very much appreciated.....
Ed
First of all, thank you for the reply. I had not thought of going thru London but will NOW take a look at that option!!!!Did you consider flying from JFK to London and then flying with RyanAir or EasyJet to Biarritz? You'll likely need to transfer between airports in London (there are 4) and that is expensive. There are flights from Santiago to London. In my view this routing is the least complicated.
You don't say what time you arrive, but there are buses to Pamplona at 10:45, 11:15, 13:15, and 15:15, leaving from T4 at the airport. If you don't arrive in T4, you can take an intra-airport bus from your arrival terminal to T4.
Once you're in Pamplona, you can get a bus to St. Jean, There is one bus a day, at 2:00 pm. Service will stop at the end of September for the year, so you are lucky! Buen camino, Laurie
If your hotel is downtown Madrid, take the bus from there rather than returning to the airport. The bus to SJPdP leaves from the same bus depot that the Madrid bus arrives at. Just go to the correct counter. The information booth will help you with that.
Please confirm. We will be arriving in Madrid on 23 Aug 14, sleeping over at a hotel evening 23 Aug. The next morning we will shuttle back to the terminal (T4) to take a bus to Pamplona and then take a bus to St Jean. Is this still current? And where do we get the bus in Pamplone to St Jean? Has anyone got any costs of the busses? thank you kindly
Please confirm. We will be arriving in Madrid on 23 Aug 14, sleeping over at a hotel evening 23 Aug. The next morning we will shuttle back to the terminal (T4) to take a bus to Pamplona and then take a bus to St Jean. Is this still current? And where do we get the bus in Pamplone to St Jean? Has anyone got any costs of the busses? thank you kindly
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