Spanish trains

[peter4lc]

I am planning to walk from St Jean to Logrono in September. Getting there is not a problem as I am happy to do the journey by train over two days. I plan to fly back from Bilbao but there is only one suitable train from Logrono to Bilbao. It arrives three and a half hours before the flight, so if it is an hour late there shouldn't be a problem even allowing for time to get from the station to the airport, but if it is cancelled then I've had it. Does anyone have any experience of Spanish trains and their reliability?

Also, if I were to decide to return to the UK by train, does anyone know what is the best website? Eurostar website links up with trains to the south of France but apparently not Spain.

 

[Deleted member 3000]

Spanish trains run on time!

 

[Deleted member 3000]

with trains to the south of France but apparently not Spain.

Trains from Barcelona to Toulouse go around the Pyrenees, but trains in the north of Spain do not. That is, if you go through Irun/Hendaye, you have a short walk for connecting trains. The rail gauge is different between Spain and France. From Bayonne/Biarritz you can head north into France.

 

[naplesdon]

The Spanish prefer buses. The bus trip from Logrono to Bilbao is lovely through miles of vineyards and mountains. The bus station in Bilbao is where the shuttle to the airport stops.

 

[Bisnick]

A fantastic website for anything train throughout the world is https://www.seat61.com/ He gives all the tips for each country and his site is always up to date. I always use it for planning my trips.

 

[DirtAmy]

A fantastic website for anything train throughout the world is https://www.seat61.com/ He gives all the tips for each country and his site is always up to date. I always use it for planning my trips.

Second @Bisnick

 

[pjacobi]

To optimize travel for speed, I would recommend high-speed train from major-city to major-city. Then take the local bus to the small town. It your high-speed train trip is longer than 3-4 hours, consider using discount airlines.

All high speed rail in Europe and UK share the same common rail gauge connecting major cities. However, each country, including Spain, has it own legacy rail network network running on incompatible rail gauge. Small towns are often served by older, slower trains on the legacy rail network, running about the same speed as the local bus.

The smaller towns are in the process of connecting to high speed rail, but these projects run at glacier speed. For example, Burgos Spain of 200,000 people was only recently connected to high-speed rail from Madrid, requiring new train tracks and a new train station to support high-speed trains.

In Spain, “AVE” and “Alvia” are high-speed trains. There are high-speed rail map available to help plan the best route.


-Paul

 

[GettingThere]

I am planning to walk from St Jean to Logrono in September. Getting there is not a problem as I am happy to do the journey by train over two days. I plan to fly back from Bilbao but there is only one suitable train from Logrono to Bilbao. It arrives three and a half hours before the flight, so if it is an hour late there shouldn't be a problem even allowing for time to get from the station to the airport, but if it is cancelled then I've had it. Does anyone have any experience of Spanish trains and their reliability?

Also, if I were to decide to return to the UK by train, does anyone know what is the best website? Eurostar website links up with trains to the south of France but apparently not Spain.

Yep, Spanish trains are great - very reliable and well-maintained. Bear in mind though if you're looking at dates and times, September is still a long way off and the timetables won't be all listed yet. Really anything more than 3 months in advance and you'll struggle to find anything. Although looking at trains for similar times and days running now will give you an idea, there may be some different ones running in September.

And buses are also good as others have said - there are often more of those and they run to more places. They can even be quicker, as sometimes they run direct between places when by train you would have to change somewhere.

If you're heading back to the UK from Logrono by train, you would be looking at going to Irun/Hendaye on the border (Hendaye is just on the French side and some Spanish trains go there, others stop at Irun which is just on the Spanish side), then a French train up to Paris and then across Paris to get the Eurostar. Or it's also possible to bypass Paris and pick up the Eurostar in Lille, but you'd have a couple of changes (probably change at Bordeaux) to manage that, and you may have to stop overnight somewhere whichever option you choose. For websites - personally I prefer buying tickets from the train company websites - you need separate tickets for Spain and France anyway, so I tend to buy Spanish tickets from Renfe, French tickets from SNCF, and Eurostar from Eurostar. And I've never had any problems with any of them, although I know some have. That's me though - others prefer to use a third party provider like Trainline which has had good feedback.

Buen Camino!