Starting in Barritz or Pau ??

[skalaerr]

Hi there

I plan to fly into eith of those French towns at the end of May to start the Camino and walk at least to Burgos (where I started the Camino from last time)....does anyone have any information on starting the walk from either of these to places....

or...getting from them to SJPP...

cheers
happy walking
sarah
canada

 

[WolverineDG]

Sarah, to Biarritz, you can fly RyanAir from London Stansted, or if you fly into Paris, you can take Air France from CDG or Orly (the flights leave from either airport). If you go to the Air France website, you can search fares over several days so you can take advantage of the $71 (US) fare.

dg

 

[Ulysse]

From Biarritz/Bayonne airport you can take a bus or a taxi to the train station in Bayonne (15 minutes by taxi). At the train station you take a small "tchoo tchoo" to St JPdeP trough a beautiful valley.

You could also start walking from Bayonne to Hendaye or to St JPdeP, across the Pyrénées and on to Pamplona and Burgos. A good road map is all you need before you reach the Camino Francès.

Buen Camino. Wish I could be there again.

http://www.quicomulysse.com/compostelle.html

 

[bjorgts]

Ryan Air fly to both Biaritz and Pau from London Stansted (at least they did). If you want to start walking from St Jean Pie de Port, I think Biaritz is the easiest, because of the train going straigt from Bayonne to SJPdP.

I will do something in between, because I do not want to cross the Pyrenees the first day. I fly to Biaritz. Take a train from Bayonne for an hour to a town called Orthez, then 6 km taxi. Then I will be in a small village called Arganon, where the camino from Le Puy cross the road between Biaritz and Pau. That will give me four days walking before crossing the mountains.

So I think you can do whatever you like in this area.

 

[Peter Robins]

The coastal route goes right past the airport at Biarritz (tho on the other side from the terminal building); you could use that to go to Hendaye and then the Tunnel route to Burgos. Or you can go into central Bayonne and pick up the route to St Jean or the direct route to Pamplona via the Baztan. The routes in Bayonne officially start at the cathedral though the waymarking does not start until you get out of the town centre.

The GR653 skirts round the N edge of Pau and is only an hour or so's walk from the airport. Either pick it up at Lescar or, if it's a fine day, go into Pau for the famous panorama of the Pyrenees. Follow the GR653 to Oloron, and you can then either continue on it to the Somport and Aragon, or take the GR78 Piemont route to St Jean and Navarre. See Michelin for map of Pau area.

See the maps/route descriptions on the Pyrénées-Atlantiques Amis excellent website http://www.aucoeurduchemin.org/spip/spip.php?page=carte - some further links on mine http://www.peterrobins.co.uk/camino/ though the routes are all rather crammed in together in that part of the world - perhaps I should make a little blow-up.