Walking with my daughter in May starting from St Jean

[Seacloud2]

Flying into Madrid. Plan to stay 2 days in Central Madrid. Would appreciate help in getting to St Jean. Best options. Train? Or Back to airport and take the bus from T-4? Thank you.

 

[KinkyOne]

Flying into Madrid. Plan to stay 2 days in Central Madrid. Would appreciate help in getting to St Jean. Best options. Train? Or Back to airport and take the bus from T-4? Thank you.

Hola!

Either that or check out options re time and price on flight to San Sebastian/Pamplona/Bilbao/Biarritz (all actually very close) and then connections to Bayonne and on to SJPdP: www.rome2rio.com would be your easiest search engine.

Happy planning and Buen Camino!

 

[Monasp]

There is flight from Madrid to Biarritz and after bus to Bayonne and train to SJPP

 

[Deleted member 3000]

Buses transit downtown Madrid even if they depart T-4, so there is no reason to put up with airport security to get a bus; ditto a flight. You will be halfway to Pamplona while you are waiting for a plane. Trains to Pamplona do not leave from the airport, so you have to take a shuttle back to Madrid to get the train. There are buses up to four times per day in walking season that go from Pamplona to SJPdP. Six days a week all year you can catch a bus from Pamplona to Roncesvalles.

The train is most comfortable, but the Pamplona train station is down the hill from the bus station. You can catch a taxi or bus between the two.

 

[Arlene Laskey]

Have a wonderful Camino. I walked the Camino Frances this spring with my daughter and it was an amazing experience.

 

[Seacloud2]

Buses transit downtown Madrid even if they depart T-4, so there is no reason to put up with airport security to get a bus; ditto a flight. You will be halfway to Pamplona while you are waiting for a plane. Trains to Pamplona do not leave from the airport, so you have to take a shuttle back to Madrid to get the train. There are buses up to four times per day in walking season that go from Pamplona to SJPdP. Six days a week all year you can catch a bus from Pamplona to Roncesvalles.

The train is most comfortable, but the Pamplona train station is down the hill from the bus station. You can catch a taxi or bus between the two.

Thank you so much for this information. you have taken a lot of angst out of my travel plans to St Jean.

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

If you take the train to Pamplona take bus line #9 outside the station. It will take you close to the city bus station. You will not see the schedule for the Pamplona to SJPdP ALSA/Conda bus on the ALSA website for a few months because they do not run in the winter but by May there should be two buses a day going to St. Jean. When you use ALSA's interactive site to check on the schedule spell out St. as Saint or the town won't be found.

 

[KerrieG]

Is it necessary to pre book train from Madrid to Pamplona? Or can we be fairly certain of getting a seat on the day?

 

[Leibniz]

Is it necessary to pre book train from Madrid to Pamplona? Or can we be fairly certain of getting a seat on the day?

There will be a huge price difference. Book as soon as you are sure of your plans and you’ll pay much less.

 

[kafnorx]

We are also walking in May, and travelling via Madrid>Pamplona>SJPdP. Train tickets are not yet available on the Renfe website - I suspect they only go up 90 days in advance. Certainly will be cheaper to pre-purchase them once they are online.
It's just occurred to me that we're planning to make our to SJPdP on a Sunday, and somebody above mentioned that buses from Pamplona will be running 6 days a week. Does that mean no bus on a Sunday?

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

It's just occurred to me that we're planning to make our to SJPdP on a Sunday, and somebody above mentioned that buses from Pamplona will be running 6 days a week. Does that mean no bus on a Sunday?

The ALSA/Conda buses to SJPdP will run daily once service starts again in the spring. It is the Artieda bus line to Roncesvalles (but not beyond) that has the no Sunday or holiday service.

 

[KerrieG]

There will be a huge price difference. Book as soon as you are sure of your plans and you’ll pay much less.

Thank you!