With 10 to 12 days for walking...

Deacon Harbey Santiago said:

...if you were planning to do El Camino del Norte, where would you start? To which Spanish airport would you book your tickets? How would you get to your starting point?

Planing to do about 200km of the Camino this September on a religious pilgrimage and have to decide between North or Frances.

"Viva Cristo Rey!!"
DHS

Click to expand...

Hola Deacon!! I'm still thinking Primitivo...but may wind up doing the del Norte also. Where are you flying from? For us...on the east coast of the US...We're gonna fly into Barcelona this time ($$$!!) and then grab Vueling to Oviedo. Then afterwards, SdC to Barcelona again and home. Still brings out total round trip fare to just under $1,000 bucks. Which is pretty good I think.

Hola DHS. If you can fly into Asturias airport (between Oviedo and Gijon) you can get the bus or FEVE to Ribadeo. FEVE would depend on flight times as there are only 2 trains per day, but buses are more frequent. An alternative would be the same airport and then bus to a starting point on the Primitivo. Anywhere as far as Grandas de Salime from that side. Buses to Fonsagrada go from Lugo, which also involves taking the Lugo bus from SDC, useful if that is your chosen airport. Note that no publc transport of any sort (apart from taxis) runs between Grandas and Fonsagrada in either direction and it is approx 25kms so you need to decide the starting point you want to reach by bus then decide on the airport if taking this option.
Choices, choices..........
Buen Camino

Is it important that you arrive in Santiago? The reason I ask is that the first two weeks of the Norte, starting in Irun are a great walk, with many variations in scenery, including mountains, valleys, along ridges, beaches, small town, cities, etc. You could fly to Biaritz, and take the bus from the airport then three stops on the Feve takes you to Irun. You could also fly to Santander and Bilbao. The easiest option would be to fly into Biaritz and back from Santander, if the airlines are compatible.