From Madrid to SJPDP... the plot thickens

[myslinky]

Hey everyone,

for three years now i have been reading this forum, anxiously waiting for the University to be over so i too can join all of you on the Camino. now, finally, i can :-)

so,I am landing in Madrid march 10th, at about 10:30 Am.
have a connection flight to Pamplona leaving 16:30, which is already booked, but could easily be canceled.

spoken to Caroline of express bourricot, and she says they only begin their pickups to SJ march 20th.
so... my question is:

is Madrid-Pamplona-SJ still reasonable, considering carolines vacation and my time table, or should i go for Madrid-Sj somehow? if anyone suggests the latter, i would greatly appreciate any ideas as to how i should do it, and especially, can it be done in time to arrive in SJ the same day..

cheers, Yoav

[HuskyNerd]

Hi Yoav and welcome to the Forum ~
You can do SJPP if you have $s to make it work. Here are some ideas:

1) Fly to San Sebastian from Madrid on Iberia 8516, leaving 15:35 and arriving 16:35. Take a cab the 55 kms to the Bayonne train station in time for the 18:11 train to SJPP

2) If you're willing to gamble on connections, try the Iberia 8316 which leaves MAD at 11:30 and arrives in San Sebastian at 12:30. Dash again from the airport to the train station for the 1:24 train to Hendaye, which gets you to the Hendaye-Bayonne connection in time for the 3:05 train to SJPP. Less expensive, but you'll be in a scramble to make these connections.

3) For the same price (or less) as changing your tickets and dashing about on trains you could keep your Pamplona ticket and take a city cab for the 48 kms to Roncesvalles, skipping SJPP. A person could argue that weather is iffy over the Route Napoleon in early March anyway and that starting at Roncesvalles takes the guesswork out of that day's journey.

FYI to figure this out on your own (except the taxi part) sites that are helpful are Cheap flights | Free flight comparison from Skyscanner.net and www.raileurope.com.

Hope this helps. Buen camino!

[myslinky]

Hi Huskynerd,

thank you ery much for taking the time to work everything out, as you did.
it's definitely food for thought.
as for option 3, which i believe you recommended, i must tell you - i'm having a hard time giving up on SJPP.
it's my imaginary starting point for years now:-)
won't i be missing something, knowing i didn't begin my journey at the "beginning"? + i hear SJPP is beautiful...
yoav

[HuskyNerd]

Absolutely -- SJPP is a treasure. I'll be arriving there in mid-May to begin this year's camino adventure myself. For non-Spaniards it's definitely the traditional starting point, given Paulo Coelho's and Hape Kerkeling's books, among many others. If you can make it work you should definitely do it!