Transportation

[Runnergirl]

My two friends and I are flying to Paris from Canada at the end of April and would like to immediately travel to ST-Jean-pied-Du Port to begin our journey. I would like to know what is the best way to get to St-Jean-Pied-Du-Port from the Charles De Gaule airport.

[HuskyNerd]

There are two ways and your choice partly depends on your arrival time in Paris CDG.

Option A -- Catch a flight from CDG to Biarritz (BIQ); transfer from Biarritz to the train station at Bayonne (just a few miles); take the train from Bayonne to St. Jean. EasyJet flies from CDG to Biarritz for only $60, but there are only 2 departures each day -- 07:00 and 18:30. The 18:30 arrival gets you into Biarritz in time for the 21:09 St. Jean train, so you'll probably want to book a hotel in St Jean in advance so you know where you'll be staying.

Option B -- Catch a train from CDG or downtown Paris to Bayonne; transfer to the St. Jean train. Again, this depends on your arrival time in CDG. If it's a late arrival, there's a 23:11 sleeping train from Paris (Austerlitz) to Bayonne that allows an 08:18 connection to St. Jean the next day. FYI a good source for train connections/tickets is www.raileurope.com. I believe they only sell tickets 90 days out, however, so you can't buy your tickets just yet. Perhaps that's possible on the SNCF : Voyage, Transports et Logistique site, but I doubt it at this early date.

Either way your arrival at Bayonne should be before the last train departs for St. Jean PDP at 21:09. BTW, it's nice to spend a couple of hours walking the streets of St. Jean, so to me the optimal arrival time there is around noon. This allows for a visit to the pilgrim office, a nice meal, a meander through the touristy shops, the lighting of a candle at the church, and a stop by the grocery store and bank for last minute items.

Hope this helps. Buen camino.

[HuskyNerd]

Note that the 21:09 train to St Jean doesn't run every day of the week. Check online for availability.