Travelling to Leon

[ctegart]

My husband and I are planning our first Camino in June 2010. Since we are limited on time and will only have 2 weeks to walk, we decided our starting point would be Leon. Our challenge is how to get there from Calgary Canada. Our thoughts are to fly to Paris and then take the Train, Bus or a combination of both. Any thoughts or ideas on this are welcomed.

Christiana

[renegade_pilgrim]

I would fly into Madrid. It's closest to Leon and probably shouldn't be too hard to bus or train it there.... Paris is too far away from Leon. If you were starting in St Jean, then that might be the place to fly into.

[Catherine]

Hi

Spain has very good train service. You could either fly to Madrid, Santander or Bilbao and you would have no problem getting a train directly from either of these cities to Leon. Choose your train time carefully cause there are standard trains or express trains (which are faster).

Hope this helps and you have a wonderful journey - it's amazing!

Catheirne

[RoK]

ALSA - Hacemos tu viaje m?s f?cil

This website is handy for looking up bus connections. Buses are cheaper and sometimes faster than trains (That's what a spanish pilgrim told me!). If you're flying into Madrid, I'm almost sure there's a bus terminal in Terminal 4 - my bus from Burgos dropped me there so I didn't have to transfer in Madrid city centre somewhere.

[geraldkelly]

The website for trains is Renfe, the express trains only take about 2 and a half hours. If you book on the web you can get fares from about €24.

From the airport in Madrid there's a train link into town which costs €2.

Ger

[miriam]

My wife and I did this last year. Fly Air Canada, Toronto to Madrid, Subway to downtown Madrid for 2 Euros each, cheap Hostel (60 Euros)downtown for one night then ALSA (www.alsa.es) 3 1/2 hour bus to Astorga (2 days walking past Leon), Hostel in Astorga for one night then 10 days of walking to Santiago, 2 days in Santiago then ALSA bus directly back to Madrid, 2 days in Madrid then flight directly back to Toronto. We booked the ALSA bus tickets and the Madrid Hostels on-line in Canada. Buses were great, cheap and comfortable and would highly recommend. We had a great time and I am sure that you will too.

Good Luck
Phil