Traveling to the Start

[Leslie]

Traveling to the Start of the Camino can sometimes be a bit awkward, depending on where you are coming from. Ask for help here, there is often more than one answer to the traveling problem.

I have went using various routes, plane, train and car.

[norske99]

Hello Leslie,

We are six pilgrims who will travel from St Jean Pied de Port to Santiago in May - leave Chicago on Apr 30 or May 1 and fly back on June 1. It seems that there is a train from Pamplona to Roncevalles but not on to St Jean. Flying to Biarritz and taking a train to St Jean Pied de Port looks like the most direct route but costs more and would not be convenient for the return trip. Taking a train from Madrid to Biarritz would eat up a lot of time. Given the time we have available and the distance we want to walk does not allow for much extra time to travel once we arrive in Madrid. Are there some other options that I am missing? Any advice will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[Leslie]

Getting to St Jean is not easy esp for those flying from the US. Many pilgrims start at Roncesvalles because of this. There is no train from Pamplona to Roncesvalles, it is a bus and takes just over an hour generally. A taxi from Roncesvalles to St Jean? This may be a solution.

Perhaps fly to London and from there fly to Biarritz - then when you are finished fly back to London from Santiago - there are many cheap fares from/ to London from both of these airports. This can be done from any main airport in Europe - Paris, Rome, Munich, etc.

One last point - taking a train to Bayonne would not take much longer than a train to Pamplona - it is the same line - and it is maybe one hour more to Bayonne - this is where you want to get off and get the local train to St Jean.

Hope some of this helps.

[norske99]

Thanks for your reply. We really appreciate your blog. After discussing this our team would like to check on hiring someone to drive us from Madrid to St Jean Pied de Port. We think it could be done in 7-8 hours and for a price comparable to six individual tickets on trains and buses. Would you know of a reputable service that we could contact to investigate this?

[Leslie]

sorry I don't have any suggestions for you. However Madrid is a large city and I am sure there must be this kind of mini-bus service somewhere - let me know how you get on.

[stconleths]

When we stayed in Madrid we stayed at Hostal Residencia Marsella C/Pez 19 1 Izda 28004 Madrid (Zona Centro) tel 91 531 47 44 email hostalmarsella@usa.net
we found them to be very helpful in directions and contacts in Madrid, it may be a good place to start in finding someone to drive you from there

[norske99]

Thanks for the suggestions. We have decided to fly from Chicago to Madrid to Pamplona. From there we will take a taxi or bus and taxi to St. Jean Pied de Port. We should arrive late afternoon. This turned out to be the quickest after comparing trains and buses. The flight from Madrid to Pamplona was only an additional $44. We have very good connections returning by flying from Santiago to Madrid to Chicago.