21 days on the Camino: Need wisdom!

[jlocker3]

I will be traveling from the U.S. to Spain in mid-July for Camino de Santiago and have some questions:

1. Where should I fly to if I want to get to Santiago de Compostela in 21 days/ which airport provides the most reliable ground transportation?

2. If I started in Bilbao and was worried about making it to Santiago de Compostela, do buses frequently travel along the Camino that I could hop on? If so, is there any particular stretch of the Camino you would recommend riding in a bus instead of walking?

3. Do trains travel from Santiago de Compostela to Bilbao, Pamplona, and Madrid? Any useful links to book train tickets?

4. Any pearls of wisdom that will help me plan this trip within my allotted 21 day time constraint would be greatly appreciated! Thanks so much!

 

[PANO]

Welcome to the forum, jlocker. Your impatience to join the Camino is common to all peregrinos, but a little browsing on this valuable site would give you ample answers to all your questions.
(1) Madrid, check www.renfe.com/EN/viajeros/ for train schedules
(2) Bilbao, to do what, the Norte or the CF? (bus connections from/to almost all larger villages)
(3) see (1)
(4) Distances, duration of walks, etc. are vastly varied depending on age and fitness of pilgrims. Take the amount of Km/day you are comfortable with and figure it out by means of the list provided at www.caminodesantiago.me/community/resources/“all”-albergues-on-the-camino-frances-in-one-pdf.10/, don't forget a rest day. With 21 days, starting in Leon would be safe.

Have fun in checking out this forum, it will provide everything you need to know in order to have a......
buen camino.

 

[november_moon]

If you do start in Leon, it would be very easy to fly into Madrid and take the train to Leon - this is what we are doing. This trip we arrive in Madrid about 7pm, so we are staying the night and continuing to Leon the next day, but on my last trip to Madrid, my flight arrived mid-morning, in which case it would have been very easy to get the train to Leon that same day.

 

[whariwharangi]

Aena manages airports in spain ... look up your airport and find the ground transport options.
http://www.aena.es/csee/Satellite?pagename=Home&Language=EN_GB

Renfe trains do travel from Santiago to Madrid, Bilbao, and Pamplona.

Renfe
http://www.renfe.com/

21 days and where to start ... Get a map. Figure how much you want to walk every day. Do the arithmetic.

There is no part of the camino that is more or less interesting to walk upon than any other part.

 

[tyrrek]

Yep, check out all the options. Other options on the Frances would be Sahagun or Burgos (if you're feeling fit), both of which are directly accessible by train from Madrid. However you could also do a large part of the Portuguese Camino, for example.

To make sure you aren't pressed for time you can plan to go on to Muxia after Santiago. You would arrive in Santiago after a couple of weeks, so that part of the Camino would be accomplished with time to spare and then go on to Finisterre and/or Muxia depending upon how much time you have left or want to spend in Santiago etc.