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ALSA Bus tickets - Pamplona to St Jean

BROWNCOUNTYBOB

Active Member
Time of past OR future Camino
Camino Frances: 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021
This will be our fourth Camino Frances. We're all set regarding air tickets, train ticket Madrid to Pamplona, end of Camino flight Santiago to Madrid, backpack transport reservations, private room reservations. One of the few "to do" items is reserving bus tickets from Pamplona to St Jean (Sept 16). Our first camino, we got up early and walked to the bus station, purchased tickets, then went back to our albergue for breakfast. For our second and third caminos, we purchased bus tickets on line. I searched Camino Forum on this topic and the threads are fairly old. A few said that bus tickets are not available on line until spring. We are just a few days from early May. Does anyone have any information regarding when bus tickets can be purchased on line? Gracias. Bob
 
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Good resource to check: I would go direct to Alsa (bus) website or download the app For direct info.

Other for train/bus info: Check Rome to Rio (app) gives options for type of transport available.
Renfre website or (app)
https://www.rome2rio.com/

shows all forms of available transportation between points For example :


Trainline website or (app) for direct info.

 
Last edited:
There really is no rush on that except I sense you want to nail this last detail down.

As I have to other posters, I suggest contacting the tourist office in Pamplona. I believe, after months of Covid in Spain, that they are very likely to have the best info. I wrote them in English and they responded with accurate info regarding, in my case, the bus from Irun to Pamplona. But this was a few years ago. However, they may tell you it is too early to inquire about the schedule or availability of tickets for your September travel.
 
The one from Galicia (the round) and the one from Castilla & Leon. Individually numbered and made by the same people that make the ones you see on your walk.
Below is slightly old information I wrote for the forum awhile back but generalized anyway. See note #2.

- - - - - -

3.5.1 ALSA/CONDA to St. Jean Pied de Port

The bus service between Pamplona to St. Jean Pied de Port is provided by CONDA, a bus company serving Navarra.

You may see in various place on the web that ALSA is the bus line serving Pamplona to St. Jean and in other places that CONDA is the provider of this service. CONDA is partially owned by ALSA, a larger Spanish bus company (which, in turn, is a subsidiary of the UK company National Express). So whether the bus line is called ALSA or CONDA you get the same schedule, fare and service.

There is daily service from Pamplona to St. Jean when in season and no service at all during the winter months (daily includes Sundays and holidays.) For 2018 the season of service was from March 3 to October 21. During the season extra trips are added and removed depending on historical demand.

The trip takes one hour and 45 minutes and costs 22€.

Roughly the ALSA/CONDA schedule has been:

Jan No service
Feb No service
Mar 14:30
Apr 14:30 17:30
May 14:30 17:30
Jun 10:00 14:30 17:30
Jul 10:00 12:00 14:30 17:30
Aug 10:00 12:00 14:30 17:30
Sep 10:00 14:30 17:30
Oct 14:30 17:30
Nov No service
Dec No service

The ALSA website in English is at URL https://www.ALSA.es/en/ and the CONDA schedules are incorporated there. Besides getting the schedule CONDA tickets can be bought online ahead of time from the ALSA website as well.

Note 1: When using the ALSA website to book transportation to St. Jean Pied de Port you must spell out St. in full as Saint or the town will not be found.

Note 2: ALSA does not load its full schedule into the website all at once. I think they publish the schedule only for the next two months. This means that if you try to book a trip through the website for a date later in the year (e.g., trying to book an October 2019 trip in July 2019) the schedule may not be found. This also means that during the winter months the website will make it look as if there is no service at all.

Note 3: ALSA may refuse to accept non-Spanish issued credit cards. In that case the tickets can be paid for using PayPal. Alternatively they could be bought from a reseller.

Note 4: CONDA has a webpage with a schedule. Do not trust this schedule. The last time I checked it had the 2015 schedule. When the webpage is served up it is labelled at the bottom with the date that the webpage was served (not the creation date or date of validity) thus making the information appear to be current. This page is at http://www.CONDA.es/eventos.php?tipo=3&id=438 See appendix xxx below.

Note 5: The ALSA/CONDA website can be used to buy a Pamplona to St. Jean ticket or a Roncevalles to St. Jean ticket but you cannot buy a ticket for just the Pamplona to Roncevalles portion of the trip. The Artieda bus company has the license for that.

Suggestion:

During the months of July and August I suppose you could take Artieda's coach in the morning (see below) to visit Roncevalles and then later connect to St. Jean through CONDA's service from Roncevalles. So, if you are a slow hiker and cannot walk from SJPdP to Roncevalles before dark, you still will have had time to see Roncevalles the day before.
 
Thanks for the suggestions. I've tried many, various websites and am not able to make reservations. I'm guessing it is too soon to purchase tickets for September. I'll try again when we get closer. We will spend one night in Pamplona, so if necessary can walk to the bus station and purchase the day before the trip to St Jean. Bob
 
This will be our fourth Camino Frances. We're all set regarding air tickets, train ticket Madrid to Pamplona, end of Camino flight Santiago to Madrid, backpack transport reservations, private room reservations. One of the few "to do" items is reserving bus tickets from Pamplona to St Jean (Sept 16). Our first camino, we got up early and walked to the bus station, purchased tickets, then went back to our albergue for breakfast. For our second and third caminos, we purchased bus tickets on line. I searched Camino Forum on this topic and the threads are fairly old. A few said that bus tickets are not available on line until spring. We are just a few days from early May. Does anyone have any information regarding when bus tickets can be purchased on line? Gracias. Bob
This comment is for the first timers. The bus terminal is underground. Access is through a building at street level that has no markings. I wandered at street level with my GPS telling me I was there but it didn't tell me it was under my feet.
 
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I lobbed in Pamplona in May 2017, walked to the bus station purchased the tickets to SJPDP and away I went. Who wants to stress about planning just go with the flow.
 
This will be our fourth Camino Frances. We're all set regarding air tickets, train ticket Madrid to Pamplona, end of Camino flight Santiago to Madrid, backpack transport reservations, private room reservations. One of the few "to do" items is reserving bus tickets from Pamplona to St Jean (Sept 16). Our first camino, we got up early and walked to the bus station, purchased tickets, then went back to our albergue for breakfast. For our second and third caminos, we purchased bus tickets on line. I searched Camino Forum on this topic and the threads are fairly old. A few said that bus tickets are not available on line until spring. We are just a few days from early May. Does anyone have any information regarding when bus tickets can be purchased on line? Gracias. Bob
Take a taxi.
 
This will be our fourth Camino Frances. We're all set regarding air tickets, train ticket Madrid to Pamplona, end of Camino flight Santiago to Madrid, backpack transport reservations, private room reservations. One of the few "to do" items is reserving bus tickets from Pamplona to St Jean (Sept 16). Our first camino, we got up early and walked to the bus station, purchased tickets, then went back to our albergue for breakfast. For our second and third caminos, we purchased bus tickets on line. I searched Camino Forum on this topic and the threads are fairly old. A few said that bus tickets are not available on line until spring. We are just a few days from early May. Does anyone have any information regarding when bus tickets can be purchased on line? Gracias. Bob
We bought ours at the bus station just before we left. The was a line of pilgrims and the more tickets you bought together, the cheaper they were. Didn't take long for us to all " become friends" in one big group.
 
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