Finisterre to Porto or Madrid

[minaleigh]

Hey everyone!

My friend and I are doing the Camino Frances through June and getting done around the first half of July. He's already in Spain teaching English, so when his school year is done, we will start our journey. I bought a one way ticket because I wasn't sure how long I would be gone and other plans haven't finalized. Now we're looking at return flights between July 7th and 14th, and just picking the one that's the cheapest. As I was researching, I noticed a lot of flights from Madrid stopped in Porto in Portugal. I saw that Porto is about half the distance from Finisterre as Madrid is and the flights are a bit cheaper. Has anyone done this route? I just figure it could give us a little more leeway when it comes to making it to the airport. Any suggestions?

One more thing. How many buses go from Finisterre back to Santiago a day? I assume that they don't really go directly to Portugal as it's not that big of a town. I'm just wondering that if we miss a bus, will we be waiting a long time to catch the next one.

Thanks in advance! This forum has been a huge asset with our research.

 

[mspath]

Hi Minaleigh,

Welcome to the Forum!

Indeed, no bus goes direct from Finisterre to Porto. You must change buses and lines in Santiago.

For bus times from Finisterre to Santiago see Monbus.

For buses from Santiago to Porto see Alsa. Be sure to mark your Alsa request as International.

You will find many helpful tips in the Forum topic Finisterre/Muxia.

Happy research and Buen camino!
Margaret Meredith

 

[whariwharangi]

Empresa Monforte (Monbus) provides bus service from Fisterra to Santiago

3300 Santiago to Porto and Lisboa

Note: Portugal and Spain are in different time zones.

3301 This section describes transportation options from Santiago to Porto and Lisboa

Index 3300
3302 Planes
3303 Trains
3304 Buses

3302 Planes

There are flights from A Coruna to Lisboa.

A Coruña Airport (LCG)
http://www.aena-aeropuertos.es/csee/Satellite/Aeropuerto-A-Coruna/en/

3303 Trains

Renfe operates trains from Santiago to Vigo-Guixar and from Vigo-Guixar to Valenca.

CP Celta operates trains from Vigo-Guixar to Porto.

CP operates regional and national trains from Valenca to Porto and Porto to Lisboa. Station Gare do Oriente is closest to Lisboa airport.

Renfe
http://www.renfe.com/

Comboios de Portugal (CP) (urban, regional, national, and international train services)
http://www.cp.pt/cp/displayPage.do?vgnextoid=87cbd5abe2a74010VgnVCM1000007b01a8c0RCRD

Porto Campanha is connected to Airport by tram.

3304 Buses

Note: there is no central bus station in Porto.

Monbus provides bus service from Santiago bus station to Vigo bus station.

Autna provides bus service from Vigo bus station to Porto.

Autna has bus stops in Porto at the following locations from South to North:

a. Campo Mártires da Patria, 37
The closest Metro is Estação Sao Bento line D

b. Avda. de los Aliados – McDonald’s
The closest Metro is Estação Sao Bento line D

c. Aeropuerto
Metro line E

Renex operates buses from Porto to Lisboa.

Renex bus stop in Porto is located at Campo Mártires da Patria, 37. The closest Metro is Estação Sao Bento line D.

In Lisboa, Renex operates buses from Gare do Oriente which is co-located with the train station and is the closest station to the airport.

Rede Expressos operates buses from Porto to Lisboa.

Rede Expresso point of sale (and bus stop) in Porto is located Garagem Atlantico Rua Alexandre Herculano, 366 4000 Porto. The closest Metro is Estação Sao Bento line D.

In Lisboa, Rede Expressos operates buses from from Sete Rios bus station.

ALSA provides bus service from Santiago to Lisboa with stop at Casa de Musica in Oporto.

Monbus
http://www.monbus.es/index2.htm

Autna
http://www.autna.com/es/

Renex
http://www.renex.pt/

Rede Expressos
http://www.rede-expressos.pt/

ALSA
https://www.alsa.es/en/home

Links checked March 2015

 

[willydp]

Thanks for the question and the replies.
Was thinking to take the train to Porto and the plane back to Belgium after my CF next year.
This is already a part of my preparation
So I can visit a piece of Portugal and getting prepared (mindset) going home.

 

[minaleigh]

I wish I could look at times and get tickets now. Apparently they do things a little differently and not let you buy your tickets even a few months in advance. I could buy the ticket for my train home here in the States already, but I'll have to wait for them to release their sales in Spain.

 

[minaleigh]

Also, checking rome2rio, it says the bus leaves Fisterre for Santiago five times a day, but clicking on Monbus, there are only three available times for the date I'm thinking of. It also says three times a day from Santiago to Braga, but clicking on Alsa's website only shows one departure time. I've tried other routes like through Vigo, but times don't match up. Am I looking too far in advance? I'm trying the 7th of July.

 

[whariwharangi]

Also, checking rome2rio, it says the bus leaves Fisterre for Santiago five times a day, but clicking on Monbus, there are only three available times for the date I'm thinking of. It also says three times a day from Santiago to Braga, but clicking on Alsa's website only shows one departure time. I've tried other routes like through Vigo, but times don't match up. Am I looking too far in advance? I'm trying the 7th of July.

I'm finding 5 buses leaving Fisterra to Santiago a random day next week. So it might be to early to rely on the schedule for July.

I don't understand the issue for the bus to Porto. Monbus goes from Santiago every hour ... 11 times per day arriving at Vigo at the half hour. The Autna bus leaves Vigo to Porto 4 times per day on the hour ... so if you leave Santiago on the right timing you get a half hour layover in Vigo ...

Renfe service between Santiago and Vigo is also frequent. There shouldn't be a problem matching a scheduled departure from Vigo to Porto.

It is definitely too early to rely on ALSA schedule. Monbus and Autna don't usually change much but ALSA changes its international schedules frequently to adjust to anticipated traffic.

You could try purchasing Renfe tickets from Petrabax, which is Renfe International Sales Point in USA.

Rome2Rio is an excellent website for reconnoitering possible transportation options. Its not a service provider. You need to see Service Provider information for accurate scheduling.

 

[peregrina2000]

Hey everyone!

My friend and I are doing the Camino Frances through June and getting done around the first half of July. He's already in Spain teaching English, so when his school year is done, we will start our journey. I bought a one way ticket because I wasn't sure how long I would be gone and other plans haven't finalized. Now we're looking at return flights between July 7th and 14th, and just picking the one that's the cheapest. As I was researching, I noticed a lot of flights from Madrid stopped in Porto in Portugal. I saw that Porto is about half the distance from Finisterre as Madrid is and the flights are a bit cheaper. Has anyone done this route? I just figure it could give us a little more leeway when it comes to making it to the airport. Any suggestions?

One more thing. How many buses go from Finisterre back to Santiago a day? I assume that they don't really go directly to Portugal as it's not that big of a town. I'm just wondering that if we miss a bus, will we be waiting a long time to catch the next one.

Thanks in advance! This forum has been a huge asset with our research.

Hi, minaleigh,
I don't think any flights from Santiago to Madrid stop in Porto, so I'm not sure where you saw that. If you want to fly from Santiago to Porto, you're going to have to change planes, either in Madrid or Barcelona, so that wouldn't seem to make much sense.

But you may find cheaper flights home from Porto, in which case you could take a train or bus to Porto and then get to the airport. I'm pretty sure there are also some buses from Porto airport to Spain, but it may be to Vigo, so you would have to change again.

There are actually two different bus lines that run between Finnisterre and Santiago. The tourist office only gives people info on the longer route (hugs the coast at least till Muros) because that way you don't have to change buses. But the bus with the change is a bit shorter and the change is simple. And yes, you're right you will have to go back to Santiago to get much of anywhere from Finisterre.

 

[minaleigh]

Hi, minaleigh,
I don't think any flights from Santiago to Madrid stop in Porto, so I'm not sure where you saw that. If you want to fly from Santiago to Porto, you're going to have to change planes, either in Madrid or Barcelona, so that wouldn't seem to make much sense.

As I was researching, I noticed a lot of flights from Madrid stopped in Porto in Portugal.

I said from Madrid, actually. I was originally going to fly out of Madrid to Chicago, but noticed the flights are a lot cheaper out of Porto, which is closer to Santiago anyways.

But you may find cheaper flights home from Porto, in which case you could take a train or bus to Porto and then get to the airport. I'm pretty sure there are also some buses from Porto airport to Spain, but it may be to Vigo, so you would have to change again.

There are actually two different bus lines that run between Finnisterre and Santiago. The tourist office only gives people info on the longer route (hugs the coast at least till Muros) because that way you don't have to change buses. But the bus with the change is a bit shorter and the change is simple. And yes, you're right you will have to go back to Santiago to get much of anywhere from Finisterre.

Thanks for the info! As I'm doing more research, which still some bus schedules aren't available yet as it's too far out, I'm finding more ways to get from Finisterre to Porto. I knew I had to get to Santiago first. Right now I am looking at Finisterre to Santiago, then to Vigo, and then finally to Porto.

 

[peregrina2000]

I said from Madrid, actually. I was originally going to fly out of Madrid to Chicago, but noticed the flights are a lot cheaper out of Porto, which is closer to Santiago anyways.

Thanks for the info! As I'm doing more research, which still some bus schedules aren't available yet as it's too far out, I'm finding more ways to get from Finisterre to Porto. I knew I had to get to Santiago first. Right now I am looking at Finisterre to Santiago, then to Vigo, and then finally to Porto.

Gotcha. I thought you were saying that flights between Madrid and Santiago stopped in Porto, my mistake. You're saying it's cheaper to fly from Porto to Chicago than from Madrid to Chicago.

The schedules are unlikely to change much from what you see now, so you will have a pretty good idea. And you're right the trains change in Vigo. But you can get a bus straight to the Porto airport to Santiago.

Have you tried the open jaw/multi-city ticket? I always fly through Chicago and I usually go Chicago-Madrid-starting city and then Santiago-Madrid-Chicago. And I find it's not much more expensive than just going into Madrid.

Good luck with the travel arrangements,they are frequently much more complicated than anything else you'll have to do for the month in between. Buen camino, Laurie

 

[whariwharangi]

Gotcha. I thought you were saying that flights between Madrid and Santiago stopped in Porto, my mistake. You're saying it's cheaper to fly from Porto to Chicago than from Madrid to Chicago.

The schedules are unlikely to change much from what you see now, so you will have a pretty good idea. And you're right the trains change in Vigo. But you can get a bus straight to the Porto airport to Santiago.

Have you tried the open jaw/multi-city ticket? I always fly through Chicago and I usually go Chicago-Madrid-starting city and then Santiago-Madrid-Chicago. And I find it's not much more expensive than just going into Madrid.

Good luck with the travel arrangements,they are frequently much more complicated than anything else you'll have to do for the month in between. Buen camino, Laurie

I would add to this the only bus that goes from Porto Airport to Santiago direct is ALSA. ALSA has a limited schedule; right now (March 2016) there is one bus daily.