My first Camino....

[sark]

Doing my first Camino April/May 2018...In the process of booking my travel arrangements from Toronto to St. Jean Pied de Port....Need help, suggestions how to get to St. Jean Pied de Port from Toronto Canada....Thanks

 

[mspath]

Doing my first Camino April/May 2018...In the process of booking my travel arrangements from Toronto to St. Jean Pied de Port....Need help, suggestions how to get to St. Jean Pied de Port from Toronto Canada....Thanks

Check out various travel possibities in English on www.Rome2Rio.com.
Happy planning and Buen camino!

 

[Rick M]

Welcome to the forum!

Lots of ways to do it. You need to pick a euro gateway city. From Toronto, you have a few choices, London, Paris, Madrid are all popular. I like Paris, but see what prices look like elsewhere on the days you are going.

From Paris, you have two choices. Catch a connecting flight to Biarritz (BIQ) either from CDG, or take a RER train or the shuttle bus to Orly - the other Paris airport. There are more flights to BIQ out of Orly than CDG. From BIQ, you can take a city bus (1/2 hour) to Bayonne and pick up the SJPP train, or you can book Express Bourricot that operates a shared ride service to SJPP. The train is cheaper of course, but the shared ride is the easiest.

Alternatively, (and my favorite) catch a train from Paris to Bayonne, connecting to SJPP. I recommend a few days stay over in Paris if your budget can handle it, its a city not to be missed if you've never been there. AFter a day or two visiting Notre Dame and the other sights, catch a TGV train from Montparnasse station to SJPP via Bayonne. Cheap and fast. If a stayover doesn't fit the schedule or the budget, you can catch a train to SJPP directly from CDG, but its a LONG travel day. Best place to figure out the SNCF (French) train system and buy train tickets in Canada is trainline.eu.

Buen Camino!

 

[Jo Jo]

Rick M.'s suggestions are good, and I prefer coming in through France.

The only other way to to fly into Spain somewhere, and take train or bus to Pamplona. We've done it from Madrid (sometimes, cheaper flights). We ended up staying overnight in the big parochial alburgue in Pamplona (gorgeous) because we missed the late bus to SJPP by about a half hour (all buses and trains in Spain and France are quite punctual--it was just the schedules did not mesh). Bus leaves from one of the airport terminals (that's what we took); train is faster, but you have to take the subway to the train station (doable, but it makes both options basically about the same time). From Pamlona there is a bus to SJPP (in the summer I think they add a morning bus) or taxi (expensive unless split several ways), or even an Alburgue just below Roncevalles that will pick you up (too expensive for me when I looked into it, but others on the forum love it)).

Buen Camino,
Jo Jo

 

[Canuck60]

Doing my first Camino April/May 2018...In the process of booking my travel arrangements from Toronto to St. Jean Pied de Port....Need help, suggestions how to get to St. Jean Pied de Port from Toronto Canada....Thanks

Good day fellow Canadian, when we walked in September 16 we flew Ottawa to Toronto then onto Barcelona. Took the train from airport to Sants station, then train to Pamplona(5hrs). We arrived in Pamplona in the evening, slept there and took the bus to SJPDP the next morning. We started our walk the next day. We left Ottawa Friday at supper time and arrived in Pamplona Saturday 8pm local time.

 

[Deleted member 39850]

I went Toronto to Bordeaux and then the train from there to Bayonne-> SJPDP . Flew KLM with short layover in Schiphol/Amst to a "City Hopper" flight that took me to Bordeaux. It was very comfortable. The trip home was train back to Bordeaux from Santiago with layover in Irún. KLM can be quite modestly priced, but the flight never feels that way.
Spouse likely to fly to Barcelona ->Pamplona this summer and then take the bus. I try to avoid buses and didn't want to see where I would be walking in advance of getting there (in case of made me chicken out).
Ultriea!

 

[Kurt5280]

If you have frequent flyer miles you can fly from home right into Biarritz Airport...take Express Bourricot to SJpdP to start your Camino...again if you have frequent flyer miles you can fly right from the Santiago Airport back home...the particular airlines do not matter as long as you get to your destination and home...but I do know that Star Alliance has flights to and from Toronto and that was a conection choice from Denver...however you will to book advanced overnight reservations in SJPdP and Santiago.

 

[C clearly]

I paid regular money to fly Air France from Toronto to Biarritz one year! It's a good choice.

 

[mohoward]

Hi, I was really nervous about my first camino last May so I wanted to take (what was for me) the easiest and least stressful way to get to SJPdP. I flew from Toronto to Paris, then took a bus directly from the airport (Bus Direct) to Montparnasse Train Station. I had already bought a train ticket (IDTGV--go on French site for a better price) from Paris to Bayonne from home and had allotted way too much time (but I was nervous that if the flight was late, I'd miss my train, so gave myself lots of extra time, because I am pretty neurotic--my flight arrived at 8:30 am but I bought a 2:30 train ticket--just in case haha!--I spent a couple of hours just walking around the city near the station-didn't go too far, knowing how easily I get lost!)

I think the train ride was about 7 hours (?) and it was great--I think I slept most of the way. Then I stayed in Bayonne overnight at the Hotel Cote Basque, which is located directly across from the train station (again, which made everything easy). It's a nice little hotel with a very friendly receptionist!

I could have gone directly to SJPdP, but decided to stay overnight in Bayonne, just to get "un-jet-lagged" and relax. The next morning, I took the 11 am train to SJPdP and spent the day there roaming around and being nervous, watching all the people who looked so comfortable and happy and chatty. By the end of the day, I'd met someone and ended up looking like one of those happy and chatty people!

Woke up the next morning and started walking. If I were to do it again, I might not bother to spend a whole day in SJPdP and would start walking immediately, but I was nervous and wanted to take it all slow--trying to force myself to relax.

Best trip of my life! You will love it. Absolutely amazing. Enjoy.