Seeking help Madrid to SJPDP please

[HalfDomeOrBust]

I plan to start my Camino end May 2014 after flying from JFK to Madrid to Pamplona and then bus to SJPDP (I guess that bus is the best way to get to SJPDP) then return via train from Santiago to Madrid and fly Madrid to JFK. Does this sound like a good way to get there and back? I will be flying Delta into/out off Madrid from JFK. What airlines take me to Pamplona and is busing from there to SJPDP best?

I looked at the cost of roundtrip JFK to Paris and it as about $300 more than Madrid on Delta. I notice that very few Pilgrims seem to get to SJPDP thru Madrid and go thru Paris instead. Just wondering why....

Thank you and responses very much appreciated.....
Ed

 

[peregrina2000]

Hi, Ed,
Until very recently, nearly all North American pilgrims started in Roncesvalles and it was easy to get from Pamplona to Roncesvalles by bus. So landing in Spain made the most sense. Madrid to Pamplona is an easy flight, train, or bus ride. Now that people want to start in St. Jean, it has gotten more complicated. A few years ago, a bus company started a Pamplona-St. Jean route, but that bus only runs from June-Sept (I think). Outside of those months, you're stuck with sharing a taxi.

Iberia or one of its union-busting spin offs, Air Nostrum or Iberia Express, is the only airline flying from Madrid into Pamplona (I think). Delta isn't partners with Iberia, so I don't know how their pricing will work, but you should price your RT ticket this way -- US to Madrid to Pamplona, and then Santiago (if you want to try to fly back) to Madrid to US. This is called an open jaw ticket, and usually you cannot do this online. So you will have to call for help. Or do a RT US-Madrid and then just price the short segments separately, but that is almost always more expensive.

There is no one answer that works best for everyone, but as you go through the pricing, you obviously have to weigh in more than just the flight to Madrid or Paris. Remember, if you fly into Paris, too, though it may be quicker and cheaper to get to St. Jean, it is likely to be much more expensive to get back to Paris from Santiago than it costs to get to Madrid from Santiago.

It isn't too complicated to compare the costs of paris to St. Jean and Santiago to Paris against Madrid to ST. Jean and Santiago to Madrid. For information on prices and schedules, for some reason the German train website seems to give the best info on European trains generally. http://www.bahn.com/i/view/index.shtml

This is kind of complicated -- oh for the good old days when we had travel agents who did this for us! Happy to try to help as you work your way through this, Laurie

 

[Bajaracer]

Take a look at flying into Bilbao, some flights are cheaper to here versus Pamplona or Biarritz, if you're willing to deal with trains and buses to SJPDP, it was cheaper for me to fly to Bilbao from Lisbon compared to other places people fly into to start their Camino.

 

[HalfDomeOrBust]

Hi, Ed,
Until very recently, nearly all North American pilgrims started in Roncesvalles and it was easy to get from Pamplona to Roncesvalles by bus. So landing in Spain made the most sense. Madrid to Pamplona is an easy flight, train, or bus ride. Now that people want to start in St. Jean, it has gotten more complicated. A few years ago, a bus company started a Pamplona-St. Jean route, but that bus only runs from June-Sept (I think). Outside of those months, you're stuck with sharing a taxi.

Iberia or one of its union-busting spin offs, Air Nostrum or Iberia Express, is the only airline flying from Madrid into Pamplona (I think). Delta isn't partners with Iberia, so I don't know how their pricing will work, but you should price your RT ticket this way -- US to Madrid to Pamplona, and then Santiago (if you want to try to fly back) to Madrid to US. This is called an open jaw ticket, and usually you cannot do this online. So you will have to call for help. Or do a RT US-Madrid and then just price the short segments separately, but that is almost always more expensive.

There is no one answer that works best for everyone, but as you go through the pricing, you obviously have to weigh in more than just the flight to Madrid or Paris. Remember, if you fly into Paris, too, though it may be quicker and cheaper to get to St. Jean, it is likely to be much more expensive to get back to Paris from Santiago than it costs to get to Madrid from Santiago.

It isn't too complicated to compare the costs of paris to St. Jean and Santiago to Paris against Madrid to ST. Jean and Santiago to Madrid. For information on prices and schedules, for some reason the German train website seems to give the best info on European trains generally. http://www.bahn.com/i/view/index.shtml

This is kind of complicated -- oh for the good old days when we had travel agents who did this for us! Happy to try to help as you work your way through this, Laurie

Wow Laurie, Lots of great thoughts there for me to consider. I appreciate you taking the time to "lay" this out for me in easy terms. Since I have a few months before I really should book my flights I will ponder your ideas and keep you posted on what seems to be the best. In the meantime, I wonder what the effect would be to keep my return date open to allow more flexibility verses selecting a date then needing to change it...

Ed

 

[HalfDomeOrBust]

Take a look at flying into Bilbao, some flights are cheaper to here versus Pamplona or Biarritz, if you're willing to deal with trains and buses to SJPDP, it was cheaper for me to fly to Bilbao from Lisbon compared to other places people fly into to start their Camino.

I will take a look at this. Thank you!!!

Ed

 

[Deleted member 3000]

Iberia, British Airways, and American Airlines code share (BA now owns Iberia), and JFK is one of their hubs, so consider JFK to Pamplona, Santiago to JFK. I think you will find that it is faster and cheaper than trying to combine planes, trains, and buses.

 

[HalfDomeOrBust]

Iberia, British Airways, and American Airlines code share (BA now owns Iberia), and JFK is one of their hubs, so consider JFK to Pamplona, Santiago to JFK. I think you will find that it is faster and cheaper than trying to combine planes, trains, and buses.

Thank you Falcon. I will take a look at this as well. Appreciate your reply....This also has merits....

 

[HalfDomeOrBust]

Iberia, British Airways, and American Airlines code share (BA now owns Iberia), and JFK is one of their hubs, so consider JFK to Pamplona, Santiago to JFK. I think you will find that it is faster and cheaper than trying to combine planes, trains, and buses.

Sheesh. AA Is $3000 one way to Pamplona.....R/T to Madrid was $1100 on Delta for comparison....Did I say "Sheesh"?

 

[peregrina2000]

So try these options with AA. I don't think you ever want a one way ticket, it's always much more expensive:

-- JFK to Madrid RT (then you'll have to add on transportation to and from Madrid)

-- JFK to Pamplona and Santiago to JFK (this is the open jaw ticket that you cannot book online -- call them to see what it will be. Then you have to calculate cost from Pamplona to St. Jean. But by flying from Santiago, connecting in Madrid, and continuing on, you can do your entire return trip home in one day. If you take a train from Santiago to Madrid, or a bus, you are going to have to also spend a night in Madrid because of the timing, so that's an added expense).

Then, I suppose you also want to compare the option into Paris, which has all the add-ons we discussed earlier.

The fun continues. Laurie

 

[unadara]

I flew from Santiago to Madrid, can be very cheap, many queued for the popular night bus to Madrid but it was way more expensive. You would have to have the Santiago-Madrid leg booked to meet your outgoing flight to JFK. Also American friends were on United and had flown via Dublin, Ireland (MY country) and on to Madrid/Pamplona. (They got a train to from Madrid by choice to see High speed in Spain). And went back Santiago/Madrid/USA (can't remember which airport).

 

[peregrina2000]

Just one thing to add to Una's comments, which you may already know. It's really a risk to book a separate Santiago to Madrid flight and hope that it gets you to the airport in time for your flight from Madrid. If the flight is late and you miss the connection, that's your problem and you are at the mercy of the airlines (this has happened to my husband, and he just basically had to buy another ticket, lost the whole amount). BUT, if you book your Santiago-Madrid-home ticket all as one ticket, then if the Santiago flight is late, the airlines will accommodate you and get you on the next available flight, no cost to you, it's not your fault.

For most flights leaving from Madrid for the US, the departure time is 1 pm or earlier. That means a flight at 9 or 10 from Santiago to Madrid should get you there on time, but you never know.

Laurie

 

[HalfDomeOrBust]

Just one thing to add to Una's comments, which you may already know. It's really a risk to book a separate Santiago to Madrid flight and hope that it gets you to the airport in time for your flight from Madrid. If the flight is late and you miss the connection, that's your problem and you are at the mercy of the airlines (this has happened to my husband, and he just basically had to buy another ticket, lost the whole amount). BUT, if you book your Santiago-Madrid-home ticket all as one ticket, then if the Santiago flight is late, the airlines will accommodate you and get you on the next available flight, no cost to you, it's not your fault.

For most flights leaving from Madrid for the US, the departure time is 1 pm or earlier. That means a flight at 9 or 10 from Santiago to Madrid should get you there on time, but you never know.

Laurie

Yes that is good to know!! Thank you.

 

[HalfDomeOrBust]

I flew from Santiago to Madrid, can be very cheap, many queued for the popular night bus to Madrid but it was way more expensive. You would have to have the Santiago-Madrid leg booked to meet your outgoing flight to JFK. Also American friends were on United and had flown via Dublin, Ireland (MY country) and on to Madrid/Pamplona. (They got a train to from Madrid by choice to see High speed in Spain). And went back Santiago/Madrid/USA (can't remember which airport).

Thank you Unadara. High speed train sounds like fun!!

 

[Helene Vogelmann]

Hi, I will land in Madrid tomorrow - is there a buss that I can take from the airport to St. J? Via Pamplona?

 

[peregrina2000]

You don't say what time you arrive, but there are buses to Pamplona at 10:45, 11:15, 13:15, and 15:15, leaving from T4 at the airport. If you don't arrive in T4, you can take an intra-airport bus from your arrival terminal to T4.

Once you're in Pamplona, you can get a bus to St. Jean, There is one bus a day, at 2:00 pm. Service will stop at the end of September for the year, so you are lucky! Buen camino, Laurie

 

[Helene Vogelmann]

You don't say what time you arrive, but there are buses to Pamplona at 10:45, 11:15, 13:15, and 15:15, leaving from T4 at the airport. If you don't arrive in T4, you can take an intra-airport bus from your arrival terminal to T4.

Once you're in Pamplona, you can get a bus to St. Jean, There is one bus a day, at 2:00 pm. Service will stop at the end of September for the year, so you are lucky! Buen camino, Laurie

Thank you so much!

 

[whariwharangi]

The easiest way to SJPdP is by train from Bayonne.

The easiest way to get to Bayonne is to fly to Biarritz and take the urban bus to the train station.
Unfortunately, as you can see from the destinations page there are no flights to Biarritz from Madrid.

Biarritz Airport (BIQ)
http://en.biarritz.aeroport.fr/

Chronoplus, the local bus system.
http://www.chronoplus.eu/

SNCF (TER)
http://www.sncf.com/en/passengers

Gare Bayonne
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gare_de_Bayonne

The closest airport to Bayonne in Spain is San Sebastian (EAS). Flights from Madrid to San Sebastian are relatively expensive. There is a bus connection from San Sebastian airport to San Sebastian and Irun. The Biarritz airport site shows Conda and Pesa operate buses from San Sebastian to Biarritz Airport.

San Sebastian Airport (EAS)
http://www.aena-aeropuertos.es/csee/Satellite/Aeropuerto-San-Sebastian/en/San-Sebastian.html

It is possible to travel from Pamplona to SJPdP. During summer there are two buses per day. Many months of the year there is no bus on this route.

Estacion de Autobuses Pamplona site provides bus company, route, and schedule information.

Estacion de Autobuses Pamplona
http://estaciondeautobusesdepamplona.com/Inicio.aspx

There are buses from Pamplona to Biarritz Airport. See Biarritz Airport Services/Access and Parking/Access or see the Pamplona bus station under Edsa and Conda.

Another alternative is to take the Renfe train from Madrid to Irun/Hendaye, cross the border and take the SNCF train to Bayonne. Then catch the train to SJPdP.

Renfe trains go to Irun. SNCF intercity trains go to Irun and Hendaye. Euskotren provides a useful commuter link between Irun and Hendaye that runs at least once per hour. The SNCF TER (regional) trains go to Hendaye. Some trains involve crossing the platform and others require making the transfer from Irun to Hendaye. Its a bit confusing but it works.

Irun train station:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irun_railway_station

Hendaye train station:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gare_d%27Hendaye

Renfe website:
http://www.renfe.com/EN/viajeros/index.html

SNCF website
http://www.sncf.com/en/passengers

SNCF TER Acquitaine description
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TER_Aquitaine

Aena manages all airports in Spain. Lots of useful information about airlines, bus, metro, and train connections can be found for each airport.
http://www.aena-aeropuertos.es/csee/Satellite/HomeAenaAeropuertos/en/Home.html

All this kinda sorta answers the question of why so few Pilgrims seem to go from Madrid to SJPdP ... Its complicated to make the connections and can be like swimming uphill.

 

[whariwharangi]

I plan to start my Camino end May 2014 after flying from JFK to Madrid to Pamplona and then bus to SJPDP (I guess that bus is the best way to get to SJPDP) then return via train from Santiago to Madrid and fly Madrid to JFK. Does this sound like a good way to get there and back? I will be flying Delta into/out off Madrid from JFK. What airlines take me to Pamplona and is busing from there to SJPDP best?

I looked at the cost of roundtrip JFK to Paris and it as about $300 more than Madrid on Delta. I notice that very few Pilgrims seem to get to SJPDP thru Madrid and go thru Paris instead. Just wondering why....

Thank you and responses very much appreciated.....
Ed

Did you consider flying from JFK to London and then flying with RyanAir or EasyJet to Biarritz? You'll likely need to transfer between airports in London (there are 4) and that is expensive. There are flights from Santiago to London. In my view this routing is the least complicated.

 

[HalfDomeOrBust]

Did you consider flying from JFK to London and then flying with RyanAir or EasyJet to Biarritz? You'll likely need to transfer between airports in London (there are 4) and that is expensive. There are flights from Santiago to London. In my view this routing is the least complicated.

First of all, thank you for the reply. I had not thought of going thru London but will NOW take a look at that option!!!!

Buen Camino.

Ed

 

[Hiking Partner]

You don't say what time you arrive, but there are buses to Pamplona at 10:45, 11:15, 13:15, and 15:15, leaving from T4 at the airport. If you don't arrive in T4, you can take an intra-airport bus from your arrival terminal to T4.

Once you're in Pamplona, you can get a bus to St. Jean, There is one bus a day, at 2:00 pm. Service will stop at the end of September for the year, so you are lucky! Buen camino, Laurie

Please confirm. We will be arriving in Madrid on 23 Aug 14, sleeping over at a hotel evening 23 Aug. The next morning we will shuttle back to the terminal (T4) to take a bus to Pamplona and then take a bus to St Jean. Is this still current? And where do we get the bus in Pamplone to St Jean? Has anyone got any costs of the busses? thank you kindly

 

[Deleted member 3000]

If your hotel is downtown Madrid, take the bus from there rather than returning to the airport. The bus to SJPdP leaves from the same bus depot that the Madrid bus arrives at. Just go to the correct counter. The information booth will help you with that.

 

[Deleted member 3000]

Some of the buses go to the airport T-4 terminal after leaving Madrid.

 

[Hiking Partner]

If your hotel is downtown Madrid, take the bus from there rather than returning to the airport. The bus to SJPdP leaves from the same bus depot that the Madrid bus arrives at. Just go to the correct counter. The information booth will help you with that.

Thank you replying Falcon269. Yes we will be sleeping over at the Axor Barajas Hotel. Thank you for your assistance, really appreciate.

 

[Anniesantiago]

The bus from Pamplona to SJPP is around 20 Euros.
The bus station in Pamplona is an easy walk from anywhere in the old town, or a taxi ride from elsewhere.
Where are you staying in Pamplona?
Have you made reservations there yet or will you stay in the albergue?

 

[whariwharangi]

Please confirm. We will be arriving in Madrid on 23 Aug 14, sleeping over at a hotel evening 23 Aug. The next morning we will shuttle back to the terminal (T4) to take a bus to Pamplona and then take a bus to St Jean. Is this still current? And where do we get the bus in Pamplone to St Jean? Has anyone got any costs of the busses? thank you kindly

The bus from Madrid to Pamplona leaves from Intercambiador de Avenida de America. It is co-located with the Metro station ... so no need to go back to the airport. There is a transfer at Soria. The bus terminates at Estacion de Autobuses Pamplona.

The bus from Pamplona to SJPdP leaves from the Estacion de Autobuses Pamplona. Currently the ALSA (international) schedule shows one bus leaving at 1730 from 17 March to 30 September. Last year there were buses leaving 3 times per day however its not indicated on the bus schedule yet. Conda is the actual service provider.

Madrid Metro
http://www.metromadrid.es/en/index.html

Madrid Metro estacione Avenida de America
http://www.metromadrid.es/en/viaja_en_metro/red_de_metro/estaciones/AvdaAmerica.html

Pamplona Bus Station
http://estaciondeautobusesdepamplona.com/Inicio.aspx

ALSA
http://www.alsa.es/en/buy-and-schedules/national/?searchType=common

Conda
http://www.conda.es/

 

[Bajaracer]

Please confirm. We will be arriving in Madrid on 23 Aug 14, sleeping over at a hotel evening 23 Aug. The next morning we will shuttle back to the terminal (T4) to take a bus to Pamplona and then take a bus to St Jean. Is this still current? And where do we get the bus in Pamplone to St Jean? Has anyone got any costs of the busses? thank you kindly

Corazon Puro, for €43, they'll pick you up at the Airport or Bus station in Pamplona, feed you dinner, a bed for the night, breakfast, and a ride to SJPDP the next day.

 

[xin loi]

Very helpful information on buses! Thanks! Arriving Madrid May 14, 08:30 hope to make it to SJPP that day!

Searched flights for past year for decent price. I live within 3.5 hours driving of airports in Philly, Washington, Newark, & NYC so I can watch for deals. Missed deal JFK to Paris RT for $280 and Wash DC to Madrid RT for $340 , but ended up with probably a better deal with no driving. Wmpt, Pa to Phl to Madrid for $517. Thought of taking deal JFK to Milan, Italy RT for $202, but did not know what it would cost to get from Milan to SJPP.