Tunnel Route

[madrid12]

We walked part of this route in May 2003 using the CSj guide. It's ideal for a short walk. We flew from Stansted to Bilbao with easyjet and this was our timetable.
Bilbao overnight then bus to San Sebastian for overnight stay.
Bus from san Sebastian to Hernani to start walk from Plaza Mayor to Tolosa.
Overnight Tolosa Pension Karmentxu
Tolosa to Besain overnight Hotel Castillo which is on route.
Next day Besain to Salvatierra, through St Adrian's tunnel [or cave] a long day walking
Overnight Salvatierra Pension Jose Mari
Next day Salvatierra to Vitoria Hotel Desiderio overnight
We finished in Vitoria and caught the bus back to Bilbao.
We only saw 2 Pilgrims from Belgium and they gave us Two Roads to Santiago, an interesting Euskadi tourist guide. I cannot remember the actual distances.

 

[davededub]

I walked this route in April 2010, possibly a bit too early in the year as I experienced bad weather. I flew into Biaritz and took a short train journey to Irun, where there is an albergue. There are only 2 other albergues until you reach the French route but there are hotels at reasonable intervals. The highlights for me were the tunnel itself and the views over Riocha. In Irun I was told that 2 walkers had set offthe previous day. I never saw them or indeed any other walkers. If you want to avoid crowds on the camino this route is an option. If I was going to walk it again I would skip stages 2, 3 or 4 as the route passes through too many towns. I would start 20k or so before the climb up to the tunnel.

Dave