Please sign in to post.
Holiday Sale! Save 20% Storewide!

Getting to Biarritz (or Bayonne) from Barcelona: What's the best Way?

Posted by (Rochester Hills, MI, USA) on

We are spending a week traveling independently in Barcelona, and then need to get up to Bayonne to join Rick Steves' Basque Country tour. We will depart from Barcelona on Sun, 6/21/14, and need to be in Bayonne Sunday, 6/22/14 at 5 pm to join the RS tour.

No flights direct. Train takes 8-10 hrs, so we are looking at a Vueling flight from Barcelona to San Sebastian (1 hr, 10 min; 80 euro), and then taking a bus to either Biarritz (spending the night and sightseeing, then a bus to Bayonne the next morning) or Bayonne from San Sebastian. Is there a better strategy to get from Barcelona to Bayonne? I've read about taking a ferry across Txingdui Bay to Hendaye, and then a bus to Biarritz from Hendeye, but am uncertain how to proceed.

Posted by
4088 posts

Despite the cultural connections between the Basque and Bayonne communities, crossing the border is (and has been) awkward. The Spanish and French inter-city rail connections are difficult. The San Sebastian airport is small enough that it has no mass-transit connection to Bayonne (that I could find.) An alternative airport, Bilbao, is 45 miles away from Biarritz and it has more cheap Barcelona flights via Vueling, and a bus to San Sebastian, Biarritz and Bayonne . But that service only runs twice a day, too early for a morning flight arrival and, in the afternoon, reaching Bayonne around 4 p.m. putting a 5 p.m. meet-up with your tour at a certain risk. Maybe your group has nothing planned the first evening? Or you could arrive in any of these spots a day early, making the move to Bayonne simpler after the overnight stay.
The bus line is Pesa. htttp://www.pesa.net/pesa/horarios/ctrl_horarios.php?accion=testPDF&id=11&fechasRango=0
The service used to depart from the airport as well as downtown Bilbao but I can't sort it out now; perhaps an e-mail will clarify. The municipal bus from the airport to the centre of Bilbao is easy.
The alternative, either from Bilbao or San Sebastian, is a private shuttle service. A number of them advertise on the web but you should get in touch directly to see the price to Bayonne. Not cheap, I expect.
Some of the flights into these airports show up as Vueling or Iberia. They are the same plane now that Iberia owns Vueling. Sometimes different prices, though. Anyhow, buy tickets as soon as you can as prices can only go up.

Posted by
16895 posts

It's best not to miss the first-night tour meeting, or dinner. Se other responses on your Spain post.

This topic has been automatically closed due to a period of inactivity.