What is the best way to get from Hondaribbia, Spain to Saint Jean de Luz, France, and then to San Sebastian, Spain with luggage in tow. I assume there is a bus from Hondaribbia to SJL, yes? But not sure how to get back from SJL to San Sebastian. Your advice is welcome. Also, any restaurant and day trip suggestions for SJL.
Posted by
Washington DC
27155 posts
I visited St-Jean-de-Luz from Bayonne, France, and have never traveled across the Spanish/French border in that area, but I know others have provided helpful information about that crossing in response to earlier inquiries.
For the second leg, from Hondarribia to Donostia/San Sebastian, there is roughly hourly bus service, even on Sundays. The company name is Lluraldebus and it's Line E21. The trip takes about 30 minutes.
Posted by
Rick Steves' Europe
16893 posts
Notes from the transportation connections at the end of Rick's chapter on SJdL.
Direct buses between Saint Jean de Luz and San Sebastian are operated by www.ouibus.com (and perhaps some less frequent by Flixbus or Eurolines)
Bus line 816 or 816ee by Transport64 runs from Saint Jean de Luz to the border town of Hendaye.
Frequent EuskoTren service runs between Hendaye/Hendaia and San Sebastian/Donostia now with English!.
Posted by
Michigan
417 posts
We took the Ouibus from Saint-Jean-de-Luz directly to San Sebastian last summer. It was a relatively short ride - maybe 45 minutes? We just crossed the border and kept on driving - very easy. If I remember right, we were picked up and dropped off near the respective train stations. The only snag was that the bus was late in arriving in Saint-Jean-de-Luz - and we thought maybe we'd missed it, even getting there early. No explanation given once it showed up, and all was well. We had taken a longer (4 hour) Ouibus from Toulouse to Saint-Jean-de-Luz, and that was a very quiet ride, with wifi available.
We really enjoyed the market in Saint-Jean-de-Luz, seeing the sunset at the beach, and the quiet atmosphere of the town. We ate at an Italian place one night and had great pizza, and the other dinners were super fresh seafood. Le Grand Grille Basque was one good choice - sorry that I can't remember the Italian place. L'Epicerie was another good choice - more causal, and good food. We made great picnic lunches from market fare.
The food in San Sebastian was wonderful! Lots of pintos! We arranged for a cider house and cheese farm tour one day, and all really enjoyed that! about 45 minutes drive from the shore and we were up in the mountains, feeling like Switzerland. We found the tour through the TI in San Sebastian.
Enjoy!
Laurie
Posted by
Mid-Atlantic area
6569 posts
We had a rental car and it was easy getting to those locations as they are fairly close together.