We are ending our Pyrenees trek in Gavarnie. We want to travel from Gavarnie to Lisbon, Portugal, but do not know the best route to do this? Should be go by bus, car, plane, or a combination? We plan to fly from Lisbon to Paris on September 17 to catch our flight home the next day (back to USA). Thank you very much for any assistance.
Posted by
Rick Steves' Europe
16893 posts
Sorry for the delay in picking up this unanswered thread. Gavarnie looks like it's at the end of a very small road, but it also appears that a bus will travel from there to Lourdes. See the Gavarnie tourist office web site, with bus link, and email them if necessary.
Lourdes to Lisbon is too long by train. From Lourdes to Paris by direct TGV train takes only 6 hours, or you could also fly from Lourdes to Paris. Check flights at www.skyscanner.com.
Rick’s France rail travel page has the link and tips for buying “Prems” rate TGV tickets through SNCF (cheap, reserved, nonrefundable, available three or four months ahead of your travel date) to print at home and pay with PayPal. It does not tend to work with US credit cards, unless you have an extra level of security set up.
Posted by
Oak Park, Illinois
4535 posts
^^ Laura, I think Kay wants to get to Lisbon first, not Paris.
Flying will be the only time efficient way to get there. From which airport I can't say, and you might have to connect somewhere out of nearby Lourdes or from Toulouse. The bottom line is that Portugal is not well connected at all with the rest of Europe, even neighbor Spain. And you'll be in a pretty remote region of France.
You don't say how long you have. With plenty of time, you could get to Madrid by car, bus or train and then take a flight. There is only one overnight train linking Madrid and Lisbon. Or drive along the northern coast to Santiago de Compostela and then transit down Even with lots of time, driving all the way isn't a good option as foreign drop-off fees are very expensive.
The other question I ask is why fly back to Paris and spend a night there just to fly back to the US? It would be far more efficient and probably cheaper to fly home from Portugal, even if you have to connect in London. If flying from the US into Paris, look for a multi-city ticket flying into Paris and out of Lisbon.