We are flying into Paris in Mid March and traveling to Lourdes and either fly out of Toulouse to Lisbon or take the train to Donostia San Sebastian and fly out of Bilbao to Lisbon. It doesn't look like there are any train service between the two Spanish towns. I'm giving the option of bus. I'm not crazy about the bus option. I'm thinking either rent a car or hire a private car service. I'm looking for suggestions.
Thank you!
What’s wrong with taking a direct bus from Donostia / San Sebastián to Bilboa? It takes 1h 30m and if you’re a shopper storing your bags on a bus is easier than hauling them onto a train because the luggage department is located on the outside of the bus. However, https://www.rome2rio.com/ shows a direct train that takes longer: https://www.euskotren.eus/en.
The trains that travel between Donostia/San Sebastián and Bilbao are the local commuter trains called “Euskotren.”
Because they stop all along the route it takes 2.5 hours for the journey.
And that’s why taking the 80-minute bus is how most do it.
I ran into the same quandary when looking into that connection and found a solution (as mentioned by Kenko above) on the Man in Seat 61 website. He provides guidance here if you choose to proceed with the Euskotren connection vs the bus.
It also shows why Rome 2Rio is never to be trusted. A proper travel planning website would show you EVERY option. There are RENFE main line trains, albeit ones where you have to change en route at Miranda del Abro, running twice a day, The overall journey takes between 4 hrs 30 minutes and 5 hours 30 minutes, so it is unlikely you would take that option, but you should be given it.
I like to insist a lot on these forums on the use of public buses in Spain over the train, or at least as an alternative to the train (for some reason, US visitors tend to ignore bus options). You are coming to a very mountainous, rainy and green area, full of valleys, and the train service that links Donostia-San Sebastian and Bilbao is a small commuter train that runs on a narrow gauge railtrack. Perfectly OK and modern, but it takes much longer than the cheap, modern, cleanest, fast and very frequent coach that links these two Basque cities in one hour and fifteen minutes, 30 times per day. No doubt, the very comfortable bus (coach) over train on this route.
It's worth noting that the train trip between San Sebastian and Bilbao is quite scenic. It's a fine option for folks spending a lot of time in the area. Otherwise, the bus really should be the choice.
The coastline in between has some unique terrain (it has a name that’s not coming to mind), which is more easily accessible by car, so I will put in one vote for renting a car. OTOH, I took the bus.
You are probably referring to Geoparkea in Zumaia and its amazing rock formation, the "flysch". There are several flysch in the area.
