Hubby and I plan a 10 day trip to Northern Spain. We are a retired, senior couple who went to the south of Spain a couple of years ago and loved it. Transportation will be train, bus and if need be via hired driver. Trip will begin late September. From Spain we need to fly to Civitavecchia, Italy to catch a cruise. Thinking to travel from Los Angeles LAX to MAD Madrid. But will consider BCN Barcelona if that is best. We need recommendations from fellow travelers on: 1.Best airport to land from LAX 2. Itinerary on start - end cities, and recommendations of must see experiences. 3. Best airport to fly from Spain to FCO Rome. 4. What kind of weather should we expect. Thank you one and all for sharing your knowledge.
Posted by
Brisbane, Australia
7175 posts
Weather will be mild to cool in late September.
Day
1. Fly via Madrid/Barcelona to Bilbao (2)
2. Bilbao
3. La Union bus to Pamplona (1)
4. Train to San Sebastián (2)
5. San Sebastián
6. Fly from San Sebastián to Oviedo (2)
7. Oviedo
8. Train to Leon (1)
9. Train to Santiago de Conpostela (2)
10. Santiago de Conpostela
11. Fly via Madrid/Barcelona to Rome
Some train timings ...
ALV 534
Dep 11:19 PAMPLONA (Spain)
Arr 13:03 SAN SEBASTIAN/DONOSTIA (Spain)
ALV 661
Dep 08:31 OVIEDO (Spain)
Arr 10:39 LEON (Spain)
ALV 626
Dep 17:26 LEON (Spain)
Arr 21:58 SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA (Spain)
Posted by
Washington DC
28993 posts
David has moved you as efficiently as possible from Barcelona to Santiago de Compostela except for that detour to Pamplona, a place I am not as enamored of as he is. I'd rather use that day in the Basque Country or in Santiago de Compostela. It appears that, unless you want to take a 7 AM train from Leon (and remember how late dinner is served in Spain), you will not get to Santiago until 8 PM, so two nights is not one smidgen more than one day of sightseeing in that city.
My other thought is: Have you already been to Barcelona itself? If you have not, I'd spend half the ten days there, if not more, and not try to get all the way to Galicia. There's plenty to do in Catanlunya alone.
Posted by
Brisbane, Australia
7175 posts
Ann makes a good point re Pamplona.
There is a good case for extending San Sebastián or Santiago de Compostela by a night at the expense of Pamplona.
Note the best train timings added above.
Posted by
OP
18 posts
Thank you both! We have to ponder on your suggestions as we would prefer to travel via train inter-Spain rather than fly. Of course I realize that in the interest of time flying is faster, but it's not quite as pretty and exciting.
I agree with Ann and would skip Pamplona. I was there in 1970 for the running of the bulls and the memories are still vivid. :) ;) We've been to both Barcelona and Madrid, and really want to experience Galicia, therefore Santiago is pretty much a must.
Question, would'nt it be better to fly to Rome from either Bilbao, San Sebastian or Santiago de Compostela - why backtrack to Madrid/Barcelona? Do you have personal knowledge about these airports? Thanks so much!
Posted by
Brisbane, Australia
7175 posts
Spanish carrier Vueling offers direct flights from both Bilbao and Santiago de Compostela to Rome, but not daily.
What day do you wish to fly out of LA, and what day is your sailing from Civitavecchia?
Posted by
Washington DC
28993 posts
I think what David meant was that you would fly back from your last stop in Spain but would probably have to change planes in Barcelona or Madrid to get to Rome. You can check out the options on Skyscanner.com. The airports I'm aware of (haven't flown out of any of them) are in Vigo, Santiago de Compostela, Bilbao and San Sebastian. I have a vague feeling that Vigo and Bilbao are larger.
A trick I learned from someone on this forum is to go an airport's webpage on Wikipedia and look for the list of direct-flight destinations. Here's the page for Vigo's airport. It says that there are seasonal Iberia Regional flights to Rome, so now you're back to needing Skyscanner to see whether such a flight exists when you need it.
In Galicia, I liked Santiago de Compostela (of course), Pontevedra and A Coruna among the larger places. Vigo is not a bad city, but it really doesn't have much to recommend it. I'd spend as little time there as possible. Both Pontevedra and A Coruna tend to be sunnier than Santiago deC, which I think is sort of notorious for its gray skies.
Galicia has a lot of very interesting smaller towns. Betanzos is attractive and not overrun with tourists. Combarro and Cambados are tiny and therefore feel more touristy. Little Tui sits on the Portuguese border (not on the coast) and is a nice short stop.
Leon (not in Galicia) has a large historic district, much of it given over to lively restaurants and bars. I had the feeling that most of the folks I saw there were locals, though the city is on the pilgrimage route, so there certainly are plenty of visitors from elsewhere.