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Trains, planes, busses - Madrid to San Sebastian???

Six of us are headed from Madrid to San Sebastian on June 17. Rome2Rio shows possible transportation options for us. We can go by:
- train - ALV (R2R uses the ALV acronym -- not sure if it should be AVE or if they mean Avlo) - just over 6 hours for $49 each or so...
- bus - about 5.5 hours for between $65 and $100 each...
- fly, and the total travel time (Madrid accommodation to airport exit door is about 4 hours -- but I can't get Iberia to give me a price.

I prefer riding the trains, and traveling via train seems like it's in our favor, thought tickets for the route on June 17 are not yet available.

Have you made this trip? What were your experiences? Any other thoughts or advice?

Thanks.

Posted by
6974 posts

I don't know who R2R is, but the fastest trains between Madrid and San Sebastian/Donostia takes a bit under 5 hours.

Posted by
4180 posts

I'd take the train, ALV stands for Alvia, another kind of high speed train we have in Spain. Best to double check on Renfe website, sometimes Rome2Rio gets things wrong. I looked on a random day in May and there is a 4 h. 54 min. Alvia service between Madrid-chamartín and San Sebastián/donostia for 39.00 €

https://venta.renfe.com/vol/search.do?c=_wCzF

Posted by
340 posts

Thanks Carlos... The June 17 schedule isn't available yet, so I'll cool my heels. It sounds like we can get to San Sebastian easily enough via train, which is the main concern... And you're right, I've learned that R2R is helpful, but not gospel...

Posted by
4180 posts

Happy to help :-)

The Renfe schedule for June may take another month, but I'm fairly confident you'll find roughly the same train options then.

Posted by
571 posts

I've taken the train from Madrid to San Sebastián. It's a perfectly pleasant trip, if on the longer side, as there are not high-speed tracks for the entire route. Depending on where your lodging is, you are likely to be able to walk to it from the train station if you do not have significant mobility issues or large amounts of luggage.

For the flight, keep in mind that the "San Sebastián" airport is not actually in San Sebastián -- it is in Hondarribia (the last town before the French border).

Posted by
17 posts

I'm also very interested in this topic. We will be making the same journey from Madrid to San Sebastian this fall. We're trying to decide if we should rent a car or if it would be better to take the train. Would there be an advantage to having a car once we're in San Sebastian? There are 4 adults going.

Posted by
743 posts

While in Donostia-San Sebastian you´ll need to have a parking garage for your vehicle, as surface parking is heavily restricted all over the city. Public transport is excellent, so in case you want to visit Getaria, Hondarribia, Pasai Donibane...it´s an easy bus ride.