Transportation from Bilbao

[E. O. Pederson]

It is fairly easy to get from Bilbao to St. Jean, but it requires several
changes of vehicle and a fair amount of time.  Busses are available from the
center of Bilbao, and I think from the airport, to San Sebastian/Donostia,
about an hour away and near the French border.  There is also a local train,
scenic but relatively expensive and slow from Bilbao to San
Sebastian/Donostia.  At the latter city there are frequent trains and busses
to Bayonne in France where one transfers to the St. Jean Pied-de-Port
trains. If you take a train, make certain it crosses the border or connects
with a French train.  The Spanish and French national railways tun on
different gauges, and many of the trains only go to the border.  Some have
direct connections, but others require a wait as trains are more frequent on
the Spanish side of the border. The website for the French railways will
give you the schedules for thru trains from San Sebastian/Donostia to
Bayonne and then from there to St. Jean (I do not have it handy but I
believe the web address is http://www.sncf.fr).

Given the number of connections required, allow yourself the better part of
a day to make the trip.  There may be direct busses from Hendaye on the
French side of the border to St. Jean which would make the trip shorter and
faster, but I have been unable to find schedules for them (and I am a train
lover in any case).  An expensive but fast way would be to hire a taxi at
the border for the trip to St. Jean Pied-de-Port (make sure you specify
which St. Jean to a taxi driver, as St. Jean-de-Luz is a popular destination
close to the border!).

If you want to break journey, both San Sebastian/Donostia and Bayonne are
attractive cities with many hotels as both are resorts, and there are a
number of resort towns between them like St. Jean-de-Luz and Bairritz (sp?
sorry, I am away from home where I have atlases, etc.). Among other
attractions, including nice beaches, the area has some of the best food in
Spain and France, not for nothing that it is a resort area!

As for water, bottled water is mostly useful to carry for drinking during
the day.  My wife, a physician with training in public health, cautions
against drinking from fuentes along the camino as she worries about giardia
and other animal borne diseases in agricultural areas where water is not
treated, but water in towns is as safe as it is in the US (given recent
decisions by the White House, probably safer).

Hope this information is useful.

E. O. Pederson

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