Santiago de Compostela Travel Answers

Hi Daisy - I dont do trains, I would rent a car any day, you have your own pace and the cost shouldn't be too much. Obviously make sure you book one that's willing to first let you drive into France and secondly leave the car there. this may limit you to the multi-nationals. I'm sure the cost of all that public transport will be more than a car. If you do want to go on the train, remember that all train lines normally 'axis' around the capital, so toddling along the north coast would be a little tricky by definition. The efficient way to do it would be to head for Madrid then Barcelona then up the mainline to France. But then you'd miss out on your places for sight-seeing! Catch 22. Incidentally Santiago is a much better place to see than Vigo, in my humble opinion.

Hi! I guess you have looked at the main Spanish train company, RENFE. However, there is a different train company, FEVE, that run trains in the North of Spain. I've never used them, but you can have a look at www.feve.es Then, there is Euskotren for the Basque Country area: www.euskotren.es Having a car in some parts of this route can be great, if you plan to see the countryside and villages, but probably you do not needed it for all the way. In any case, you should be aware than if you hire a car in Spain and drop it in France you will have to pay huge extra fees. In any case, probably a combination of transports can work well: FEVE & Euskotren trains, possibly buses for some legs (check www.movelia.es), plus a car some days if you plan to explore the area of the Picos or the basque villages... Or, if budget is not a issue, taking the Transcantábrico luxury train should be a memorable exprerence: www.eltranscantabricogranlujo.es

indeed best way is the car if renting round trip to avoid the drop off charges in diff country. by train it is very time consuming this trip. Not done it by train only car. there is link from Santiago to san sebastian or bilbao and then hendaye in France going to bordeaux then carcassonne. you can try the French site too www.voyages-sncf.com for connections. Hope it helps

I was also going to recommend going up to Bordeaux and then taking the train over to Carcassonne on the French train system. From Coruna look at the bus system to Bilbao and certainly from Bilbao to San Sebastian. The change over using trains is in Hendaye (sp?) as the Spanish trains run on different tracks than France (although this is starting to change). I found it relatively easy to bus from San Sebastian up to Biarritz (2 1/2 hours) and then take the train to Bordeaux. Also consider some of the low cost airlines such as Vueling or Easyjet. Karl

I've only used Spanish trains between Madrid and Toledo, everywhere else I travelled I found the buses to be cheaper and faster. I'm not sure about Santiago to Bilbao, but from Bilbao you can easily get to Vitoria by bus (highly recommended, I lived there for a bit!), from where you can also easily get to San Sebastian or Zaragoza and on to Barcelona. I took buses from Barcelona to Andorra and from Andorra to Toulouse, and then from Toulouse it's not far to Carcassonne.