Pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela

[gaviota]

In november I'm going to Santiago to celebrate the 1st anniversary of my camino last year and the 50th anniversary of my Galician friend Manolo. I don't have much to spend this year neither in time nor in money. Cheepest flight from Amsterdam is to Porto and from there by bus or train. Has anyone experiences with travelling to.from Santiago by train or bus. What are estimated costs and time? Renfe website does not help me our.

Thanks for helping out folks!

Joop van der Donk

[viajero]

On the alsa bus website ( http://www.alsa.es/portal/site/Alsa click on schedules information) it looks like there are direct buses from the porto airport to santiago for 26 euros one way or 44 round trip. There appear to be departures at 9:15, 14:45 and 16:45 and it takes about 4 1/2 hours. I put in a random date in November--maybe departures depend on the day of the week.) I have not done this myself, I just checked the website. I think for a train you have to go through/change trains in vigo.

[sillydoll]

You can check the Portuguese rail schedule at http://www.cp.pt
You will find that there is twice daily rail service from Porto to Vigo, and easy train connections from there to Santiago.
There is an hours’ difference between the two countries.

[gaviota]

Sillydoll and Viajero: thank you for the information, I'll check it out.

Joop

[KiwiNomad06]

When we were all finding our various ways out of Santiago early July, the very cheapest way was found by some young ones.... who caught the train to Porto then flew out from there. So I think you have hit on the cheapest way, and one I will definitely think about if I ever get to Santiago again!
Margaret

[Freddie]

I walked the the Camino Portugues last Easter and I also flew to/from Porto. I took the ALSA bus back to Porto and it worked very well. It was a direct bus for the reasonable price of 26 euros. I remember that I checked the train connection as well but found the bus alternative both cheaper and faster. At that time there was a lot of travellers and I remember that I got the last bus ticket. So it might be wise to book your seat in advance or buy your ticket as soon as you get to Santiago just to make sure that you'll get to Porto in time for your flight back home.
Freddie