santamonica

A bunch of us are renting a house for a week in september near sarlat, france. Then dw and I set out, somehow, for the parador in hondarribia, spain for two nights, then to a nice airbnb apartment in san sebastian for three nights, then to a hotel in bilbao for two nights. We have a flight home from bilbao at 6:45am.

Do you experts (who have already helped with lodging advice, even though we didn't go with that nice hotel stu likes) think all this can be done reasonably without a rental car, by train, bus and taxi?

Thanks!

santamonica

I think it makes sense to rent a car at the airport in Bordeaux and return it there after a week and go by bus or train from Bordeaux to hondarribia. That way the car rental isn't too expensive. Now I gotta figure how to get from Bordeaux airport to hondarribia. Please feel free to jump in...

thursdaysd

You can certainly do Hondarribia to San Sebastian to Bilbao by train, just not on Renfe. Check seat61.com for info on the local trains - Eusko and FEVE, I think. Bahn.de will have the schedules for Bordeaux to Hondarribia, I think Irun is the closest station.

santamonica

Thanks. I think there's a high speed train (TGV) from Bordeaux to Irun, or Hendaye. Must be a shuttle or taxi from Bordeaux airport to train. Now, Hendaye to hondarribia parador. Hmm. Take a taxi to the boat that goes to hondarribia. Wow. This will be quite an adventure.

Robert2533

The train from Donostia-San Sebastián to Bilbao is the Eusko Tran. Great, but not the quickest mode of transportation. The bus is much quicker.

Renfe does not have a direct connection between Donostia and Bilbao.

Hendaye (France) is the closest station to Irun (Spain).

You'll want to take the taxi to the Parador and skip the ferry ride across the bay.

thursdaysd

See: http://seat61.com/Spain.htm#Pamplona

danon

from SS to Bilbao the bus takes abbot 75 min.

santamonica

Great intel. Train to Hendaye, taxi to parador, bus to Bilbao. Estoy listo. Thanks!