Tandoorii

This train takes about 2.5 hours according to the tour books. It also stops every 3-10 minutes, which is why a one hour bus ride turns into 2.5 hours.
Nevertheless, romantics as we are, my wife and I are considering the trip as we hear it is quite scenic. On the other hand, would we better served to experience the Basque coountry by spending another 1.5 hours in San Sebastian if we were to take the bus?

Robert2533

I'd take the bus...

cova

Get the bus

GeoffHamer

The bus journey takes a bit more than an hour. You can compare schedules on www.alsa.es and www.euskotren.es.
The road and railway follow a similar route so the scenery will be similar.

CholeCO

We plan on doing this same route and will take the Alsa buses as it says they take 1 hour and 10 minutes. I believe they have buses that leave about every hour between these two cities.

Does anyone know if you need to make advanced reservations for the Alsa buses? Should this be done well before we leave on our trip (as with Renfe) or just a day or two ahead of time?

Tandoorii

What would be the difference between the ALSA or the PESA lines?

Robert2533

All the seats are reserved on the ALSA bus, so booking ahead is a good idea, even if it's only a few days ahead of time so that you can take the bus you want.

The ALSA and PESA buses run different routes, but both do the Bilbao-San Sebastian run.

kimhe

PESA runs directly from central Bilbao (Termibus station) to central San Sebastián every half hour (1h 10min). No need to book in advance, buy tickets at the station.
http://www.termibus.es/index.php?idi=en
http://www.pesa.net/pesa/horariosBD/ctrl_horarios.php

Egbert

Another one for the bus. A nice Euskotren trip is to Zarautz. From there you can take an unforgettable 30 min. walk along the ocean into Getaria where you can have the best grilled fish you will ever have at Kaia or Elkano. You can also take the bus into Getaria if you don't want to walk, and catch the bus back to San Sebastian.