bringonitaly

Hi

We are trying to find the best way to get from Santiago De Compostela to Porto to collect a hire car. Can anyone help me with the best way to get there? There is 6 in our party.

Thanks in advance

IMDonehere

Yikes. I tried RENFE and Eurorail and they had no result. I even tried Vigo which is closer to the Portuguese border, nada.

The drop off rate for a car may be high but you should compare to flying. I did see flights for reasonable prices from Santiago to Oporto but none were direct you had go through Madrid or Lisbon.

Maybe someone else will have better suggestions, I always have fights with the RENFE site.

sundriedtopepo

Try using rome2rio
It shows train through Vigo
Bus all the way or train to Pontevedra and bus to Porto
Double check on the links they give.

Pvoyageuse

See https://www.alsa.es/en for direct bus Santiago to Porto.

bringonitaly

Thanks for your help. Trains are proving a worry but the direct bus might be the go.

Thanks again

IMDonehere

Ironically when you ask that Rio site for the way to book trains, it brings you back to RENFE plus one other.

kathleen

We traveled by Alsa bus from Santiago De Compostela to Porto to last Fall (Nov. 2016). We didn't want the hassle of changing trains, whereas the bus was direct, with stops, which also served as quick comfort stops. Bus trip was fine, everything went well. We bought our tickets in SdeC at a travel agency in town that added on a small handling fee, but was easy and convenient.

HappyTrvlr

We did the reverse and had a taxi driver take us from Plrto to car rental in Vigo, Spain. Much cheaper than a drop fee. Hotel arranged the sriver, non English speaking, but fine.

ribeirasacra

in Sept 2016 there was an accident on the train service connecting Galicia and Portugal.
4 dead and quite a number injured.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-37315566
Just like in the High Speed train accident the silence from ADIF is defining.
Just after the accident Portugal said that the agreement to run the Tren Celta (as it is named) would be ending. When the final journey is I cannot establish.
http://www.lavozdegalicia.es/noticia...09G25P7991.htm
The Portuguese are planning to modernise to the line from Valença to Porto. This work could make changes/delays to the timetable for this line.
http://www.lavozdegalicia.es/noticia...09G10P6991.htm
The latest news is that the Spanish have just started works on the line.
http://www.lavozdegalicia.es/noticia...01G10P6993.htm and that the passengers affected by the accident are getting a bit frustrated at the lack of any investigation. http://www.lavozdegalicia.es/noticia...01V29C1995.htm
I would take the bus.

bringonitaly

Great advice. thanks everyone.....I think I think it may be the bus for us.

montannito

For further reference, in case somebody has the same question.

• Regarding buses, ALSA, Flixbus and Eurolines cover this route.
• For trains, one would first need to go to Vigo with Renfe (Spanish Railways) and then change to another train with Comboios de Portugal (Portuguese Railways). Loco2.com is very helpful in such cases, since you can book both tickets together with just one payment at an easy-to-use website/app.
• Another option that can be worth mentioning is car-pooling. BlablaCar is the site for that. Note that the drives are usually offered at a short-time on advance.

I find the search engine Travelinho.com very useful for routes like this one, as it considers all the options mentioned above in just one search and will additionally show also any possible combinations via Vigo.
Hope this helps.