cruiseluv

Hello,

Our cruise will have a one day stop (12 hours in port) in Saint Jean de Luz. They will provide transport early in the morning to San Sebastián but will only remain there about 3 hrs. I'm exploring the possibility of staying on my own and returning to the ship later. Does anybody know if there is public transport between SS and St Jean?

Thanks for any info.

PalenQ

Hop the Tren Eskro, a narrow-gauge inter-urban train that rolls into France, terminating at the Hendaye France train station - which is really close to SJdLuz - tak a cab if in a hurry or hop a regional train to St Jean de Luz from Hendaye.

San Sebastian also has mainline RENFE (Spanish Railways) trains to Hendaye but these go much less frequent I believe than the frequent Tren Eskro.

PalenQ

BitDefender Antivirus Pro 2011 - Search Advisorhttp://www.whatsansebastian.com/san-sebastian-train.htmlThis link is safe.San Sebastian Train StationLearn all about train travel to and from San Sebastian in What San Sebastian: your San Sebastian City Guide.
www.whatsansebastian.com

Links in this site to Tren Eusko - I spelt it wrong above and also RENFE services to Hendaye. There are no direct daytime trains San Sebastian to S J de Luz because there are no cross border daytime trains so always have to change in Hendale or Irun, French and Spanish border stations.

Buses may be more easy and go direct - site above should have details.

Robert2533

The PESA bus to St. Jean-de-Luz has only two departures each day, one at 9:00 am and one at 2:30 pm. The first return would be at 12:45 pm and the next at 7:15 pm.

You can take the TOPO up to Heydaye and a local bus from there, or go by taxi.

MyriamC

The easiest way would be to rent a car for the day.
There is a train connection between San Sebastián, which, in Basque, is called Donostia and Hendaye [Hendaya in Basque], just accross the Spanish/French border (+/- 35 mins.). From there you can take a train to Saint-Jean-de-Luz (12 mins.). Trains are not very frequent!
You can check the schedule for the first leg on www.renfe.es ; for the second leg on www.voyages-sncf.com

cruiseluv

Thank you for the comments. Yes, I'm sure the car would be the most flexible option but I rather not deal with that.

Is Saint Jean de Luz an interesting/nice place to spend time on? Maybe it's not a bad thing that I return from San Sebastián early enought to hang out there for a couple of hours before having to go back on the ship.

PalenQ

I stayed once in St Jean de Luz and found it had a sweet beach but otherwise not much for me at least to make me linger. Some nice walks but I'd spend as much time in Donostia as possible - and with the frequent Eusko trains it is easy to get back to Hendaye for taxis, buses or trains the few km's to SJdL

Robert2533

The PESA bus wouldn't be a good option in visiting San Sebastian since the bus back to St Jean-de-Luz departs SS at 2:30 in the afternoon.

We like St Jean-de-Luz, it's got an interesting food market and there's always shopping on Rue Gambetta, but it can be busy during the tourist season.

A walk along the beach would be nice and you can have lunch at Restaurant Olatua (www.olatua.fr/) at 30, boulevard Thiers, or at Zoko Moko (www.zoko-moko.com)at 6 Rue Mazarin, which I think would be the better choice. Just remember, they eat lunch a little earlier on the French side.

MyriamC

There's really not much to see in St. Jean. I'd spend as much time as possible in Donostia. Make sure to do a Txikiteo (pinxtos hopping)! http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/1eac1/3e32f/2/

cruiseluv

Thank you again for the comments. Yes, I'll look into staying in SS as long as possible. Got word from a taxi company that the ride from Hendaye to St Jean would be 27 euros. Does that sound like a fair price?

cruiseluv

Hello,

I'm back at considering these options.

Do you know if the train station for the Eusko train (topo) in Hendaye is next to/ close to the train station for the French train that goes from Hendaye to St Jean?
Can I expect to find taxies at the Eusko train station in Hendaye?

Thank you for any info.

jmct714

Hi Cruiseluv,
Just did this trip last week. The Euskotren station is directly next to the main train station in Hendaye. I think it took all of a minute to walk between them. You can't miss it.

I didn't look for a taxi so can't help with that one.

Robert2533

Yes, there is a taxi stand at the Hendaye station.

cruiseluv

Thank you! Would you know if the train station in St Jean is near (walking distance) the port area?