Basque Country

[Tommy Hallam]

In January, i am hoping to go to the basque country for about 3 months on my own, i was wondering if anybody knew any cheap and decent youth hostels in the santander/bilbao area? I was also wondering if anybody knows if i can get a train from northern spain into the heart opf France and then into Germany?
Many thanks

[mushroom25]

just to be pedantic, Santander isn't in the Basque country, but in Cantabrica. ;-)

the quickest way to travel along the northern Spanish coast is by bus, regular services run Santander-Bilbao-San Sebastian-Irun (french border). Operated by Alsa, www.alsa.es/portal/index.asp?lang=en

If you walk across the border from Irun to Hendaye, your train journey to France & the rest of Europe will start from there. Consult http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en for timetables.

[Buenchico]

Firstly, I'll give my backing to the link provided by Mushroom25. It takes you to the German Railways website which has timetables for the whole of Europe (including the UK). More importantly, it has the ability to integrate the individual timetables into one consolidated document so that you can plan journeys across several countries with just one enquiry.

If you plan on doing much rail travel in Europe, I'd strongly recommend getting hold of a copy of the Thoma Cook Rail Map of Europe. It's available from most good bookshops. I've just taken a look at my copy and I can see that there are train services from both Santander and Bilbao which will link you into the main international network. However, it's likely that the first part of any journey starting from either of these towns would be on slow, local lines so Mushroom25 is probably correct in suggesting that you should consider starting your journey by bus.

As far as accommodation is concerned, I've just taken a look at http://www.hostelworld.com
For the random date I chose, the site offered cheap accommodation in Bilbao in 2 hostels, 2 budget hotels and 2 guesthouses. There were no hostels or budget hotels offered in Santander but there were 7 (really cheap) guesthouses to choose from.

Chris

[mushroom25]

northern coast train services are listed at http://www.feve.es/00/index.html (West of Bilbao) and http://www.euskotren.es/castellano/horarios/ho me2.html
(east of Bilbao). Neither has an "english" option but timetables can be selected by route (on the Euskotren site, place names are shown in Euskara, ie "San Sebastian" is shown as "Donostia".) Euskotren "Topo" services will take you to Hendaye, just outside the SNCF station.