Biarritz to Pamplona by public transport (bus/train/both)

[rabbitdrop]

can anyone help me find out about public transport from Biarritz to Pamplona. Arrive airport biarritz 3pm monday. thanks

[mushroom25]

Biarritz airport to Biarritz station by Chronoplus ligne "C", every 20mn, journey 12mn. http://www.chronoplus...horaires/?rub_code=23

Biarritz to Hendaye by SNCF train at 16h13, 17h26, 18h13, 18h44 and 19h42, 19h59, 20h12 and 20h37, journey time 26mn.
http://www.voyages-sncf.com/

Leave Hendaye SNCF station and cross to the "Euskotren" narrow gauge station - trains to Donostia (San Sebastian) at 03 and 33 past each hour with last train at 22h33.
http://www.euskotren....B3n/oficinasyhorarios


train arrives at Amara station, walk south along av. de sancho "el sabio" to Plaza del Pio XII, and main bus station is on your left, between there and the river.

Bus operated by Alsa to Pamplona at 17h00, 18h30, 19h30 and 20h30. the first morning sevice is at 07h00. Journey 75mn.
http://www.alsa.es/en/buy-and-schedules/

[rabbitdrop]

thanks so much... very helpful! have you done the journey? I dont suppose you could look into the return journey could you? i have to be back at Biarritz airport for 2pm on thursday 14th.

[jomifl]

Rabbit, check out the SNCF website, you just have to give your start and finish points and dates and it will give you all the options.

[mushroom25]

Alsa bus Pamplona to San Sebastian dep 08h15 and 09h45, arr 09h40 and 10h50 respectively.

walk to Amara station.

San Sebastian (Amara) to Hendaye by narrow gauge Euskotren - every 30mn, last train to meet your deadline leaves at 11h45, arr Hendaye 12h21.

Hendaye to Biarritz by SNCF train dep 12h45, arr 13h12, leaving you 45mn to reach the airport via bus ligne "C" (every 20mn, journey 12mn).

there is a through bus pamplona to bayonne (biarritz airport is a short hop from bayonne by chronoplus bus), but it leaves at 21h30 and arrives around 2am.

[jomifl]

Mushroom, if you aren't a travel agent then you should be :-)

[mushroom25]

i've not done your particular journey but know the area well and have used trains and buses to/from san sebastian, irun, bilbao and france.

[rabbitdrop]

ps would i need to book any of these in advance, do you think?

[rabbitdrop]

thank you both very much jomifl and mushroom.... yes i agree you should be a travel agent.
your help is very much appreciated !!

[jomifl]

Rabbit, whether you need to book depends on the French/Spanish holidays, I have travelled on the TGV from Agen to Paris a few times and somtimes it is difficult to book seats weeks in advance during August when all of France is on holiday.

[mushroom25]

biarritz to hendaye and hendaye to donostia are journeys on local trains. no need to book in advance - but it's handy to have a french train ticket in your hand because the french ticketing system seems to take the booking clerks ages to process.

from experience, you should book the bus journeys, and you can do this online.

[DTCwordfan]

and also a bottle of wine or three, you will need it. It can be a bit of a warren.

[rabbitdrop]

hi just in case anyone else checks this post, i thought i'd let you know how it went....
the advice from mushroom was spot on... all exactly as described. So that was great.
what wasnt so great was that pretty much every connection didnt meet up and therefore the whole trip took me six hours! i think i missed a ligne C bus, so that didnt help. Then had about an hour to wait a the train station in biarritz. Fortunately finding the eusko tren was really easy and there was one in the station waiting. Although quite scenic and interesting the eusko tren takes forever to get to donosti (amaya). The directions to the bus stop were really helpful and the bus journey to pamplona was just over an hour.
in relation to buying tickets, i didnt want to buy any in advance because i didnt know what time i'd get to each station. for the lligne c bus this is just a local bus so there is no need to get one (its about 1E). Buying a ticket at the train station at biarritz was quite straightforward in the end (about 7E). I bought my euskotren ticket from a self service machine (about 1.7E). For the Alsa bus i did need to buy a ticket, but luckily the office was open and is just about 100yards back down the main avenue (el sabio) on the same side as the buses. I think that was about 8E. So the journey cost me about 15E in total.
On the way back I didnt want to risk missing the plane, so I got someone to drive me and gave them some petrol money. The car journey was about 1hour 30mins!.
A few people said they thought there was bus from Bayonne but only at certain times of year.
thanks all for help !!