Hi, arriving in Bordeaux airport at 8.35am on the 17th of September. We are looking to travel straight to San Sebastian and returning to Bordeaux city on the 20th. Could someone point me in the right direction regards the best option for this return journey please? Bus or train. From what I have seen the train is pretty expensive and the bus times might not suit so hoping someone can show us our options.
89,478 posts
93 helpful votes Trains are not cheap unless you take a gamble by booking in advance i.e. now. It is a long way, about 180 miles in all. For either train or bus, you must first travel into Bordeaux city and the Gare St Jean. You can do this by fram, €1,90 or by the airport bus at €8 or uber or taxi at €30 maybe.
Trains from Bordeaux will take you to the border at Hendaye, from where you can take a Spanish train to San Sebastian. Buses are direct.
The unknown is how long it will take you to extricate yourselves from immigration and customs at the airport. I I would allow at least two hours from arrival to train or bus time. By tram it takes around 45 minutes with trams every 10 minutes. The airport bus or taxi take around 30 minutes. The airport bus runs only about every half hour - go to https://30direct.com/en/ for times and on line ticket.
Find train times and tickets at http://www.sncf-connect.com and note there are two types of train. TGV must be reserved which is where the gamble comes in. Miss the train and your ticket is worthless.
You have a TER (regional) train at 1052 arrival at Hendaye 1321. There is no TGV until 1220, arrival 1447. If you miss a TER train you can use it on the next one a little over two hours later. If you have time on your hands, Bordeaux is a very big and very busy station with all the normal facilities.
At Hendaye you walk cross the station yard to the Euskotren station, buy a ticket (no sales on line) which costs about €3 and wait for their trains which run every half hour, every day. (PS San Sebastian is Donostia in the local Basque language. Panic not, they are one and the same place.)
Flixbus to San Sebastian have nothing I can see between 0905 and 1410. Takes around 4 hours, but very much cheaper than trains. They use a 'bus station' about 5 minutes walk from the Gare St Jean in a fairly grim area under a bridge, almost totally devoid of any facilities. The other operator I know of, BlaBla Bus, has nothing before 1520, from the same place.
I have recently spent a month in and around Bordeaux. Come back if you need any more information. I used trains and local buses extensively.
89,478 posts
93 helpful votes Regional trains are about 45 Euros one way. Not cheap, but not extremely expensive either. If there are 2 of you, you get 20 % reduction for the French part, which will give a fare per person of about 35 Euros one-way. 30 % reduction for 3, 40 % reduction for 4 travellers.
Edited: 30 August 2024, 23:29
89,478 posts
93 helpful votes "Regional trains are about 45 Euros one way" €41.50 to be exact. The TGV trains are around €30 if booked now, but will go up in price to about the same amount nearer the time.
To the 41,50 Euros, I added the 2,75 Euros from Hendaye to San Sebastian...
I would allow significantly more than 2 hours to get to Gare Saint-Jean if reserving a TGV train. For the TER it doesn't mater - you can take the first one available after your arrival.
Another option is to look into Blablacar car sharing on the off chance that someone is doing the trip at a time convenient to you.
89,478 posts
93 helpful votes We should have asked from which country the OP will be coming from? If it is outside the Schengen area, which includes UK and Ireland, two hours is the absolute mininum from landing to train. But as there no TGV train until 1220, that's ample providing the flight is on time of course. If coming from within Europe, you should be out of the airport and onto the tram within 30 minutes of arrival and get to Gare St Jean in plenty of time for the 1052 TER..
