Oh boy, I just found this thanks to this site, I think this warrants a pit stop.

http://gospain.about…

1. Raileurope is a travel agency. It sells tickets at “global” prices which are about 30% more than the standard fare you’ll pay at the train station. Either buy the tickets as you go or try to buy from the Renfe, the Spanish National Rail company and/or SNCF, the French company (using France as your home country to avoid being linked to Raileurope). The links are here: http://www.eurotrip….. You might find advance purchase specials at even better fares, but these will not be flexible.
2. I doubt that a eurail pass (which you can probably each buy as US citizens) or an interrail pass (which she can buy as a Spanich resident and you may be able to buy as a French citizen) will help with the cost, but it’s worth looking at. Enter your itinerary in the trip planner or use the “railsaver tool” under the “bookings” tab for a recommendation about eurail. Check
http://www.interrail… for info about interrail. Raileurope is a good source for information about eurail.
3. I would look at renting a car for part of the trip. This is great country to explore on your own, but it will probably be more expensive than train or bus.
4. Try www.eurolines.com for information about international buses. You will probably have to do a lot of goggle research to find the smaller bus companies that serve the areas you’re visiting. Find train schedules for anywhere in Euope on the German national rail company website: http://reiseauskunft…

Thank you for the help. After doing some research it looks like it wouldn’t be too expensive to rent a car the entire time. I was looking at schedules on the train and it seems like it would waste a lot of travel time and not offer much flexibility. According to europecar.com I could rent a car from Madrid to Irun for about $156 and then from Biarritz to La Baule for about $180. That will allow us to go to San Sebastian, Pamplona, Biarritz and wherever else along the way for not much more than what train tickets would be. The only thing is I dont know if these prices I am being quoted include everything or if there are other fees. For instance the website says:

Price excludes:

Collision Damage Waiver (See T&Cs for excess charge details ) $ 87,03 per rental
Super Loss Damage Waiver (SLDW) $ 57,08 per rental
Theft Waiver (See T&Cs for excess charge details ) $ 17,41 per rental
Personal Accident Insurance (PAI) $ 30,98 per rental

I would think these are optional but I am not really sure. I assume I am going to be hit with a under 25 fee (I am 24) but what else can I expect other than the fee they are quoting?

I’m not saying don’t do it, but doing this by car will likely be more complicated than you think depending on your actual plans. For Pamplona are you wanting to drive down from San Sebastian and spend the day/night?

At least some of that insurance is required by law. In addition to the rental fee and the insurance, gas is pricey, tolls can add up on the newer autovias, and parking will be expensive or difficult. Taking a car to Pamplona is a pain in the a**. I’ve done it myself and during the festival it is so crazy that finding parking in other major SPanish cities seems like a breeze. One option is to base yourselves in San Sebastian and take one of the frequent buses or trains from there to Pamplona and back. I can give you more details about my experiences if you want.

Yes please do. The issue with basing myself in Saint Sebastian is we would h ave to leave the rental St Sebastian to keep our stuff, take a bus/train to Pamplona the evening of the 6th, find a place in Pamplona the night of the 6th (which I hear is impossible), watch the running of the bulls on the 7th, then get a ride back to San sebastian before taking the rental to Irun, dropping it off and taking a train to Biarritz. What would you recommend? Maybe I need to rethink taking a rental in Spain and only getting a rental while in France. If you want, check my other thread I have linked above to get a better description of travel plans. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Did you run with the bulls?

Ok so here is my new travel plan, please critique.

Rental car from Madrid to San Sebastian (5 hour drive) on the 5th , arrive as early as possible and check out the town. Find a hotel/hostel to stay at

Leaving later on the 6th, to arrive in Pamplona at around 4pm. Try to find a place to stay, if not sleep in the rental car. Check out the scene that night and then watch (maybe run?) the running of the bulls on the 7th.

Leave shortly after the running of the bulls on the 7th for destination Irun. Once in Irun, return the rental car and get across the border to Hendaye France (what do I need to know about doing this? Do I need to clear customs?) Take a train from Hendaye to Biarritz (voyages-sncf.com, 7 euro). Once in Biarritz hang out at the beach and find a place to stay.

On the 8th, rent another car to get us from Biarritz to La Baule (7 hours yikes) stopping wherever we want. Continue the rest of the vacation in La Baule until I fly back to Miami.

Also, I should have insurance coverage through my credit card. Any issues with using this?

This is an extraordinarily busy time in these two cities; it will pretty much impossible to just show up and find a place to stay in Pamplona and difficult in San Sebastian. I did a quick search in San Sebastian and found just five hostels that had availability for your date, and two require at least two nights stays. Hotels don’t look much better, especially with three of you.

The first time I went to Pamplona I drove from Sevilla, arrived late afternoon/early evening and drove around for an hour trying to find a place to park before finally settling on a big lot on the edge of the city. I walked into the heart of things, ate some extraordinarily overpriced food, and went back to my car to sleep, which sucked. Even in the summer it can get quite chilly at night in Pamplona and the cars around me were blaring heavy metal all night. I woke up early, met two girls I knew who were coming on the train from Barcelona, ran with the bulls, and then we headed to San Sebastian hoping to stay at a hostel my friends had stayed at before. The sign on the door said full, but wouldn’t you know it, the young Aussie who ran it found two beds for my friends I struck out at a few budget places and just bit the bullet and went to a five star hotel.

The second time I drove from Barcelona, stayed at a hotel in San Sebastian, drove down really early to run (parked at the train station at like 6 a.m.), ran, made a quick visit to the first aid tent, drove back up to San Sebastian to shower and check out, and then drove to far southeastern Spain. The only reason I drove was because I had cars rented for a month both times anyway.

If you’re all ok with the prospect of spending hours looking for parking/accommodation then go for it, but make damn sure your girlfriend and her friend are up for it If I remember correctly, it’s the same train station at Irun/Hendaye, you just have to switch trains going from one country to the other because their rail systems use different gauge tracks – should be no customs.

I forgot something – I don’t think your credit card insurance will work in place of what’s required by law (fire and third party liability) because the agency doesn’t have proff that you’re covered, but looking at the Europcar website I think these mandatory insurance coverage might be included in the rate you cited and the coverages mentioned for additional fees might be the optional ones, but I’d call to make sure.

Hmmm sounds pretty hectic but what are my other options? I was looking at train schedules and none really seem accommodating for being where I want to be at certain times. Would you recommend leaving the car in San Sebastian and taking a train to Pamplona? The party the night before seems pretty fun but if you think it over rated maybe we will skip it and just watch the race. If you wanted to go from madrid, to san sebastian, to pamplona, to biarritz all in 4 days would you take a car or train? Where are you looking for hostels/hotels? It will only be the girlfriend and I, her friend is flying home from Madrid on the 5th. Is it possible for me to just buy/bring a small 2 person tent and finding some random field off some side road to camp? Can you give me some insight on the running of the bulls? Would you recommend running for a first timer thats never been? Im in excellent shape and dont plan on drinking heavily but I just dont know what to expect. Is it something I can do without having the odds against me of not getting a horn in the butt? Not looking to be anywhere near the bulls, just want to do the experience.

Check out the posts about this year and some about prior years in our special “running with the bulls” forum. There’s some very detailed “how to” information from prior years and a video in a more recent post.

Well, I am leaving today so I will let you all know how it goes. Feel free to answer any questions in that last post of mine because I should be able to check it one more time before I leave. Thanks!

People do camp in parks, just a matter of finding a spot where it’s allowed, but what do you do with your stuff when you want to go check out the festivities?

You could always do bus between San Sebastian & Pamplona, be it one way or a round trip with you based in San Sebastian going down just for the running or to party overnight, watch the running and then bus back up. Tickets can be bought here: http://www.movelia.e…

There are also train tickets available from both San Sebastian and Pamplona to Irun/Hendaye on July 7, so you could buy that on the Spanish website and then purchase the Hendaye-Biarritz portion on the French site.

http://www.renfe.com

Good luck and have fun whatever you decide.

Hello.

Reporting from `Madrid. Any recomendations to find a place to stay in San Sebastian? We have been using kayak without much success.