Hendaye - Irun

[Cendrillon]

Please does anyone have experience of changing trains at Hendaye and connecting to a train leaving from Irun.

How much time should one allow. How far is it to walk?

I have read about a tram and a bridge linking the two stations.

[andyh4]

Checking with the Bahn.de site it shows trains from France running into Irun and allows just over 20 minutes connection time there for a RENFE train. So basically you stay on the train at Hendaye and get taken by SNCF across te border.

If it is anything like Cebere and Port Bou on the East side, the reverse happens on the return - train from Spain into the French station.

[Cendrillon]

Thank you so much Andy4

I have spent the last few days going round in circles looking at different websites, I will take another look at Bahn.de

[Pickles]

It's a short walk (few minutes) between the stations.

We went to San Sebastian for a weekend. We flew to Biarritz, where we found a coach that connects with the incoming flight. Unfortunately, it didn't (doesn't?) connect with the outgoing flight so to return, we went to Hendaye on the tram, intending to catch the train to Biarritz and thence bus to the airport. The tram station at Hendaye is only a short walk from the French station, but we found that there was a significant gap in the onward services from the French station over midday/early afternoon. Fortunately, we had given ourselves a lot of time for the journey, but still had to run for the French train (had to buy a ticket, not available from the tram station ...). Depending on where you want to head for, just ensure that you understand the timetables!

[Cendrillon]

Thanks Pickles. All the timetables I could find (until now) did not list through connections to Burgos and I was pretty sure that arriving Hendaye 16.11 and leaving Irun 16.20 train was not going to work!

I have looked at Bahn.de (thanks Andy4) there is one train a.m. on a Sat. from BOD that is listed through to Burgos (via Hendaye - Irun) and (if I remember rightly )that has a 20 minute connecting time. Just trying to avoid arriving at Burgos at 22.00[:(]

Pickles, midday trains in France are not that frequent in my experience, I think everything stops for lunch!

[Cendrillon]

After much research we have now found an earlier train from Bordeaux to Hendaye giving us several hours at Hendaye and loads of time to get to the station at Irun for the train that arrives at Burgos around 17.00.

For the record there is a navette / tram twice an hour I believe,  between the two stations and one needs to buy tickets for that before boarding. I think Pickles mentioned this.

A taxi would be another option but of course traffic conditions are always an unknown factor.

Thanks everyone for your helpful suggestions.

[Cendrillon]

For those who might be travelling this route be warned that the "short walk" is over a busy traffic bridge and IMO not that short either.

The navette is good, turn right out of Hendaye station for this. Buy tickets at the kiosk before you board, the metro type trains are 2 per hour. Irun Colon is the station you need.

If you are over 60 and considering a long train journey in Spain it is possible to buy a Spanish senior "Gold" card for 6 euros which will entitle you to a 40% discount. The card is valid for one year, no photo required, you just need to show your I.D. passport etc.