1

Hi!

And welcome to the forum. Would be much better to know how many days do you have available, if you have already some starting point or departing point fixed (flights?), season of the trip, or what type of trip are you thinking of in terms of budget or activities...

The question like this is quite open. The meaning of P, P+ and so on are type of tickets (Promo, Promo+, Flexible...) with different conditions. Depending of your trip, probably some type of ticket will be more useful to you, again, a bit more info is needed.

Anyway, do a small research online to define in your opinion what places you would like to visit, and those would be more interesting. Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria and Basque Country have interesting things each of them...

You have also the bus option available if you want to gain some time.

Give us further info and probably the people will help you properly.

Enjoy!

2

As you are from the U.S. you probably need the comprehensive guide to purchasing, discounts, explanations and troubles for online purchase of tickets on RENFE -
http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Travel-g187514-c80518/Madrid:Spain:Buying.Renfe.Tickets.Online..html

3

Hi bunchino!

Welcome to TT!

It would be a good idea if you provide some more info. How many days do you have to make the route? What's your arrival and departure point in Spain? What are you looking for in the trip? I mean, What type of places you want to visit along the route? In other words, when you stop in a town, do you want to go to the beach? see art? Nature?...


P=Promo
P+=Promo +
M=Mesa (for groups of 3 or 4 people)
F=Flexible

Each of these fares has its rules regarding changes, cancelations...

P.S.: Nowadays, FEVE is owned by RENFE too.

4

Hi thanks everybody. I guess I made it too vague.
I will travel alone in late April and want to spend about a week in north. I'll arrive from Madrid (via France), been considering my northern travel starting point as Leon, Bilbao, Santiago, Oviedo where I'll arrive by air or Renfe. Quite open for suggestion.
I tend to prefer train than bus as I get car sick reading a book in a car ( not on train or air), but short distance bus ride will be ok.
I looked into the luxury El Transcatabrio ride, but too expensive when solo supplement is added.
As FEVE trains are very slow, I figured I can do only the half of the north coast unless informed otherwise.
I suppose the ideal mode will be renting a car, but bit nervous about driving a Manuel shift alone without speaking Spanish.
I've been other areas of Spain, but never the north (except San Sebastián) and like to experience local food, culture, architecture, landscape and just country life. Although Im not a big hiker( 50+ female), i prefer landscapes of mountain, meadow or desert than beach ( but love seafood and small fishing towns, just not into sun bathing). Not interested in trendy city scene or shopping ( I live in NY & don't go to Spain for busy urban life).
Any advice will be appreciated.
Another question: if I want to visit Picos de Europa, which town ( potes, cangas, Fuentes de) will be the easiest to go around without a car ( willing to pay for taxi, if any available). Or will the hotel or Parador will provide transportation to the park with a fee?
Traveling in April, do you think I need a firm itinerary/hotel/train reservations? Or can I be flexible?

5

As you want to see the Picos, and in your timeframe I would suggest to go from Santander to Oviedo. Some possible stops could be Torrelavega (not to visit Torrelavega but only to take a bus to Santillana del Mar and bus back to Torrelavega to take your next train), Llanes, Ribadesella and Arriondas (for the Picos, see below). San Vicente de la Barquera could be interesting too but the town is far away of the train station (roughly 3-4 kms, you could make it by taxi but you'll probably have to have the phone number of a taxi driver from S. Vicente de la Barquera to pick you in the train station). BTW, the train sation of S. Vicente de la Barquera is in the village of la Acebosa, in the municipality of S. Vicente de la Barquera. You could skip Cabezón de la Sal and take a bus from Santillana del Mar to (downtown) S. Vicente de la Barquera (verify if that would be a long bus ride for you though).
Once in Oviedo, if you have time you can go by train to Gijón. If you are looking for a smaller place, you could take a FEVE train to Cudillero in Gijón. Avilés is in the train route from Gijón to Cudillero and could be interesting too (it's smaller than Gijón and bigger than Cudillero)...

As FEVE trains are very slow, I figured I can do only the half of the north coast unless informed otherwise

Not only they are very slow but in some routes they have very few frequencies.

if I want to visit Picos de Europa, which town ( potes, cangas, Fuentes de) will be the easiest to go around without a car ( willing to pay for taxi, if any available). Or will the hotel or Parador will provide transportation to the park with a fee?

Let's see the closest train station to the Park is in Arriondas (close to Cangas de Onís). Well, there's a funicular to Bulnes in the park but it isn't connected to other trains. From Cangas de Onís (a (very) short bus ride away from Arriondas) is easy to reach the park and I think there are enterprises that make excursions to the park although I don't know if only in high-season. I don't know how much would charge a taxi but ask around.
Fuente De is within the park and you can take a cableway to higher parts of the park but buses to Fuente De are seasonal only and the bus ride from Unquera (the train station you would need to use) and Fuente De is longer than the bus ride from Arriondas to the Park.

Traveling in April, do you think I need a firm itinerary/hotel/train reservations? Or can I be flexible?

Generally speaking, you can be flexible. Weekends are more busy though. Be aware of possible local festivals as they could make difficult to find accomodation in small towns.

6

There is twice aday a train from Oviedo to Ferrol, which takes about 6 hours and 30 minutes. However, if you want to visit the Picos de Europa, you should take the part from Oviedo to Santander or Bilbao. I am planning to take the FEVE, but up to now I haven't done so. To really enjoy the scenery it would be better if you had a car, because many of the nicest spotr cannot or only with some difficulties, be reached by public tranport. Although the part between Oviedo and Ferrol has it highlights, I personally like the part west of A Coruña the best as well as the Rias Baixas. The coast is impressive, you can eat very well and you see the real rural Spain.

7

Thanks both. Helps great deal.

Although it is not final, this is what I'm thinking.

Day 1: Madrid to Coruna (air), then to Ferrol by taxi or bus. Sleep in Ferrol
Day 2: Ferrol to Veveiro for lunch , Veveiro to Ribado or Luarca. Sleep in R or L (any advice?)
Day 3: R or L to Oviedo, stay 2 days make day trip to Gijon, Cudilleo, Aviles.
Day 5: Oviedo to Llanes for lunch stop, after lunch
- Llanes to Cangas ( bus) & find excursion to Picos. 2 days
or.- Llanes to Torrelavega (feve), then to Santillana del Mar(bus), 2 days
Day 7: to Santander for lunch. Is it worth stopping in Santander? I have a feeling it maybe be very touristic?
After lunch to Bilbao, stay 1 or 2 nights.
Day 8: Bilbao to Leon or Burgos (renfe). Question: is it a scenic ride? If not, I'll fly to Madrid without stopping.
Between Leon and Burgos, which is more interesting? I'm not too impressed with Cathedrals (seen too many over the years
and prefer Moorish palaces, if any) I like just to walk around, go to open food markets, eat good food and belle arte .
Very interested in seeing good exhibition. The main reason coming to Spain this time is to see an exhibition in Thyssen.
Yes, no need to tell me about the Guggenheim. I'm a member of the museum.
Day 9: from Leon or Burgos to Madrid (train)

Question: do I need to take my over the ankle hiking boots ( very bulky) for Picos? In some national parks in US, one needs them not to break your ankles even for a short trail. I searched the official web, but didnt get any practical advice. Maybe in Spanish?

Thanks again for all your help.

8

Another question, do you think my iPhone/iPad (4G) will work en route when not in hotels with wifi?

9

Your schedule seems OK. Some remarks.
1. There is also a train (RENFE) connection between A Coruña and Ferrol. The two stations, RENFE and FEVE are next to each other.
2. If I had to chose I would sleep in Coruña and not in Ferrol. Ferrol is lrathert small and not that interesting. A Coruña has much more interesting parts: the old part of town (Ciudad Vieja), the lighthouse, Torre de Hercules and some museums.
3. Viveiro is nice and could be a good place to have lunch. Go to the old part of town.
4. Besides Ribadeo and Luarca, you could also sleep in Vegadeo. I had coffee there a number of times and like the place. It is smaller than Ribadeo, but more compact and I seem to remember that the station is closer to the center of the town than is the case in Ribadeo. I have no information about Luarca.
5. Doing thre daytrip from Oviedo, while the town itself has quite a lot to offer seems almost impossible. Gijon and Avilés both have a nice center, while Cudillero is cute, but very touristic.
6. I don't now the area east of Oviedo well and refrain form further comments.
7. You could use http://www.viamichelin.com/web/Maps to get an idea where exactly the stations in each place are situated.

10

Thank you so much, Liberal.
I'll follow your suggestion,

11

I don't now the area east of Oviedo well and refrain form further comments.

I'll comment about it.

Day 5: Oviedo to Llanes for lunch stop, after lunch
- Llanes to Cangas ( bus) & find excursion to Picos. 2 days
or.- Llanes to Torrelavega (feve), then to Santillana del Mar(bus), 2 days

Llanes to Cangas involves backtracking. It could be better to make Cangas first. Buses to/from llanes depart/arrive from/to Arriondas.
1 full day could be enough for Santillana del Mar. Torrelavega isn't interesting at all and I would only use it as a transport hub. If you are willing to visit the Picos, go to the Picos and leave Santillana del Mar for another trip to Cantabria.

Day 7: to Santander for lunch. Is it worth stopping in Santander? I have a feeling it maybe be very touristic?

Santander is crowded in summer due to tourists going to its beaches but in April isn't crowded. Be aware Santander has few sights. It's great for promenades though. You could skip it but if the alternative is to spend that time in Torrelavega, go to Santander!

Day 8: Bilbao to Leon or Burgos (renfe). Question: is it a scenic ride? If not, I'll fly to Madrid without stopping.

After Pancorbo is really boring. If you want a scenic ride, take the FEVE from Bilbao to León.

Between Leon and Burgos, which is more interesting? I'm not too impressed with Cathedrals (seen too many over the years
and prefer Moorish palaces, if any) I like just to walk around, go to open food markets, eat good food and belle arte .

I guess you'd like León more.

stay 2 days make day trip to Gijon, Cudilleo, Aviles.

You can't visit all those places in a single day, you'll have to choose. Liberat described them for you in #9. Perhaps, you don't make any daytrip and spend all your time in Oviedo... Plan once on the ground.

do I need to take my over the ankle hiking boots ( very bulky) for Picos? In some national parks in US, one needs them not to break your ankles even for a short trail. I searched the official web, but didnt get any practical advice. Maybe in Spanish?

It's never a bad idea to take good boots when visiting mountain areas. You'll see tourists with (almost) all sort of footwear though.

12

Hi again!:

Day 2: Ferrol to Viveiro* for lunch , Viveiro* to Ribadeo* or Luarca. Sleep in R or L (any advice?)

I would chose Luarca for many reasons: It´s very nice place, with a little port, just like the places you want. Also has quite a good offer in terms of hotels and restaurants, and if you have time, don´t miss a visit to the Giant Squid Museum just right in the harbour. So sleep over, see the museum and some walk around in the morning and then move on in your trip. From there to Oviedo I would go by bus: is like 1h ride, and you have 5-6 buses/day. By train, it will take you around 2.5h and in the middle of the day, you will loose all the time traveling...

Cudillero is closer from Luarca than from Oviedo, perhaps you can think about take the train Luarca-Cudillero, see the place for couple of hours and then go to Oviedo by bus...

Day 3: R or L to Oviedo, stay 2 days make day trip to Gijon, Cudilleo, Aviles.

Oviedo is worth it at the very least half day (try to visit the pre-Romanesque buildings in the Naranco Montain), and you can go to Gijon quite easy by train or bus in less than half an hour, also worth a visit. But in a couple of days or one and a half day, Oviedo and Gijon should be more than OK in my opinion.

Day 5: Oviedo to Llanes for lunch stop, after lunch

• Llanes to Cangas ( bus) & find excursion to Picos. 2 days

Again, by train Oviedo-Llanes is 2.5h, by bus would be like 1.5h. You could also think about going to Cangas de Onis first, see the Covadonga´s Lakes and the Church and sleep there, and the next day go to Llanes and then to Cantabria, or if you have time, stay there for some hiking around.

Day 7: to Santander for lunch. Is it worth stopping in Santander? I have a feeling it maybe be very touristic?
After lunch to Bilbao, stay 1 or 2 nights

As others pointed out, better try to visit Santillana del Mar, Comillas or something like that and not Torrelavega or even Santander. Specially if you had visit Gijon, Santander is pretty similar in many aspects. But no, is not touristic.

My personal impression is that you will spend quite a lot of time in the train, because is quite slow and few frecuencies and most of them will be in the day, so you will see Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria from the window train and not really visiting places... I´m not saying is not nice, is just this type of trip.

(As a remainder, is possible to rent a car with automatic shift.)

Enjoy!!

About the mobile, not sure, but probably you will need a spanish phone card.

13

WOW!! Thanks, Anillos and Gablo. You guys really know the area so well.

I will look into bus, but there seem to be so many bus companies in Spain, was confused to find who goes where and the schedule.
I guess I really don't need to book in advance in small towns and I can arrange once I'm there? And easy to find where the bus station is located, I suppose.
I didn't find any train to Cangas, I guess reachable only by bus?
Yes, it is a long and slow train ride, but I do not mind. Once I did 52 hour train ride in dead winter from Chicago to Seattle ( it was more expensive than 1sr class plane ride as I had my own compartment ), looked out nothing but endless white snow covered field for days, I was happy as a little lamb. I suppose there are toilets on FEVE? I think no snack bars, if I'm not mistaken.

I checked all big towns, only Bilbao airport had automatic trans cars for rental. Then, I still feel a bit nervous.
I'm an expert in getting lost when I drive, will be a disaster not able to ask for direction in Spanish.
I really don't know what to expect. But still considering..

If you know some good hotels/restaurants to recommend, it will be great.
Thanks a million again.

14

You have a brief description of FEVE regional trains in this blog.