Leon to San Sebastian query

[john77]

I'm planning to travel between Leon and San Sebastian on 3rd October but there appears to be a replacement bus between Vitoria Gasteiz and San Sebastian. I want to use one of our interrail days for the journey so need to make seat reservations. I can do that for the first leg to Valladolid on RailEurope but not the second leg, it says I have to do that at the station, possibly because of the bus replacement. I don't want to get there and find there's no room on the bus, is that likely ?

As an aside, RailEurope is showing a service for San Sebastian departing Leon at 9:48, with a change in Vallodolid, but there's no sign of it on the Renfe website on Saturdays or Sundays,even though you can book the journeys individually !

 

[30907]

I'm planning to travel between Leon and San Sebastian on 3rd October but there appears to be a replacement bus between Vitoria Gasteiz and San Sebastian. I want to use one of our interrail days for the journey so need to make seat reservations. I can do that for the first leg to Valladolid on RailEurope but not the second leg, it says I have to do that at the station, possibly because of the bus replacement. I don't want to get there and find there's no room on the bus, is that likely ?

As an aside, RailEurope is showing a service for San Sebastian departing Leon at 9:48, with a change in Vallodolid, but there's no sign of it on the Renfe website on Saturdays or Sundays,even though you can book the journeys individually !

RENFE will not sell through tickets unless they have programmed it, usually with a substantial buffer at the likes of Madrid. Valladolid isn't the direct route of course.

 

[john77]

Thanks for the reply, but they do sell this service from M-F, just not weekends, at least the one I am looking at.

 

[mad_rich]

Rail Europe gives that message about reserving at the station when it can’t find a result. Don’t take it literally!

HappyRrail seems content to sell reservations from Vitoria-Gasteiz to San Sebastián-Donostía, with times that match Rene. I would book there.

 

[Sir Felix Pole]

If all else fails, Alsa run Vitoria to San Sebastian in 1h 15m with a reasonable number of daily journeys starting from 10.50 Euros! The motorway is a lot more direct than the railway.

Looking at the train times the RRBs seem to run from Tolosa in the evening which is a lot nearer to San Sebastian.

 

[john77]

Thanks all, I have made reservations with HappyRail (they make no mention of replacement buses) and we will see what happens...

 

[danshrimp]

I did this rail replacement bus last weekend (which, yes, went from Tolosa, but the exact place they choose to break the journey seems to vary a little) with my Interrail reservations all booked through HappyRail, and it all went very smoothly. In fact the coaches were very nice, with blisteringly cold air con!

 

[30907]

Thanks for the reply, but they do sell this service from M-F, just not weekends, at least the one I am looking at.

I can't get RENFE to sell this on weekdays either. The connection may be too tight or they may not have got around to adding the combination.
I've had exactly the same with 2 AVEs either side of Madrid - they insist on 2hr or so for a through ticket whereas RE/DB/IR would have allowed me to travel a good hour earlier.
(I'm not, I left it too late....)