Hi everyone, the countdown for San Fermin started on January 1st we have past the second rung on the ladder dos febrero.

I thought people might like some travel info on how to get to and from Pamplona. The info below is from the Town council website.

Hope it is helpful.

By Car
To enter and leave the city, Pamplona is connected to a network of roads which leave the city in the direction of Huesca, Zaragoza, Logroño, San Sebastian and Irun. In fact, long distance journeys as well as those within the province or the district are made principally by the following roads :
- The N-121 (Pamplona - Zaragoza), which is also connected to the A-15. This motorway runs to the north as far as Irurtzun, where the motorway which leads to San Sebastián begins, while to the south it is connected with the Autopista del Ebro (A-68) which leads, to the east to Zaragoza and to the west to Logroño. This road is also connected to the N-113 to Madrid;
- The N-111 (Pamplona - Logroño);
- The N-240 (Pamplona - Jaca);
- The N-240-A (the Sakana motorway which links Pamplona, Vitoria and San Sebastián, which is also linked to the A-15 motorway)
- The N-121-A (Pamplona - Behovia), and t
- The NA-135 (Pamplona to France via Valcarlos).
Thus, the best way to reach Pamplona from San Sebastián is to take the Autovía del Norte which goes as far as Irurtzun, (30 km from Pamplona) where it is also possible to connect with the A-15 motorway which passes by Pamplona. The Sakana motorway also goes as far as Irurtzun and this is the one to take if one is coming from Vitoria.
On the other hand, access to Navarra from the Castilian plateau is via the N-1 Madrid - Irun, and if coming from Galicia via the N-634 as far as Bilbao where it is necessary to change to the motorway which leads to Vitoria.
Access to or from France is made via the following routes:
N-121 A (Pamplona - Behovia)
N-121 B (Pamplona to France via Baztan)
N-135 (Pamplona to France via Valcarlos)
N 138 (Pamplona to France via Alduides)
N-240A (which links Pamplona with San Sebastián where it joins with the Behovia motorway)
Also the ring road network, composed of the NA-30 (Ronda Norte 'north'), NA-32 (Ronda Este 'east') and the Ronda Oeste ('west') between them connect with towns in the district and various parts of the city, with which it is possible to make the journeys between the various sectors of Pamplona.
Although the distances look short on the map, the roads are usually narrow and slow going so give yourself enough time to get there safely
By Bus
The bus station which is situated in the centre of the city, has daily services to Alicante, Andalucia, Barcelona, Bilbao, Salou, Peñiscola, Gijon, Oviedo, Irun, Jaca, Jaen, Logroño, Madrid, San Sebastian, Santander, Soria, Vigo, Vitoria and Zaragoza. It also has daily services linking it to the major destinations in Navarra.
Around 2,200,000 passengers travel annually in the 80,000 buses which enter and leave the station every year.
From Pamplona there are also other lines which connect with the major towns in the region.
There are two websites for buses- www.condasa.com or www.continental-auto.es
By Train
The railway passengers' station is to be found in the district of San Jorge, not far from the centre of the city, and has regular services to Alicante, Alsasua, Barcelona, Burgos, Coruña, Irun, Hendaya, Leon, Lugo, Madrid, Orense, Oviedo, Palencia, San Sebastian, Valencia, Vigo, Vitoria and Zaragoza. To arrive from the south it is necessary to change at Madrid.
The website for the train is- http://www.renfe.es you can reserve your seats prior to travel time
By Plane
The airport is situated at Noain, some seven kilometres from Pamplona, but which has good road communications with the capital. Around 200,000 passengers a year use the airport, which operates regular flights to Madrid and Barcelona.
The airline that flies into Pamplona is Iberria. It is a small airport and they only have a few flights per day. They do not add extra flight to accommodated people during San Fermin so plan early.

A cheap alternative could be to go to a camping. The problem is that they
are fairly far out of town. There is a good camp site, Camping Ezcaba (Ctra.
Irun, Km. 7/Tel. 948 33 03 15/33 16 65) at Eusa. But if you are planning to
hit the bottle during the Fiesta it's not a good idea to drive to and from
there. There is a fixed rate to the Camping Ezkaba: 12 € with no charge for
the parcel. But when you get to Pamplona you have the added problem of
finding a place to park. In fact what sometimes happens is, many visitors
stay put there and do their own thing during the Fiesta without coming into
Pamplona. It's probably good fun but at the same time it's a pity to miss
out on the show going on in town, especially after having travelled so far.
Other campings even further out are the: Camping Errota-El Molino (in
Mendigorria), Camping Lizarra (in Lizarra-Estella) and Camping Aralar (in
Lekunberri).
Cheap accommodation inside of pamplona is usually further out in the suburbs of pamplona. Make sure you know where they are before you send or give people any money. Some of these places aren't bad they are in the modern areas and the buses are good and run all night. personally it is a big hassle for me when I am ready to crash to try and get home when it is 20-30 minutes away.

You can also check at the trian staions and bus stations there is people there looking to rent a room in their house. If you are comfrotable staying in strnager house with them for the night you should possibly be able to find a place for the night or two. Don't give them any money until you see the house and know where you are.

If you are young and traveling light this can be a solution as oppssed to sleeping in the park (whcih I don't recommend at all) If you are in for just the night get a locker and stah your stuff, don't keep anything of value on your person. The pickpockets are wicked. Sleep in open areas the more public the better. Sleep in groups. DO NOT KEEP ANYTHING OF VALUE ON YOUR PERSON. Last year some of my friend woke to having had their pants slit open and every cent gone. That goes for putting it at the bottom of your sleeping bag since they will slit the end of your bag as well.

Have fun out there the begining of the fiesta will be very crowded and the pickpockets come from all over to work this fiesta.


Hope this helps. You can email me if you have any questions about the fiesta. I have been going for several years and know the ins and outs of the fiesta.

Viva San fermin Gora!!

And now we've passed "tres de marzo"...

Another hint on lodging. If you find yourself without a place to stay, head to a residential area where larger buildings are located...like at the end of Zarasate and ring a random bell. When they answer, give a name like "Pablo" or "propaganda" and you'll get buzzed in.

Go all the way upstairs to the "atico" and sleep on the landing at the very top...a half-floor above the top apartment floor. Nobody ever sees you, it's out of the elements, and very quiet.

We have friends and family in town who forgot we were coming one year and we ended up doing this. Works like a charm, and nobody picks your pocket!

Let me give you some advices as a Spanish San Fermin Lover.
- If you plan to watch the bull run on the streets you will have to know that they start at 8.00 Am every day during the hole San Fermin week.
You should be there al least one hour before the run begins in order to have a minimun space from where to watch it as the streets are very crowded, you will see two woden made rows painted in red all along the run in order to protect tired or runners with some kind of problem and the rest of the streets from the bulls, it is very very very common than Pamplonicas from abroad ;-) sit on the first row for one or two hours before the run starts thinking that they got luck for get such an impressive place from where to watch it but when the run starts police will ask you to move because this row is reserved for medical and sucurity staff and runners in danger, but by the time they`ll tell you, it will be too late to get another place to look at running bulls. So you must take your place in the second row and you won't be dissapointed thinking that they have move you just for being from abroad (some people that doesn't know the non writed rules of San fermin might take this impression because there will be only tourist sit on that row) I know that some people will say me that if I am nuts for telling you this (because the space is limitted and the croud is huge and there won't be space for the spaniards to wach the running bulls, so please keep the secret ;-) )

- If you are planning to run the bulls my advice is not to do it, you must consider that it is not a game or a sport activitie, you really put your live in serius danger and you don't know how to run the bulls, cos it seems to be easy as it is a fiesta atmosphear, but as I told there are lots of rules that are a must if you plan to finish the run alive.

- but if you still want to run the bulls you should take these advices very seriusly.
NEVER I SAID NEVER touch a bull, in the best of the cases you will be hit in the face with a vara (wooden pice carried by the staff that takes care of the bulls and that they are running all the run behind the bulls) in the worst of the cases the bull will change his way to say hello to the guy who loves he as much to touch him.
If you fall down to the floor (very very common) in front of the bulls NEVER GET UP untill some other runner softly hits your head with a newspaper or makes you some king of signal, this means that the danger has pass trough and you can now move. If you get up as soon as you can falling in front of a bull the most probably thing that happen is that you'll get home in a wooden box. If it is possible lie down covering your head with your arms and crossed to the natural running direction of the bulls as it is much easier to the bulls to jump over you as well as for the rest of the runners.
Before running study the strech you are planning tu run and where can you leave the race with no danger, plase note that no one can run the hole stretch and the most expert runners always run in the same strech from years so as you can imagine they really know the floor they are above.
Never take with you cameras bags or whatever and use your most confortable sport shoes, also consider that the floor is very very slippery. Never run if you have drink alcohol or if you dind't sleep well the night before.
There are some strech danger that others, for example the entrance to the bull fight ring or the beginning of the run, ask locals for advice for a beginner runner.
I hope this info will be usefull.
Running the bulls is not a joke!!!

if you need further information visit this URL ( is also abailable in english and has got lots of interesting pics) http://www.sanfermin.com

And please once again excuse my english I'm doing my best ;-)