The V International Conference on the American Literary West: (Un)Charted and Nomadic West(s) will take place in October 2022. From the 3th to the 5th of that month we would be delighted if you had a chance to come to Vitoria-Gasteiz and participate in our conference. For those of you who are presenting a paper or those of you who are planning to come, we want to give you some traveling tips so that you can start planning your trip.
In what follows, you will find information on how to get to Vitoria-Gasteiz and, if needed, where to stay. If you have any further inquiry, don't hesitate to ask. You can use our email address and get in touch with us, asking for help at amaia.ibarraran@ehu.eus, david.rio@ehu.eus and/or angel.chaparro@ehu.eus. Or just write your comment here.
How to Get to Vitoria-Gasteiz
Vitoria-Gasteiz (Vitoria is the Spanish name, Gasteiz is in Basque) is the capital city of the autonomous community of the Basque Country in northeastern Spain. If you wish to know more about it you can visit any of the following links: wikipedia, the official website of the city council or the BasqueCountry tourist office website.
Vitoria-Gasteiz has very good train connections. If you are a train traveling lover, you may want to check the RENFE website (national railway company) and see if train traveling is your best option to come to Vitoria-Gasteiz. If you choose to fly, you will need to use more than one means of transport because you can’t make it right to Vitoria-Gasteiz by plane. Vitoria-Gasteiz has its own airport but this is only use for freight transport at the moment. Update: very recently this airport has started again to schedule some flights (Seville, Bergamo, Cologne and Tenerife, you may want to check the following link: Vitoria-Gasteiz airport).
However, there are other ways to make it to Vitoria-Gasteiz. You can go for any of the two following traveling plans if you are choosing this travel option (flying):
However, there are other ways to make it to Vitoria-Gasteiz. You can go for any of the two following traveling plans if you are choosing this travel option (flying):
From Bilbao
If you are flying, probably, the best (meaning cheapest) way to get to Vitoria-Gasteiz is to fly to Bilbao International Airport. This is the nearest airport with international connections. If you are flying overseas then you’ll probably have to travel in two steps, via Paris, Frankfurt, Madrid or London. It is also worth mentioning that there are some low-fare companies operating to and from Bilbao (Easyjet, Air Berlin, Vueling…)
If you feel like coming right to Vitoria-Gasteiz after you landed in Bilbao, you’ll need to go first to Bilbao Intermodal, Bilbao’s main bus station. There, you’ll be able to catch a bus to Vitoria-Gasteiz. But before that, you need to come from Bilbao International Airport to the city center, which is about half an hour away from the airport. You can easily catch a shuttle bus from the one and only bus stop that you’ll find outside arrivals. The ticket is cheap and you pay directly at the bus (very recently they have opened a ticket booth close to the international exit at arrivals so maybe it is no longer necessary to pay directly at the bus). Buses come every 20-30 minutes and the ride only takes about 20-25 minutes. You have to stay on the bus until the last stop in Bilbao, which is that of Bilbao Intermodal. You can check the schedules here. The only other way to get from the Airport to Bilbao Intermodal would be to take a taxi (a bit faster, but much more expensive, around 20-30 euros).
Once in Bilbao Intermodal, you can take a bus to Vitoria-Gasteiz. The company running these buses is called La Unión, and you can check the schedules here. Direct buses take around one hour and it will amount for about 6 euros. You have to buy your tickets at the La Unión ticket booth in Bilbao Intermodal. You can ask at the ticket booth for the buses running right to the university area. Not all of them have a stop at college. Otherwise, you will be dropped at the main station and you will have to take a taxi, an intercity bus, the tramway or a walk to your hotel, the downtown or our building. It would not be a bad idea to buy your bus ticket from Bilbao to Vitoria-Gasteiz on the internet beforehand.
Tip: we wouldn’t recommend you to get a taxi from Bilbao to Vitoria-Gasteiz. Vitoria-Gasteiz is about sixty miles away from Bilbao and it would be very expensive to make that trip by taxi. Bus is cheap, quick, easy to get there and it gives you a chance to read or take a nap.
From Madrid
Another option would be to fly to Madrid first. In that case, there are two options available for you:
1) To arrive to Vitoria-Gasteiz by train. You need first to travel from the Adolfo Suarez International Airport (formerly known as Barajas) to Chamartín train station by metro. Take metro line 8 to Mar de Cristal and from there then take line 4 to Pinar de Chamartín first and then line 1 to Chamartín. Once in Chamartín Railway Station you can take a train to Vitoria-Gasteiz. There are around seven trains connecting Madrid and Vitoria-Gasteiz every day and prices range from 40 to 60 euros approximately. The trip takes around three to five hours. You can check schedules and prices here. And if you want to check the metro timetable, you can visit the following website: metro Madrid.
2) To arrive to Vitoria-Gasteiz by bus. The company running the buses from Madrid to Vitoria-Gasteiz is called Alsa. You have a ticket office at Adolfo Suarez International Airport (Barajas) but these buses leaving from the airport run only from Madrid to Bilbao. You can buy a ticket to Vitoria-Gasteiz, but you’ll probably have to make a connecting stop in Bilbao. There are only a few buses making this trip from the airport to Bilbao and they won’t probably fit with your flying plans. If these is so, you’ll have to do the following:
If you want to travel directly to Vitoria-Gasteiz or you couldn’t make it on time to take one of the buses leaving from the airport, you need to go first to Madrid Bus Station in Avenida de América. There is a metro line from the Airport to Avenida de América. You need to take metro line number 8 to Colombia and then metro line 9 to Avenida de América. In any case, you can go to metro Madrid official website by using the link that I gave you before. And, of course, you can also take a taxi cab right to Avenida América. The trip from Madrid to Vitoria-Gasteiz takes around four hours and a half and the ticket is 27-30 euros approx. There are many buses every day and tickets can be bought at the bus station or online.
Tip: if you choose this option (Madrid) please check the information on subway lines here because it may have changed.
Once in Vitoria-Gasteiz
The V International Conference on the American Literary West will take place at the Faculty of Arts of the University of the Basque Country (check the website if you want to know more about us: Faculty of Arts).
All distances (from train stations or from most of the hotels to the conference venue, also from the conference venue to the old town, the city center or shopping areas) are walking distance, sometimes, even in pedestrian ways. The new International Bus Station may be an exception, since it was built quite far away from the city center, but there are ways to go on public transport to the downtown. Check the website here: Vitoria's Bus Station.
Vitoria-Gasteiz is a friendly city, well known for its many running lovers, an easy-to-bike city and it is appreciated and celebrated for its green areas and parklands (in 2012, the city was awarded the European Green Capital recognition). So get ready to make a lot of walking and forget about subways and taxi cabs. However, since 2008, the city enjoys a tramwaysystem that can be very useful if your hotel happens to be in a distant area.
Where to Stay in Vitoria-Gasteiz
Vitoria-Gasteiz has a good range of lodging possibilities. In the following table, you’ll find a list of hotels, hotel ratings, the average room prices for an individual room (you better check this again before choosing one or the other), estimated distance to the conference venue and a link to the corresponding website so that you can book your room. Please, remember that we do not have any kind of agreement with any of these hotels and you are free to choose. Of course, our list here is not accurate or interested. You can check the whole list that Vitoria-Gasteiz City Council proposes to every tourist coming to visit the city here.
Before we copy here the aforementioned list of hotels, please, remember that if you want to stay in Bilbao or Donostia-San Sebastián before or after the conference, you may want to check the official websites to get more information (you can do it here and here). We don’t recommend to stay in any of these two cities and then commute to the conference. That would mean about an hour from Bilbao and an hour and half from Donostia-San Sebastián every day.
List of Hotels
In the following link you’ll find a map in which you can find all these hotels tagged and you can study distances and locations: https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?mid=zMAQx3P_T8yk.kSAewPknHqbY
(copy this link if needed and paste it in your search bar. The title of the map is that of a previous conference but it can be still useful)
Just in case you have any trouble with the direct links we offered within the text, here you have a complete list of all the websites we have recommended to visit:
Vitoria-Gasteiz Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitoria-Gasteiz
Vitoria-Gasteiz City Council Official Website: http://www.vitoria-gasteiz.org/
Basque Country Tourism: http://tourism.euskadi.net/en/
RENFE: http://www.renfe.com/
Bilbao International Airport: http://www.aeropuertodebilbao.net/es/
Shuttle-Bus Bilbao Airport: http://www.aena-aeropuertos.es/csee/Satellite/Aeropuerto-Bilbao/es/Page/1237554477328/
Autobuses La Unión: http://www.autobuseslaunion.com/es/
Chamartín Railway Station:http://www.adif.es/en_US/infraestructuras/estaciones/17000/informacion_000295.shtml
Metro Madrid: http://www.metromadrid.es/es/index.html
ALSA Bus Company: http://www.alsa.es/en/
Avenida de América Bus: http://www.spain.info/es/informacion-practica/transportes/estaciones-autobus/madrid/estacion_de_autobuses_de_avenida_de_america.html
Faculty of Arts: http://www.ehu.es/en/web/letrak/home
Vitoria Tramway: http://www.euskotren.es/es/tranviavitoria
Bilbao: www.bilbao.net/
Donostia-San Sebastián: www.donostia.org/
List of hotels in pdf format: click here.
If you need any further information, please feel free to make any comment in this entry and we will try to give you further guidance.
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