Running with the bulls in Pamplona can be expensive if you haven't reserved months in advance for a place to stay. (You don't need any lodgings if you just want to stay up all night, waiting for the actual stampede through the streets early on July 7th, but it's nice to have a place to call home when you do get tired, bored, or nearly gored.) With a Busabout Flexipass, you stay near Pamplona, but not in it, seeing the Running of the Bulls for next to nothing.
It works this way: you buy a 6-day Busabout Flexipass for $259, allowing you to travel by hop-on/hop-off luxury bus for any 6 days over a one-month period between London, Paris, San Sebastian (near Pamplona), Barcelona, Nice, Venice, Lauterbrunnen, Paris and back to London. You can time your trip so that you arrive in Pamplona on July 6 for the opening ceremony, and stay up all night for the bovine rush hour at 8 the next morning. You can sleep in San Sebastian, an hour from Pamplona, if you insist on a snooze. Busabout leaves Paris for San Sebastian every other day, with additional coaches in early July to ensure that everyone can get to Pamplona. The room rates in San Sebastian start at just $23 per person, per night. (Or you can crash alone in some accommodating stranger's car, as did a young woman I met when I was there.)
On a wider scale, if you are planning longer European stays, consider other Flexipass options: 10 days in two months for $399, 15 days in two months ($559), 20 days in three months ($729) and 25 days in four months ($839). There are more than 60 pick-up points throughout Europe, from Amsterdam to Zaragoza in Spain. Major Busabout spots are Amsterdam, Berlin, Costa del Sol, Florence, Frankfurt, Geneva, London, Madrid, Munich, Nice, Pamplona, Paris, Prague, Rome, Valencia, Venice and Vienna.
There is an add-on from London to Paris called the London Link for $45 one-way, $60 round-trip (including the ferries between Dover and Calais). Other links (for passholders only) are for Morocco (Spain to Morocco, $60 round trip); Ibiza (Barcelona to Ibiza, $40 each way and up); Corsica (Nice to Corsica, $35 each way); and Croatia (Italy to Croatia, $90 round trip). There is also a Greek Five Island Pass ($75 for all 5 islands), plus longer ferry rides from Venice to Greece ($45 each way) and Italy to Corfu ($30 each way). Available to passholders only.
To book or to get more information about the Busabout Flexipass (a sister company of prestigious Trafalgar Tours), visit www.busabout.com. (If you read Spanish, try www.sanfermin.com for more information on the running of the bulls.)
