The bus systems in Valladolid

We have gone through a great deal of learning through trail and error here.  And one of the things we discovered through this process is that there are several bus systems in Valladolid and they do not work together!  They all meet up at the same terminal eventually but they have different schedules and you should not trust the online information as it is usually wrong.  Really you can’t find most information online here for anything so just get out in the city and explore.

When we first arrived and got our apartment we had to furnish it from Ikea.  We were still staying in our hotel when we learned this and so we googled where the Ikea was and decided it was too far to walk but we had no idea how to take a bus.  We decided to ask the lady working at the front desk of the hotel and she was not helpful.  She said there was no bus that went to Ikea.  This seemed strange to us because it was this entire mall outside of town in the ‘suburbs’ of Valladolid so how could there not be a bus?  But we didn’t know so we trusted her advice.  We looked up the bus she told us about online that went fairly close and figured we would just get off and walk the last km to the mall.  We had to walk on the side of a highway and run across another highway.  It was really dangerous and we thought it was insane that there was no bus I mean how do people get here without a car?

So after spending 7 hours, yes you read that right ughhh, shopping in Ikea we were prepared for the crazy walk back to the bus stop.  Now the exit was in a different spot then the entrance so we got to see a complexly different part of the parking lot, this is how we found the bus stop.  We both looked at each other and said “Seriously is that a bus?” We were relieved that we could just walk out and get on a bus but pretty pissed at the lady at the hotel.  I mean even if she didn't know about that bus she could have just said that and not told us no there wasn't one.  Or at least explained that there was more than one bus line and we should check them all.

Anyhow there are inner city busses, busses that go to other cities and busses that go to the suburbs.  Check all the schedules for what you need and do it at the station because online you will likely not find all the information you need and it is probably not updated even if it is there.  We have planned trips around info online then gotten to the station only to learn that bus no longer exists.