How to manage your luggage when starting a long mountain route by plane or train

You're good at the mountains. Travel logistics are another story. You've spent months preparing the route. Your rucksack is packed to the gram, your stages are calculated, your refuges booked. But there's a problem that appears before you even pull on your boots: you arrive in Barcelona by plane or train with a city suitcase, a 9kg hiking rucksack, and a pair of trekking poles you're not quite sure where to put.

You are not the first. The start of any Trans-Pyrenean route – GR11, GR10, HRP – presents the same logistical challenge: what do you do with everything you don't need on the mountain but have had to bring to get this far?

The most practical answer we've found for anyone passing through Barcelona before starting the route is to use a storage in Barcelona like Radical Storage. With this type of service, you book online in minutes, leave your bag at a verified location near the centre, and turn up at the start of your route with only what you'll be carrying for the next few weeks. No pending tasks, no dead weight, no starting day 1 already exhausted.

But there are more options, and each one fits better depending on your specific logistics. We'll go through them all.

Te has pasado.

Anyone doing a great route in the Pyrenees usually arrives at the starting point with two types of luggage stacked on top of each other.

On the one hand, the trekking rucksack, what you'll be carrying for weeks. On the other, everything else: the clothes you travelled in, your daily toiletries (in addition to the ones in the rucksack), perhaps a city jacket, more urban clothing, etc. Things that make no sense on a high mountain trek but that you also can't throw away.

If you're setting off from Cap de Creus or Portbou, the most common starting point if you arrive by train from Barcelona, the equation gets more complicated. You're at one end of the country, without a car, with everything you brought from home, and the route ahead of you.

The question is simple, what do you do with what you don't need?

Leave it at someone's house

The cleanest solution, if you're lucky enough to have one. A family member, a friend in Barcelona, someone who can store a bag for you during the three or four weeks the route lasts. No cost, no intermediaries, with complete trust.

The problem is that not everyone has that network. And if you come from somewhere else — another country, another community — this option simply doesn't exist.

Send the bag to your final destination

Another elegant solution, if you know for certain where you're going to end your route, is to send your bag by courier to the accommodation where you'll spend your first night back. A few hours at a Seur or Correos depot, about 15-20 euros, and the problem disappears.

It works well if your return logistics are tied up in advance. If there is uncertainty – and on a long route there always is – it's a risk; the package arrives, you might not, and coordination with accommodation becomes complicated.

Left luggage at the station

Major Spanish train stations have left-luggage offices. At Barcelona Sants, there are lockers of different sizes with hourly pricing. They are convenient if you need to store your luggage for a few hours before catching a train to Portbou or Figueres.

The limit is in the deadlines. Station lockers are not designed for multi-day storage, and costs skyrocket if you need to leave your bag for longer than you planned. Nor are they the most flexible option if your train is delayed, you decide to stay an extra night in Barcelona, or you simply want to get around the city without being on a schedule.

Urban luggage storage services

In recent years, city luggage storage services, specifically designed for transit travellers, have proliferated. They operate through digital platforms that connect users with verified local businesses acting as storage points.

One of the widely used in Spain —and also internationally— is Radical Storage. If you need Leave luggage in Barcelona flexibly, centrally and without complications, it is an alternative. It does not manage its own warehouses, but rather works with what they call Angels, Verified local businesses — shops, hotels, commercial premises — that offer storage space under the platform's quality and safety standards.

It's not specifically designed for hikers, but it solves their problem exactly. Anyone arriving in Barcelona the day before starting a Pyrenean crossing finds themselves in the same situation as any tourist with a late flight; they have hours to kill in the city, don't want to lug their belongings around, and need a hassle-free solution.

The cleanest strategy is to arrive in Barcelona, leave your city bag at an urban locker, sleep in central accommodation with just your hiking rucksack, and leave the next day on the first train to Portbou without any extra weight or pending arrangements.

The approach: from Barcelona to the start of the route

Once the luggage is sorted, it's time to reach the departure point. The options depend on the Transpyrenean route you're taking.

GR11 — Departure from Cap de Creus 

Cap de Creus as the official starting point means arriving at Cadaqués or Roses beforehand, and then taking a taxi or bus to the lighthouse. 

HRP and GR10 - Departure from Banyuls-sur-Mer

Both routes share a starting point on the Mediterranean side. There is a direct train from Barcelona to Cerbère (France), a few kilometres from Banyuls. The journey takes around two and a half hours.

The return: what nobody plans for with enough time

Last-mile logistics are, surprisingly, what even the most experienced climbers plan the worst. Some points worth having sorted before you set off:

Transport from the west end. If you end up in Hondarribia or Irun, you have good train connections to San Sebastian and from there to Madrid or Barcelona. It's not complicated, but it's advisable to have it planned.

Luggage you left at the start. If you used Radical Storage on your outward journey, you can manage everything from the app and extend your storage time if your route takes longer than expected. This is one of the advantages of a digital service over a physical station locker.

The physical state upon finishing. After three or four weeks on the road, the body isn't in optimal condition to deal with tight connections. Always leave a generous amount of leeway on your return day.

The equipment you don't need on route but have to manage

One final note about the city bag you leave in storage. A common mistake is to pack things in that bag that you might actually need at some point along the way.

What makes sense to store: city clothes, urban footwear, duplicate toiletries, non-essential documents, power adapters, urban outerwear.

What makes no sense to leave packed: route documentation, mountain insurance, your only mobile charger, any medication you might need.

It seems obvious. But after a flight, with travel fatigue and the excitement of the start, some people put the wrong things in the wrong bag.