Hello!
I am trying to plan a 10 day trip to the Basque region with my husband. We plan to fly into France, Bordeaux rent a car and travel around the region with departure from Bilbao or San Sebastián. Does anyone have any recommendations for a home base to explore the area? Perhaps a town/village/city in France and one in Spain? I thought it might be fun too splurge with a parador or more luxury accommodations toward the end of the trip but am flexible for several nights in a hotel. Thanks in advance for suggestions.
Posted by
Washington DC
28697 posts
Although the distance isn't great, picking up a rental car in France and dropping it off in Spain is likely to be shockingly expensive because of the international drop charge. You may want to explore returning the car to France at the end of the trip. There are trains crossing that border, though I believe you'll need to make a connection.
On the French side of the border I liked Bayonne a lot more than Biarritz. It has a nice historic center and some worthwhile sights. I was train/bus-dependent and didn't visit any towns smaller than St-Jean-de-Luz, which is attractive but probably doesn't need a lot of active sightseeing time. With a car a different base might be more practical.
We have several folks on the forum who've done some driving in the Spanish Basque Country; I have not. I'll put in a plug for the inland city of Vitoria-Gasteiz, though. Foreign tourists seem to hug the coast, and Vitoria-Gasteiz has a lovely medieval district on top of a hill where you'll probably be able to explore peacefully. Escalators have been installed to make it relatively easy to visit that area.
Posted by
Mid-Atlantic area
7383 posts
There will be a fairly large drop-off fee renting a vehicle in France and dropping it off in Spain, but if you’re fine with it, go for it.
There are two Paradors along that portion of the northern coast. The one in Hondarrbia is in a former castle in the old town. It does have a small on-site parking lot. Behind it is an elevator to the lower town if you didn’t want to walk down or up the hill. It can be fairly pricey depending on when you plan to travel. The other is about an hour west of Bilbao in Limpias. A third Parador, Parador de Argómaniz, is inland, east of Vitoria-Gasteiz. The latter two should be more reasonably priced than the one in Hondarrbia. I’ve only stayed at the Parador in Hondarrbia.
Choosing a base should depend on what you want to see, but there are plenty of small towns within a 1.5 hours drives of any of the Paradors. We enjoyed Zumaia and Getaria and via the coastal road they are only a few miles apart.
I too enjoyed Bayonne more than Biarritz.
Posted by
New York
52 posts
We did a Basque trip with a car a few months ago, but we did not base ourselves in France. We stayed in Hondarribia and drove to Bayonne, Saint Jean de Luz, etc., and it was pretty quick and easy. I can highly recommend Hondarribia as a base. Easier to navigate and park with a car than San Sebastian, and when we visited San Sebastian there was a really convenient bus from Hondarribia so we didn't have to deal with the car there. There's a parador in Hondarribia that looks pretty nice, but we splurged on a really lovely and luxurious inn there called Villa Magalean Hotel & Spa that I can highly recommend.
If you decide to base yourselves in a town on the French side, maybe a good balance would be to stay somewhere in Spain closer to Bilbao than San Sebastian, so you can give yourself a nice contrast with the French Basque area. Bilbao is great and it was easy to either take the car or use public transportation for day trips. There are also some really lovely towns in the surrounding area should you wish to base yourself in a town rather than the city. You will probably also have more flight options out of Bilbao than San Sebastian.