Hello All,
We are booked for the RS Basque County tour in May and looking for suggestions for airports to fly into. Our first thought is to fly in and out of Madrid as we have not visited that city. Other suggestions? I think I saw a post from someone who flew into Bordeaux.
We would like to arrive a few days (2-3) before the trip begins and spend a few days (2-3) at the end.
Any suggestions for pre and post tour experiences are appreciated. We are a couple in our 70's and have visited several countries in Europe, but this is our first tour.
Thank you.
P.S. I should mention that we are traveling from the U.S.
Posted by
SE Pennsylvania
2370 posts
I flew into CDG from Philadelphia, and was supposed to fly EasyJet to Bayonne, but EasyJet cancelled the flight 2 days before. This was in 2019. We ended up taking the train instead. We spend an extra day at the beginning in Biarritz.
After the tour we took the train to Madrid as my son had not been there before, and flew back to PHL from there 4 days later.
We both loved the Basque tour.
Posted by
52 posts
We flew into Paris and took the train to Bayonne. Also loved this tour.
Posted by
Sapulpa, OK, USA
6289 posts
Bookmarking! We're taking this tour next September. We will already be fairly close, having just finished the Portugal tour.
Posted by
Virginia, USA
5508 posts
I flew into Paris, spent some several days there, and then took the train to Bayonne. I flew Bilbao to London and spent several days in London before flying home.
Posted by
New Hampshire
44 posts
When I took this tour in 2015 (early September), we flew from Boston to CDG, then took a short flight to Biarritz. For us it was actually cheaper to fly all the way, rather than take the train from Paris to Bayonne. From the small Biarritz airport, we took a cab to our hotel in St Jean de Luz, and if you can spare the time, I highly recommend that town for a couple days to adjust to the time zone. It was a short train ride from there to Bayonne to meet up with the tour. At the end of the tour, we flew directly to Milan for another tour, so didn't get to enjoy other parts of Spain.
This remains one of my favorite RSE tours (I've been on 10 so far)--great scenery, guides, food, and, of course, wine.
Posted by
Frankfurt, Germany
8938 posts
Have you looked at flying into Bilbao and possibly doing some sightseeing there 1st, before traveling on?
Posted by
SE Pennsylvania
2370 posts
The tour ends in Bilbao, so better to add more time in Bilbao then.
https://www.ricksteves.com/tours/spain-portugal/basque
Posted by
OP
Maryland
10 posts
Thanks to all for your responses and advice. Good to read that many of you mentioned that you enjoyed the tour. I’ll be back with more questions as I research more. This forum is so helpful.
Posted by
41 posts
We are doing this tour next week and are flying Chicago-Paris-Biarritz and home from Madrid. Planning to rent a car to drive from Bilbao to Segovia, train into Madrid. There are a lot of options!
Posted by
Bilbao
638 posts
This is a very rainy area (Basque Country and northern Spain in general) but it´s been very unusually dry for months. At last, it seems rain is coming tomorrow and it´s going to stay for a few days, so bring adequate warm rain gear, as temperatures will be in the 60s and looks like it´ll rain continuously. A very welcome rain, but I understand it´ll be a nuisance to you.
Posted by
OP
Maryland
10 posts
Good suggestions! At this point we think we will fly to Paris, train to Bayone to begin the trip, then either Madrid or Barcelona for a few days. If you had to pick from these two cities, which one would you choose?
Posted by
11133 posts
I prefer Madrid with it’s fabulous art museums. Plus it is Spanish while Barcelona is Catalan.
Posted by
1 posts
We just returned from the most excellent RS Basque Country tour (3-9 Sep). This was our 4th RS tour. Like you, we are in our mid70s. We flew Air France/Delta non stop Seattle to CDG Paris and then on to Biarritz. On return we flew Bilbao to CDG. This worked well and as both Bilbao and Biarritz airports are small, navigation is easy. CDG is of course huge and the connecting flight used terminal 2G which entails a long complimentary shuttle bus so allow plenty of time for connections. For our post RS tour travels we used the French and Belgian rails and they are excellent and stress- free. The rail terminal at CDG is convenient to the airport terminals Some of our fellow tour members did use the Paris to Biarritz train and were pleased. The Basque tour was amazingly rewarding on so many levels as it entailed such a rich variety of experiences. You are in for a treat. If you are a interested in fine dining, I suggest you make reservations ahead of time for a Michelin starred restaurant in San Sebastion which has the highest per capita Michelin stars in the world.
Posted by
41 posts
We just finished the Basque tour and it was incredible. I would not spend any additional time in Bilbao after the tour. We saw the highlights and there are many wonderful other areas to visit. We rented a car and drove to La Guardia for a night, Segovia for a night and then took train into Madrid for our trip home. Nice contrast in areas