Basque Help

With just five days, I would probably skip making a trip to La Rioja.

The 9th of June is the Day of La Rioja and it is a local holiday.

I'm sure that Mikel will chime in with great suggestions for five days in and around Bilbao. He will also remind you that La Rioja is an autonomous community, and where they will be celebrating the 9th. Rioja is the denomination of wine which includes a part of Alava and some of Navarra. Laguardia is not La Rioja, so it will not be celebrating.

We did a Gate 1 Tour of Bordeaux and Carassonne France as well as the Basque Country and Madrid and Barcelona.
We did spend a long day in San Sebastian and would have liked to spent at least one night there, but the tour had us staying in Bilbao. Bilbao was great, you need at least two nights there.

We did a winery in the Rioja region on our way back to Madrid. Rioja wasn't more than about an. hour and a half from Bilbao, don't think you need to spend the night there.

As a Basque local:

1.) Is San Sebastián worth spending a couple of nights in, or would it be just as good to stay in nearby Hondarribia or Getaria and day trip to San Sebastián? I'm not keen on super crowds or the expensive lodging that I've noticed in San Sebastián.

Donostia/San Sebastian is expensive and touristy, but also a beautiful city. Public transport is absolutely outstanding, so if you stay in Hondarribia, you have easy access to this city. You can easily visit D/SS in half day, maximum one day.

2.) Should we try to include a city in the Rioja region for a day trip, or even as an overnight stop? I have been considering both Haro and Laguardia though I know that Laguardia would likely require a car for transport. It just looks very beautiful. I would prefer to not have to worry about driving around the area once there since trying different wineries would be one of the main points of visiting---meaning walking would be preferential once parked or dropped off.

As dlindstrom has mentioned, La Rioja and Rioja D.O.Ca are different things, one is the political region and the other one is the wine region, that is located in three different political regions, being one of them the Basque Country. I´d go to Haro (La Rioja) not for the town, but for the 8 wineries located at Barrio de la Estación, where you can get a good idea of Rioja wines. Laguardia (Araba, Basque Country) is a beautiful, not to be missed town, full of wineries also. One hour and a half drive from Bilbao, two hours from D/SS.

3.) Speaking of a car--is a car recommended no matter what for transport around the region? It seems buses and trains are available, however more sparingly to some of the Rioja region.

Public transport is excellent, but a car will save you time. Plenty of buses and trains everywhere.

4.) Thoughts on spending 4 nights in the Bilbao and day-tripping out, but staying one night in the Rioja region to reduce worry of driving and have longer to enjoy the area.

It makes lots of sense.

Hope this helps!

We stayed in Hondarribia instead of San Sebastian, and were so glad we did. We loved Hondarribia, it was less inundated with tourists, and it was easy to reach San Sebastian by bus.
If you don't end up in San Sebastian, I'd recommend a car. It's quite easy to get around by car and you get so see some areas it would be difficult to see otherwise. But a car in San Sebastian would, at least for me, be too much of a hassle.
Staying in Bilbao and day tripping out is a nice idea, too. We spent 3 nights there and did the same. It's a great city. We actually preferred Bilbao to San Sebastian.

We absolutely loved our stay in San Sebastián last year. We spent four nights there, mainly exploring the pintxos bars. While there we had a beach day at the beautiful crescent shaped beach, spent one day on a coastal day hike to Getaria stopping for a tasting at a local winery and finishing with a late lunch at Elkano (amazing!), did a fitness and spa day La Perla (very cool thalassotherapy experience and excellent massages). It was the highlight of our month in Spain. But it is true that the pintxos bars can get crazy packed best to go for lunch or early evening for smaller crowds. Also note that some of the better ones also offer a dining room experience and for that you must reserve well in advance.

Thanks so much to everyone for all of the helpful information! We decided to spend 3 nights in Hondarribia, using it as a base to explore SS and some smaller towns, and then spend 2 nights in Bilbao. We will just have to come back another time to explore more of the region!

Highly recommend Bar El Gran Sol, Hondaribbia, for the absolute best pinxtos and Chillida Leku, open air museum, en route to Bilbao. Both awesome!