Basque Region and Possibly Asturias

Personally, I wouldn't split the time, but that decision is driven by my interests and my ability to take long trips. What sort of sightseeing are you interested in?

It doesn't help that public transportation in that part of Spain is not fast. If you're contemplating traveling by rental car, you can check estimated driving times on ViaMichelin.com.

Consider also that you may find it cost-prohibitive or logistically inconvenient to fly in or out of an airport other than Madrid or Barcelona. If you have to use one of those gateways, a good chunk of your seven days will be used just to get to your first stop and to return to your departure airport from your last stop.

It would be easy to spend all your time in the Basque area. If you plan on visiting small villages a rental car may be a good option. Between the Basque area and Asturias is Cantabria which shouldn’t be overlooked. With only 7 days there really isn’t sufficient time to adequately cover those three regions.

As a Basque local, I wonder why some are mentioning that public transportation is not good or is not fast in this area or northern Spain. We have a fantastic public transport system, that takes you anywhere, very cheap, cleanest, safest...I wonder if it´s the train these comments refer to (train is great, but being a mountainous area it´s sometimes a worse option than bus), when bus is for us a much more logical option to get to almost any place.

If 7 days in this area, i´d stick to the Basque Country, maybe adding Cantabria if you want to go west. But in a small area, the Basque Country offers many varied sights and attractions and 7 days may not be that much time.

With 7 days I'd stick to the Basque region. We spent 7 days there on our trip, and wished we had a few more days.

Mikel, I checked the travel time by train from Bilbao to Oviedo and found it to be over 6 hours. I think that's too much time to spend sitting on a train when the trip is just seven days long. The question was about adding Asturias to a Basque Country trip, not just traveling around the Basque Country itself.

Acraven, but nobody uses the train on that route, it just does not make any sense, it´s an old line that needs renewal. US visitors tend to favor the train over the bus, but not Spaniards, who find buses extremely convenient for many itineraries. For some reason, buses are ignored on the planning of the itineraries, but they are an excellent way to move around. Modern, safest, cleanest, cheap, fast...

A coach ride from Bilbao to Oviedo takes 3.15h, direct. It´s the same thing when the question arises on the train from Bilbao to Donostia-San Sebastian, it´s the bus that makes sense here and not the train, on this specific route.

I used the buses in that area myself and have no problem with them. It's not so easy (at least for me) to be sure you've found all the bus schedules online, which is why I got lazy and quoted the travel time by train. I probably covered that entire bus route in chunks back in 2016, but I didn't travel non-stop between Oviedo and Bilbao, so I couldn't have said how long the trip would take based on personal experience.

You can easily spend more than seven wonderful days in the Basque country. Asturias is nice too but, for us, the Basque country wins hands down: Bilbao, San Sebastian, Guernica, Hondaribbia, Chillida Leku, and the French Basque towns. All fascinating and delicious. Enjoy!