Campillo de Ranas

Going between Bilbao and San Sebastian, visit the Guernika memorial museum - a sobering exploration of the horrific bombing atttack during the Civil war, which inspired Picasso's famous painting. Totally worthwhile. There are a couple of decent tapas bars/restaurants in the plaza opposite.

Between Campillo de Ranas and Burgos (2.75 hours drive), Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de la Asunción at Duratón, the towns/villages of Ayllón, Maderuelo, Burgo de Osma, or Covarrubias and Monastery of San Pedro de Arlanza. For a short walk, Desfiladero de La Yecla. Just outside of Burgos is Cartuja de Miraflores.

Between Bilbao and San Sebastián (1.5 hours drive), the towns of Getaria and Zumaia.

The drive from San Sebastián to Segovia is about 4.25 hours. If you like castles, there are a number of them in that area. For me the nicest are Castillo de Coca, Castillo de Peñafiel, and Castillo de la Mota in Medina del Campo. There’s also a wine museum in the Peñafiel castle.

For the return from San Sebastián consider a different route than you took to get there. For example, San Sebastián to Pamplona, Logroño, Burgos, Aranda del Duero, past Peñafiel castle (right off the road), Segovia. Or, Pamplona, Soria, Aranda del Duero, Peñalfiel, Segovia.

By returning via the Pamplona route, there are a number of small towns and sites one could stop at. If you decide on either alternate route I can provide location worthy of short stops.

To expanded a bit on the Campillo to Burgos leg. Jaime names some gems.

I would suggest Campillo to Santo Domingo de Silos. Then you can go to visit the San Pedro de Arlanza. From there Covarrubias is very close, and the hermitage of St. Olaf is worth the stop.

Between Silos and Covarrubias is the Sad Hill Cemetery. It is where the final scene of "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" was filmed. San Pedro was used in the film, and they have just restored the Bitterville prison camp from the movie and it's very close to Silos.

If you prefer Roman stuff more, visit the Roman complex at Colonia Clunia Sulpicia, a little south of Silos.

Totally agree on a visit to la Cartuja in Burgos.

If you changed a little your itinerary, you could go Campillo to Segovia, to Burgos. Then when you come back from San Sebastian, taking the A15 straight down through Pamplona, Tarazona, Soria, and on to Alcala de Henares with out having to go the west and back to the East.

Lin, Jaime and d. lindstrom thank you for your thoughtful replies. The guernika memorial is on our list to see and thank you for the reminder. I appreciate the small town recommendations of Aylion, Maderuelo, Burgo de Osma as well as the San Piedro monastery.

My husband tends to get “castled out” due to his wife shoehorning yet another castle into a Scotland trip so I will let him choose which ones to visit. I have bookmarked the short walks (we are both hikers) and love to break up travel days with short walks and picnic as we go.

A different return route makes sense. Our longest drive will be from San Sebastián to Segovia and my fear is adding Pamplona to the trip will lengthen our day quite a bit. We are both in our mid 60’s and while we have energy our pace is typically relaxed. We love Spain and plan to return :)

Many thanks for all the kind advice

Nancy, unless there is a strong reason (for example being a Hemingway fan) you can skip Pamplona.

Thank you d.lindstrom, I have altered our trip back to reflect the faster route, without stopping in Pamplona. I appreciate all the thoughtful suggestions.