Driving from San Sebastián to Madrid - suggested stops

Hi MariaSep,

Why not drive via Burgos? It's a small, historic city with lots of interesting things to see.

Julie

Barcelona is way out of the way if heading to Madrid. Burgos would work. Depending on what you want to do en route, there are plenty of options.

For example, walk around Pamplona for a couple hours, drive up to Alto de Perdón, make a quick stop at the Church of Saint Mary of Eunate, visit Estella or Puente la Reina, go to the Monastery of Iranzu and then head to Logroño for the night.

Other places one could stop are Vitoria-Gasteiz, Santa Maria de San Salvador Monastery or Suso Monastery. Near Burgos is Covarrubias (on Spain’s list of prettiest villages), Cartuja de Miraflores, and if you’re a fan of spaghetti westerns the Sad Hill cemetery from The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly is nearby.

If you like castles, between Burgos and Madrid are Peñafiel, Cuellar, and Portillo. A small walled town we enjoyed walking around is Burgo de Osma.

So many places to see, so little time. It really depends on what you like and how much time you have.

Iruñea
Zaragoza - good for 3 nights

First off I think Barcelona is not a practical halfway stop if you want to drive from San Sebastian to Madrid, it's totally the opposite direction of where you want to be going.

You've basically got two routes you can take driving from San Sebastian to Madrid:

Western Route: head west to Burgos, a nice medieval city with stunning cathedral, good to get a feel of "Old Castile", you then take the E-5 all the way to Madrid, stops along the way include Monasterio de Santo Domingo de Silos, village of Frías, and Cementerio de Sad Hill.

Eastern Route: head east to Zaragoza, undiscovered gem of a city, with Roman ruins, a Moorish Palace, and a stunning cathedral of its own, after you take the A-2 all the way to Madrid, stops along the way include Olite walled medieval town, Tarazona (mini Toledo), Calatayud wine region.

Personally I'd take the "Eastern Route", the drive is easier and there is more to see and do in Zaragoza.

Appreciate all the advice. We will skip Barcelona for sure. Makes sense. Definitely will be looking at these two options (western and eastern routes). Thank you so much.

You have been given some good suggestion, and it is a tough choice, but luckily you can't really lose.

I really like Burgos, and just finished a small road trip from Soria-Burgo de Osma-Burgos, with stops in Silos and Covarrubias. And would happily do it again. The Burgos cathedral is impressive, and the Cartuja is full of history, art and peace. If you've been following any of the "anti tourism" stuff, you will find no such problems in this area. Except for the cathedral in Burgos, there were only 4 or 5 other visitors at the different places we stopped. If you go to Burgo de Osma, visit the cathedral and go up to the top of the bell tower.

On the other hand, Zaragoza is well worth the visit too. It is a bigger city, but there is also much more to see. And as has been mentioned, it is really a little known gem. If you go to visit, it also gives you the option to leave your car there and take the AVE train to Madrid directly. You don't say when you are traveling, just be aware that the 15th of October is the Day of the Pilar, and there will be fiestas the week before.

I already started looking at these options, love what I see. Thanks again.