Four or five days in the Basque Country. Suggestions please.

Posted by LDR on 04/09/26 10:11 PM

My wife and are are former bicycle racers that love to tailor our vacations around the three grand Tours. This year, Tour de France. The race starts this year in Barcelona. They call it the Gran Depart. We've been to Barcelona before and loved it. We don't need much advice on that part of the trip. We leave Barcelona the morning of July 6th. But where do we go go. One fixed date is July 7 & 8 (departing the morning of the 9th) in Luz Saint Sauveur. We will be riding bikes to the end of a mountain stage of the tour. Flying out of Barcelona July 14. That part of the adventure is pretty well set, but nothing else is. Basque country, but where? One idea in train to Girona from Barcelona on the 6th, back to Barcelona the next day the 7th fly to San Sebastian July 7th. Rent a car to Luz Saint Sauveur. Stay the night in Luz July 7, watch the race July the 8th. drive back to San Sebastian the 9th. Good so far--Now what? The Girona part of the trip could be cancelled in favor of something better (or easier, although we really want to see Girona). We want to see San Sebastian and Bilbao, but we are not fond of the lodging prices there. We prefer trains and buses over renting a car. Any ideas for smaller towns along the way we could stay at as base camp and day trip into the cities. Any "can't miss" spots we should hit? We would prefer to do this with public transportation for the transfers but we could either return the car to San Sebastian or keep it. Flight out to Barcelona is arrives mid afternoon. It looks like an early morning flight out of Bilbao arrives in Barcelona early enough to give us 3 hours to make our international flight transfer to JFK. Can we make that? Any thoughts? too much and not enough time? Should we cancel the Girona idea and fly immediately to San Sebastian giving us an extra day in the
Basque country? Any thoughts or suggestions appreciated. Thanks.

Posted by MikelBasqueGuide

Bilbao

04/10/26 06:17 AM

1057 posts

"Lunch is cheaper than dinner" :), that may be because of the "daily menu", offered Mo-Fri for lunch only, at prices that range from 14 to 20EUR normally, including a first, a second, dessert, bread, water and half a bottle of wine per person, in most places. Lunch is the most important meal of the day in Spain, not dinner. Around 2pm, and it´s long and relaxed.

Another thing: it´s not "tapas", it´s "pintxos" and it´s a completely different concept. You´ll see by yourselves, they are available all over the Basque Country (not only in Donostia/San Sebastián) and they are not a meal, but an appetizer to enjoy with family and friends before lunch or before dinner. Delicate snacks, high-cuisine in small bites.

Donostia/San Sebastián is quite expensive for lodging, so you may want to choose another base for your stay.

For towns that are a must-see, east to west: Hondarribia, Pasai Donibane, Getaria (home to the first person that circumnavegated the world, and it was not Magellan...), Zumaia and the flysch, Lekeitio, Elantxobe, Ea, Bermeo and San Juan de Gaztelugatxe, Gernika and the Assembly Hall (one of the oldest Parliaments in the world, dating back to the 9th century, one of the reasons John Adams came to Bilbao in 1780), Mundaka and Plentzia. All of them accessible either by train or by bus (normally it´s bus the preferred option here).

In the South, the Rioja wine region offers medieval towns such as Labastida, Laguardia and Elciego, and wonderful landscapes with castles and vineyards.

It´s a rainy area, so take that into account and come prepared for kind of Seattle weather. Mountains, valleys and green everywhere.