Help with Northern Spain itinerary

We spent a lot of time in Asturias and Cantabria. The only place you mention that we not like at all was Santillana Del Mar. Comillas was wonderful. Ribadesella too. Yes, spend several days in San Sebastián and Santiago de Compostela as bases.

Thanks Suki!
What towns did you stay while visiting Asturias and Cantabria? I could probably consider one of those as a base to visit the nearby region.
Alex

Unlike Suki, we’ve enjoyed Santillana Del Mar each time we’ve been there. It is very enjoyable and is like walking back into time. 2 nights is more than enough time to see it. Cars are not allowed in the town during the day unless you have a room at one of the two Paradors (government run hotel system). The main drawback to the town is it gets very crowded with tourists during the day, but won’t be bad at all in April. Last year on our trip to northern Spain we visited the Sanctuary of Covadonga in Picos de Europa. En route we stopped in Cangas de Onis. What we thought would be a short stop to see the bridge, turned out to be a couple hour stop. Further west, we stopped in Ribadeo and the nearby Cathedral beach (best if seen at low tide when you can walk beneath the arches). On a separate trip we stopped at Cabo Ortegal. It’s a short stop, but magnificent view. Heading south from there, Betanzos is nice for a stroll to see the wooden enclosed balconies. Unless taking side trips, Santiago de Compostela is worth only a couple nights. One possible side trip is Muxia, on the coast. It’s about 40 miles from Santiago and has a nice church and rock beach by the lighthouse. About 4 miles outside Santiago in Monte de Gozo. There, you’ll find one monument commemorating a visit by the pope and a much nicer monument to the pilgrims walking the Camino de Santiago. You could also take a day trip to visit the hamlets of Vilar de Donas and its 1400s era Church of San Salvador, O’ Leboreiro (extremely small, but it’s like you’re back in time) and the town of Melide (has the oldest wayside cross in Galicia). Also in Galicia are numerous historic site with Celtic round houses. You can look them up on the internet. If you want inland suggestions let me know.

For lodging, we stayed at paradors in Santillana Del Mar, Ribadeo, and Santiago. The one in Santiago is pricey but literally next to the cathedral. The others were reasonably priced. If you’ve never heard of Paradors, its website is: http://www.parador.es/en

Thank you Jaime!
You just gave me a lot of homework! I’ll start googling and researching the towns you’ve mentioned... I’m thinking I’ll divide the trip in 3 stays of 3 days each, the first one in San Sebastian in order to visit that town and do side trips (visit the French Basque area too); the last portion in Santiago (or nearby) to visit that town and do nearby side trips, including up to the coast. What I’m trying to do now is figure the town where we’ll stay in the “middle section” of the trip, a town close enough to many other picturesque places (say up to 1 hr or so each way so that we wouldn’t be driving all the time), but charming enough that if we choose to stay there we could, perhaps rent a bicycle and just enjoy the Coast.. I’m thinking this “middle section” of the trip would have to be somewhere nearby Picos de Europa, a small town somewhere in Asturias or Cantabria…From what I’ve read people just drive this area, stay a day or two and continue on. I want to minimize this, so everyone can enjoy the area without having to pack right away.
Yes, I would appreciate inland suggestions that ideally wouldn’t be too far off from the town/place where we spend the middle section of the trip.
Thanks again!

You will certainly be able to see the magnificent beach at San Sebastian, but the weather may not be good for long walks on the shore. That area is often cool and cloudy even in mid-summer, and weather stats for April indicate that rain can be expected on 14 days that month. I know that summertime conditions are fairly similar in most places along the coast except that A Coruna and Pontevedra are typically warmer and sunnier; I don't know whether the same holds true in April.

Despite its name, Santillana del Mar isn't quite on the coast. It's very touristy in the summer but I don't know what it will be like in April. It's the sort of place that might be dead off-season. On the other hand, it may get a lot of UK and Irish visitors and be perfectly fine.

The Picos de Europa area has some mountains. Public busses do not start running until July, which I assume says something about the off-season weather. The old stone town of Potes is very picturesque.

The Casco Viejo in Bilbao is much larger and less touristy than Ssn Sebastian's. Bilbao also has some nice early 20th century buildings downtown.

Thanks for your reply Andrew.

Regarding the weather, not sure what we could do otherwise, if it rains we'll just have to adapt and make the best of the situation. Unless of course, we get a forecast of continuous rain for several days, then we may have to perhaps cancel our hotel stay (if we'd be allowed to) and drive inland to a "drier" place...

hey alex
i have some info for the french side and things to do and see. i will get it together and message you later today.
aloha

First there is a alternate Way of St. James called the Camino del Norte, which hugs the coast most of the way then cuts south into Galicia at Ribadeo.

You might want to look into Oviedo. Especially Santa Maria del Naranco, a UNESCO Site, and some of the other Pre-Romanesque buildings in the surrounding area. From Oviedo, a nice excursion is to Cudillero, a little fishing village. It is a stop on the Northern Way,

I don't know how you feel about caves, but there are some very interesting ones in Cantabria. The most famous is Altamira (which is also a UNESCO World Heritage site). Too many people were visiting in the last century, so they made a full scale replica of the cave with all its cave paintings. Also in the Asón-Agüera, the west side of Cantabria, there are several small caves which you can visit. The one we visited was unique because all the paintings were done with thumbprints. To visit it you had to buy the ticket at the tourist office and then we meet the guide in the parking lot and then had to walk up a steep path for about a kilometer.

An issue with traveling in northern Spain is that it doesn't easily lend itself to going from inland to the coast. so you either travel the coast, or the inland route. The coast is pretty, and the towns small, so i have no idea where to make a base for taking day trips. Others have mentioned places other than those I mentioned on the coast that are nice stops, such as, Zumaia, Getaría, and Hondarribia. For the inland route, we started in St. Jean Pied du Port, in France. That is where the French Camino de Santiago begins. It's worth a couple hours. From there we made a quick stop at Roncevalles (generally the 1st stop on the Camino), before continuing on to Pamplona. Pamplona has a small historic center and some nice old walls and gates to see, but everything can be seen in a day. Its bull ring tour was pretty good and better than some others i've taken. After Pamplona we made a short stop at Alto de Perdón near Astrain. Very nice views and it's also a places pilgrims on the camino stop. We spent a night in Santo Domingo de la Calzada only because we had been there years ago. small town with nothing of significance to see. continuin west is the Ermita de la Virgen De La Peña in Tosantos. It´s a hermitage in the side of a hill. It´s worth a short stop. From there Burgos was a nice stop. outside of the city is the Cartuja de Miraflores (1400s monastary). Entrance is free, but they ask for a 1 euro donation per person. Burgos has a very nice historic center and cathedral. If you are an el cid fan, the tombs of Cid and his wife are in the cathedral. The next place heading west is León. It´s a nice city, but it is just a city worth a full day. Two additional places along the camino that we stopped at are Hospital de Obrigo to see the puente (bridge) de Obrigo and San Justo de la Vega to see the Crucero de San Toribio. Short stops just off the main road. Continuing west is Astorga. Its main plaza is nice but I didn´t see anything amazing about the twon or its cathedral. Some people really like it. Ponferrada was the next stop. It has a very nice castle the children would enjoy. from there, there were a couple stops within a couple miles. Because you´re going in April, it may be cold since you´re at a higher altitude and it was cold (30ish degrees) when we were there in May. Alto de Cebreiro and Alto de San Roque. The first is a small hamlet with Celtic round houses still in use. the second is a monument overlooking a valley. After those, we continued on to places i´ve already mentioned, prior to arriving in Santiago. On most of that trip we stayed at Paradors except for Pamplona and Burgos.

Thank you all for your great suggestions!
I now have 2 important pieces of information that I was unaware until I contacted this forum, 1) the existence of a Camino del Norte that hugs the coast, and 2) the Camino del Norte and inland towns are not so easily accessible, so preferably one is to be done over the other.
I have a lot of towns to do research on, which I appreciate you all for providing, now it’s a matter of googling them, researching, viewing images, etc. and deciding what to do particularly in that “middle portion” of our trip.
Thanks again!
Alex

One other thing to take in to account, is that it is Easter weekend. Museums aren't your thing so for example the Guggenheim being closed won't affect you. But in smaller towns you could run into some problems Sat and Sunday. But also you may run into some processions which can be very dramatic.

As a possible itinerary:

Fri-Sat-Sun nights in Castro Urdiales. It is about hour west of Bilbao. Nice fishing port. If the weather is nice you can enjoy the beaches there. I don't know how much you want to see Donostia, but seeing that you have limited time, and the weekend that it is, it is better to save it for another time, which you can enjoy it more. And it is going the "wrong" directions. It is not a big detour, but again, the time could be better spent going west.

Mon-Potes, in the Picos de Europa

Tues-Wed in Oviedo

Thurs, Fri, Sat nights in Santiago.

Thanks dlindstrom!

The itinerary you provided gives me something to work on and evaluate...I appreciate it.

hey alex
got your message. check your inbox, sent you a novel haha hope this gives you lots to contemplate about.
aloha

April
19. Fly into Bilbao. Pick up car. Drive to San Sebastián (2N)
20. San Sebastián
21. Drive to Bilbao (1N)
22. Drive to Santillana del Mar (1N)
23. Drive to Picos de Europa (1N)
24. Drive to Oviedo (2N)
25. Oviedo
26. Drive to Santiago de Compostela (2N)
27. Santiago de Compostela
28. Fly out from Santiago de Compostela

Thanks djp_syd!

I love your detailed itinerary, it allows me to visualize it and review all possible places we can potentially visit while staying overnight in each place, we may tweak here or there, it's a great starting point.
I believe we may not be able to avoid 1 night or 2 night stays, we'll work it out...
Thanks again!

Hey Alex, if you do decide to stop by Picos de Europa I would second the recommendation to stop at Potes, which is a small medieval town nestled in the mountains, complete with an idyllic stream running through it feels a bit like something out of the Swiss Alps.

Nearby you will find the Fuente Dé Parador (which I have stayed at previously) which sits below a string imposing vertical mountains. From there you can take numerous nature hikes and even a cable car that takes you all the way to the top of the mountains.

If you are looking for a place to eat around the area I would heartily recommend Mesón del Oso, (http://www.hoteldeloso.com/) which is a rustic tavern/hotel in a picturesque forested valley. They serve the traditional mountain cuisine.

If you like nature and small towns these would be some of my recommendations in between Santiago de Compostela and San Sebastian. Have fun and good luck!

I appreciate your suggestions Carlos, I will definitely look into your recommendations!

Thank you!

One possible tweak ... exploring the mountains in a day from a coastal base.

April
22. Drive via Santillana del Mar to Ribadesella (2N)
23. Day exploring the Picos de Europa
24. Drive to Oviedo (2N)

https://m.spain.info/en/destinos/ribadesella.html

Thanks djp_syd!

Driving from Ribadesella to Picos de Europa is about a 2 hr drive each way... Unless I'm not understanding correctly, it seems a bit of a stretch to stay by the coast and drive that far... thinking that staying somewhere within Picos de Europa would be better...
Thanks for your suggestions, all these possible scenarios really force me to study my geography :)

Alex

As it happens, the drive from Ribadesella to Oviedo is much faster than the drive from Potes to Oviedo (according to ViaMichelin.com), so the day-trip wouldn't mean much more driving time, and it would avoid one hotel change. It's worth considering, depending on your preference for spending that night in a pretty country town vs. on the coast, and how much time you think you'll need in the Picos area.

Alex, you’ve gotten a lot of good advice and seem to be making good progress on your plans. We had a delightful 2 weeks in northern Spain with our 18 year old son last summer.

My original plan was to do something along the lines of what you are thinking about but as I got into my planning I realized that we did not have enough time to do Galicia, Picos de Europa, Leon, Burgos and the Basque region! There is simply too much to see. We decided to spend our time in Leon and further west.

We were traveling in July so these suggestions may not be practical in April. I particularly enjoyed the gold mines west of Ponferrada (Roman mines, anything Roman has always been a hit with my kids) and, near Ourense, hiking along the River Sil gorge.

Don’t miss eating octopus at every opportunity! Delicious!

Good luck in your planning. You have many good choices.

Hello Eef,
I've watched several videos just about the Basque region and we can see us pretty much spending our whole time over there. It's fascinating, their language is like no other known language, the moors were unable to conquer them, they're known navigators, there's a theory about them having reached the Americas prior to Columbus (may or may not be true), they're considered the "Germany" of Spain with their GDP even greater than Cataluña, their gastronomy is ranked as one of the best not just Spain but of Europe, and they value their independence so much, they could be next in these waves of nationalism (we all know about ETA, but hopefully they don't separate, we all want a strong Europe)... Here I am having been spelled by Andalucia's charm, the weather, the flamenco, the passion, the food, the Alhambra (oh my!!), and then I start learning about the rest of Spain and of the Basques, it is so fascinating, it's like never ending delight... We are looking so much forward to this trip.
In the past I've always tried to pre-book every single day of our stays, but I don't know, I'm inclined now to be a bit more adventurous at least for the middle part of the trip (the beginning 2-3 days and the last 2-3 days are pretty much decided), and if we decide to stay longer we will, if we decide to leave early, then we will... Just like I used to when I was backpacking in my early 20's... I guess I can always cancel the day before a specific stay without penalty and just decide what we want to do... we'll see... ironically, being spontaneous requires planning and anticipating...
And you bet we will be savoring sea food the whole time, this will be a gastronomic vacation for all of us!
Thanks all for your kind suggestions!

As you mentioned, the Basque country is a place where you can spend 9 or ten days exploring.

If you don't want to do the Camino de Santiago, you could do the Camino of St. Ignatius, founder of the Jesuits.

And don't forget about Txuleton - Porterhouse steak. They are best at a Cider house (Sidreria). The standard menu is a cod omelette, a huge steak, (maybe a simple lettuce tomato onion salad) and for dessert cheese with nuts and honey. And plenty of cider.

I wasn't aware there was a Camino de St Ignatius, I'm afraid I don't have enough time to enjoy all of what Northern Spain has to offer! We'll have to plan to be back!
I'm not much of a steak person, my younger son is, but I'm sure there's for everyone's taste...Yes, cider and wine, makes the whole trip much more memorable.
Thanks!