Hi all!
I'm swimming (or more aptly drowning) in all the ideas and options we want to do for a 7 night stay in northern Spain. Some background:
-Four adults in mid-50's, and traveling in July. We are doing a 7 night cruise on the Douro River prior to, and will disembark in Porto. Both couples are fairly active, though not looking for strenuous activities, but good with plenty of walking and a mix of sightseeing and relaxing, so we're not pushing hard each day. Love seeing history, some art and architecture and enjoy food and wine. Our desire to head north was somewhat influenced by trying to avoid the worst of the heat of southern Portugal and other parts of Spain that time of year.
-We are set on 7 nights, as we will head north the morning of cruise disembarkation, and need to be in other cities outside of Spain on the 8th day. So will also need to be in a city with an airport that will connect to FRA and maybe BCN for the other couple.
-In terms of lodging, we will look at smaller hotels, B&B's, paradors, etc, but that will be down the road. One restriction is there is one vegetarian and one celiac traveller, so needing to stay in a town or city that will have more than a few dining options so we have options to accommodate.
Initially, the plan was SDC, then head east to the Picos area and finish up in Bilbao. I was thinking with that plan do 3 nights in one place, 1 in Picos and 3 in Bilbao (we will have a car), or a 3, 2, 2 split of nights. My gut is telling me that is too much to do in 7 nights.
As I've read more about Galicia the coast along Rias Baixas (Pontevedra), and maybe A Coruna would be good. So another option I was thinking is just staying in Galicia and doing 3 nights in one of those two areas (pick up car in Rias Baixas if staying there, or up to SDC to pick up), 2 nights SDC at the end of the trip to fly out of (or 1 night if we want to add a 3rd night elsewhere), and then 2 (or 3) nights....?? Maybe up by A Coruna if the coastal area is different enough? Or Ourense (thermal baths sound kind of cool!)? Or???.....Open to other options.
I did like the idea of the Picos as that would be cool to see as well as some of the cave sites, but I'm slowly letting go of heading east as there will be a fair amount of time in the car eating up our days if we do that. Another trip there and Basque country I'm thinking.
I would love to hear feedback and ideas to help narrow down these options. I've been reading a lot of the threads on here for ideas and thoughts. Once I have something a bit more concrete I can share with the rest of the group (they basically said plan the trip and they'll come along, lol)!
Thanks!