Incorporating the Basque Region into a tour of Spain

I'd fly from Bilbao to Granada. It will take 8 to 10 hours by any other means of transport.
Other than that the train or a rental car works.

I'd shave a day off of Madrid and Pamplona and add one to Bilbao.

Pamplona is a bigger city with a smaller historical center. I was advised to skip by forum people I trust. We did go to San Sebastián and loved it.

I second the cutting nights off of Pamplona.

From Madrid, there is good bus service. The train is not direct and can take a longer.

So Madrid 4 nights,
Pamplona 1 night.
San Sebastian 1
Bilbao 3 nights.

If you are renting a car, I would say bus to Pamplona. Night in Pamplona. Then rent a car and head to La Rioja. One night in around Haro and then up to Bilbao. In October the vineyards are in full Fall color. Starting in Estella through to Haro you will see some spectacular color.

I don’t have a problem with Pamplona, but not for three nights, unless taking a day trip outside the city. We spent one night there in 2017 and feel we had plenty of time to see the few sights that are in town. The bullring tour was actually very good. The historic center is fairly small. We had a rental car. In Pamplona we stayed at the Pamplona Cathedral Hotel.

If you did decide to get a rental car there are plenty of small towns and places to visit within 30-40 minutes of Pamplona. For example, Castillo de Javier, Monasterio de Leyre, Olite, Estella, Puente de la Reina, Alto de Perdón, Monastery of Iranzu, to mention a few.

I will start by saying that we loved our visits to:
- Bilbo
- Donostia
- Iruñea
in Euskal Herria.
But, I would not try to cover northern and southern España in a single trip as you will waste too much time traveling.

I would do either:
- Madrid
- Zaragoza
- Iruñea
- Donostia
- Bilbo
or
- Madrid
- Sevilla
- Córdoba
- Granada
- Málaga

For those not familiar with the Basque name of the cities mentioned, Bilbo is Bilbao, Donostia is San Sebastián, and Iruñea is Pamplona. Euskal Herria is the way we say "Basque Country". Three nights in Iruña-Pamplona is too much, I´d do Donostia-San Sebastian instead.

We did Bilbao, Donostia-San Sebastian, Pamplona, and Zaragoza earlier this year and loved it. We were entirely train-based and there are direct trains between Madrid and both Bilbao and Zaragoza. Agree with other comments that trying to do this AND Southern Spain/Andalusia is a lot. If you can, break them into two different trips. I would recommend two nights in Pamplona and use one of them to make a daytrip to Olite. For a variety of bad luck reasons, we had wanted to do this and missed it, and I still regret that. Plus Pamplona had some cool stuff. Our breakdown was:
Bilbao (5 nights); D-SS (6); Pamplona (2); Zaragoza (9, but we were there for Easter Week. Other times I'd say 5-6). If you haven't visited Madrid before, then your 4 nights is about right.

Thank you for all of your feedback. I doubt we will get back to Spain so trying to plan a comprehensive but reasonable tour. We will take all of your comments into consideration. Thank you.

dlinstrom: I cannot find La Rioja. I found a region entitled Rioja. Please advise......
My apologies. I see Haro is the town within Rioja. Thank you. Any suggestions of where to stay in Haro?

hey,

briefly, there is the La Rioja the Spanish state. It is the smallest wedged between the Basque Country, Navarra and Castile Leon. The La Rioja DOC is a wine growing area that includes part of Navarra and the Basque country.

As for a hotel in Haro, try Los Agustinos. If you have a car, you might like staying Briones, which is about 5 km southeast of Haro. There are many fine wineries in Haro and the Bodega Muga was named the 49th best vineyard for tourism. In Briones you have Dinastia Vivanco which is a museum and the winery was number 76.

Here is the wiki page for La Rioja You will see that we are a very small community, only about 350K population.

Hope that helps.

Just to clarify: La Rioja is a political region, that has wine only in the north. Capital, Logroño (wineries outside the city). And then we have Rioja (without "La") D.O. wine region, divided into Rioja Alta (Haro is the most important town here), Rioja Alavesa (Basque Rioja wine region, with Laguardia and Labastida as main towns) and then Rioja Oriental (Eastern Rioja), that extends along La Rioja and Navarra. Do not mistake La Rioja with Rioja, despite their so similar names.

This is what we, “4 gently aging adults”, did by car in September, 2019 and had an awesome time:

Day 1 - Arrive Barcelona, drive to Zaragoza

Day 2 - Zaragoza to Laguardia, wine tasting/lunch at Bodega Baigorri, to Vitoria-Gasteiz

Day 3 - Vitoria-Gasteiz to Bilbao

Day 4 - Bilbao to Guernica, Getaria, San Sebastion with a stop at Chillida Leku

Day 5 - San Sebastian

Day 6 - To Hondaribbia

Day 7 - Day trip from Hondaribbia, to Sare, Ainhoa, back to Hondaribbia

Day 8 - Hondaribbia to St. Jean de Luz to Bayonne

Day 9 - Bayonne, via Toulouse, to Carcassonne

Day 10 - Carcassonne to Figueres for Dali Museum, to Barcelona

Day 11 - Barcelona

Day 12 - Barcelona

Day 13 - Barcelona, to Montserrat

Day 14 - Return travel

You have more time and have already been to Barcelona so can go slow and enjoy. We loved the Basque country as well as the Aljaferia in Zaragoza, Bodegas Baigorri, Chillida Leku and the Dali Museum. Hated Carcassone.

Have a great trip!

The app Rome to Rio is a valuable tool for planning your method of transportation. You put in point A to B and it will tell you what types of public transport is available and how much time it will take. It also shows how much time it would take if you decide to drive yourself.

If flying in and out of Madrid is your only option, I would suggest Madrid, train to Basque region then fly from Bilbao to Granada then train to Seville and train back to Madrid for your flight home. Having been to Pamplona, I would suggest one night is all you need really. I would add a night or two in San Sebastián. Or do 3 nights in Bilbao with a daytrip to San Sebastián. I would also allocate one night in Toledo as it is on the way from Seville to Madrid.

Thank you all for your input. We decided to fly into Bilbao and begin our adventure there. Our updated itinerary is:
Bilbao 3 nights (potential day trips being explored)
Pamplona 2 nights (include a day trip to Elizondo)
Zaragoza 2 nights
Madrid 3 nights (include a day trip to Toledo)
Granada 2 nights
Sevilla 3 nights and fly home to Florida
Interestingly, we were able to book Delta flights from our hometown airport of Melbourne, Fl and not have to use Orlando. :-)
We will probably travel via train between the towns. We are exploring that now.
Again, thank you. Your suggestions have been very helpful.