I'm in very preliminary planning for a trip for my husband and I to explore the Basque region (both Spain and France) and we'd like to tack on some time in Rioja (I'm a wine lover) and Asturias (he's a cider lover). Here's what I've pieced together so far and I'd appreciate some feedback from folks who have been here. As context: my husband and I prefer a slightly slower travel style (no one night stands), we' re foodies, I love to swim and snorkel if possible, and we both love the outdoors - walking or hiking. We're looking at traveling in September. I'll cross-post this in the France forum for feedback on that part of the itinerary.
Itinerary:
- Flying into Paris, stay 3 nights (only because I completely love Paris and I got a good deal on a business class flight with points)
- Train to Bayonne, stay 4 nights, Rick raves about St Jean de Luz but accommodations are less in Bayonne and it looks like it has good services. Plan is to pick up a car here that we could use to explore the villages. I am thinking we could day trip to St Jean de Luz as well.
- Train or drive to San Sebastian/Donostia, stay 3 nights. I know that many car rental agencies don't like you renting in one country and dropping in the other, and it can be very expensive to do so. So I'm thinking that it might be better to drop the car in Bayonne and take the train to Donostia. We would then pick up another car here to explore the region for the rest of the trip.
- Drive to Laguardia, stay 3 nights. Plan is is to leave Donostia early and spend the day in Pamplona before continuing on to Laguardia for the night. I think 3 nights would give us time to do a Rioja wine tour and explore the town.
- Drive to Gijon (Asturias), stay 4 nights. This would be our longest driving day. I've looked at Oviedo, Aviles, and Gijon as home bases and I think that Gijon is best for us but interested to hear from others.
- Drive to Bilbao, stay 2 nights. Plan is to drop the car and fly home from here, which is Portland, Oregon.
Alternatives: we could move San Sebastian/Donostia to the end of the trip, extend our time there and drop Bilbao as a location to stay at, day tripping there from San Sebastian instead. It's just over a 1 hour drive via AP-8 from San Sebastian to the Bilbao airport so it is doable to fly out of Bilbao but stay in San Sebastian. I realize San Sebastian has an airport but the airlines that fly out of there to the US are pretty limited. Note that I haven't purchased our flights back yet, I'm still watching those deals. I'm hoping to go through KLM as they have a direct AMS -> PDX flight. If we make this change, I would add 1 night to San Sebastian (to allow for a day trip to Bilbao) and 1 night in Laguardia (to allow for a day trip to Pamplona since we would train Bayonne to Laguardia instead and miss a stopover in Pamplona).
Feedback?