Itinerary Question- Asturia/Bordeaux

The four nights in San Sebastián does seem long, even with jet lag but I’ve never been (didn’t seem that interesting to me) and you know you. I assume Bilbao didn’t appeal to you, which is why it’s not getting any time, but the timing in the rest seems fine.

If you go with option 2, consider flying into Asturias airport (OVD) if you can. Iberia goes there through Madrid (although there might be other options) and it puts you closer to Oviedo. Not in town - the initials are a lie- but closer. You’re not nuts to consider this option. It’s your bucket list item! It works.

Bilbao deservers a minimum of 2 nights, and Donostia/San Sebastian may seem too much time there. Take into account that weather tends to be rainy all along your itinerary, so if you´re thinking on beach weather, it may not be a possibility.

How are you planning to travel into France? You will probably want a car to really see the Dordogne countryside. Typically car drop offs between different countries are very expensive. You could conceivably drop it off in Spain cross the border into France by public transportation then pick up another one.

You could also take the train all the way to Bordeaux and pickup/return the car there but you would spend time backtracking and then miss the opportunity to see the countryside south of the Dordogne. Note that I haven’t been to that particular region (yet) but I assume there are small cities and towns worth seeing which are just as beautiful as the Dordogne.

I agree that 4 nights in San Sebastián is probably too many. The Picos de Europa is a decent sized area. Depending on what you intend to do there 4 nights might be too many, or too few, nights. You should check public transportation options in that area if you’re using it as schedules may not be as convenient as you might think for getting around.

Thanks for all of the notes, after looking at all the options we are going to stick to the original plan and head to Madrid. Thanks for the note on the weather. We are from the PNW so windy and rainy is our jam, but makes us think of back up itineraries in case it’s awful. We are likely going to lop one day off of San Sebastián and spend it in Bilbao or on the coast. For those of you who have been in this area what were your must-see’s of do’s that might be unexpected?

What have you selected to do so far? I find that helps spur suggestions. My favorite activity we did on the coast near San Sebastián was the hike from Zumaia (coastal st James path).

We like to hike, visit historic places- not necessarily museums, and eat. We prefer quieter spots. We have decided based on what we like to limit our stay in San Sebastián to three nights giving us two full days from the time to explore which is just about our city limit. That gives us one extra day between San Sebastián and arriving in the Picos. We are looking to stay in a hotel one night somewhere on the way. The other option is to add a night to Bilbao.

I strongly advise staying in a rural hotel between SS and the Picos de Europa if you are looking for a stopover between the two.....

Which town will you be staying in the Picos de Europa?

Between the two destinations lies the Urdabaii Biosphere reserve which offers beautiful landscape good for walking and, I assume, hiking. There are quite a few very good, small rural hotels in the area.

One we especially liked was HOTEL URUNE in the vicinity of Muxixa.
http://www.urunehotela.com/en/slow-life-3/

You have such limited time that you might be best off (I would) staying in the Basque region and exploring the smaller towns to the west of San Sebastián. There is so very much to see that I don't really advise going all the way to Picos de Europa..
But I like to take my time and soak up a region/town, rather than hopping from place to place.

Your time in San Sebastián might be related to your interest in the regional food....I could spend two weeks there, doing day trips to Tolosa, etc.......but I guess three days will be great!! There is a nice hike up to the top of Mount Igeldo, and a beautiful view from the top. Or Mount Ulía.

https://tourism.euskadi.eus/en/top10/natural-areas/urdaibai-biosphere-reserve/webtur00-recursostop/en/

I would leave Asturias/Cantabria for another trip.
What about the coastal towns east of San Sebastian--Getaria for example?

Thinking out of the box — are you set on going to San Sebastián? As others have said, Bilbao is easily worth more than one night. You could then divide the remaining days between the already chosen locations. Since your destination is Oviedo for presumably car rental drop off and train connection to Madrid skipping San Sebastián would also eliminate that backtracking.

I had considered staying longer in Bilbao and spending more time along the coast in between. We have heard fabulous things about San Sebastián so wanted to go. What you love is so individual, having never been it’s hard to figure out what things we would enjoy.

One thing that gives me pause about San Sebastián is the crowds. When we went to Bath we ended up visiting outlying areas and going on some hikes because in town was a zoo. Then came back to the city in the evening. I am not sure how crazy it will be. We love walking the beach.

I am now considering using Bilbao as a base. We also are going to take the train to San Sebastián then drive back along the coast.

Read about all of the other villages surrounding both so you have a good sense of the day trip options (I like Rough Guides). Bilbao seems to be a board favorite now, but when I visited, San Sebastián was the darling. And I definitely had a favorite—but I don’t believe personal impressions really mean much—case in point, I just had a bad time in Bilbao. I would definitely go back and give it a second chance, but that’s why your choices and options are so important to know. I would not enjoy driving in and out of Bilbao over several days.
The villages will be quiet in mid May, but would make for some lovely scenic drives.

Things to take into consideration: Donostia/San Sebastian is rainy (as all the northern coast of Spain) all year round, so come prepared for any kind of weather. As said before, beach weather is not always an option, in fact, it´t not that usual. Not that much to do there, but if you want to take it easy and walk by the beach and enjoy the streets, buildings and see people walking by, it´s your place, the city (190,000h) is beautiful and a couple of days is good enough, normally, but of course that depends on your interests.

Train from Bilbao to Donostia/San Sebastian: US visitors have this thing with trains...and yes, they are normally a good option, but buses are generally a much wiser option in short distances. It´s a commuter train for the towns on the way and it stops in every one of them, so it takes over 2.5h for a 60 mile (100km) ride. Take the bus, there are over 30 daily connections and buses in Spain are spotlessly clean, safest, cheap, modern and very efficient.

A good question is how does Bilbao compare to San Sebastián? I have not been to Bilbao, and only briefly to San Sebastián. Of course there is the geographic setting, city on a river vs. being on a beach. Bilbao seems to have a lot of industrial grit, and some “bizarre” architecture.

Note on trains, a lot of US people including myself would opt to take a train because the trains are interesting and different than what we have. Typically the journey is more scenic than what you would see along the highway on a bus ride. So the journey is the appeal. I can ride on a bus anytime.

Bilbao, crossed by a river, WAS and industrial city that, when the steel factories and the shipyards closed or moved out of the city, reinvented itself and transformed all the river area. No industrial grit at all anywhere in the city (I wonder where this idea comes from, maybe from old publications?), it´s the 2nd cleanest city in Spain after Oviedo, the highest index of happiness in Spain and the fourth most walkable city in Europe. "Bizarre" architecture can only refer to the Guggenheim museum, as we have a 14th-15th century beautiful old town, classic architecture all over the city, and then modern architecture in the renewed part of the city, by 7 Pritzker prize (the Nobel of architecture) architects. Opera house (6 operas per season), concerts, surrounded by green mountains, a 1915 funicular, and 9 miles to the coast. You can get on foot practically anywhere in the city. National Geographic has chosen Bilbao as the city with the highest quality of life in Spain, https://www.bizkaiatalent.eus/en/pais-vasco-te-espera/conocenos/national-geographic-mejor-ciudad/.

Donostia-San Sebastian is a "postcard" city, but also a working city, the Basque Country´s income comes mainly from making trains, car components, Mercedes vans, satellites, biosciences...33% of our GDP while tourism is barely a 7%. Beautiful setting, smaller than Bilbao (190,000h vs 345,000h), classy, and while D-SS is considered the gastronomic capital of Europe, Bilbao is very close to it, offering very similar gastronomy. Both are very clean, rainy and safe.

Of course, as I´m Bilbao-born, I´m biased, but if you read updated information, it may all be true...

TRAINS: Spain offers many types for trains, from the AVE high-speed ones to the standard wide-gauge ones and the small narrow-gauge ones. You need to know which one you want to take and where, because in some cases (like the trip from Bilbao to D-SS or viceversa) the bus is the logical option. Not all trains are identical.

Thank you for the detailed information. The more I read about Bilbao the more interested I am in visiting. Coming from the rural US, public transportation especially fast trains are a wonder. In this case we have decided to take the bus over the train because of all the stops.

In terms of industrialized Bilbao I was referring to "the remnants of industry", for example, mining tunnels, abandoned railway passages, and derelict factories. In that sense and to me, industrialized, or formerly industrialized does not carry a negative connotation, not everything has to be picture perfect and in fact can be very visually interesting.

In terms of architecture I supposed bizarre is the wrong word and can be misinterpreted as a negative view, when it fact it should be "striking". For example I would consider the Vizcaya Bridge as striking, in that I've never seen anything like it before. Off course I haven't seen it with my own eyes yet, but I am looking forward to it.

Other architecture I would put in the striking category would be the various German Soviet-era space needles, for example the TV tower in Berlin or the Intempo building in Benidorm even. To my eyes, they are definitely different.

@joefarnacle, I was the other day in one of those abandoned mining tunnels, right opposite the old quarter of Bilbao, where the mine were. But nothing much left, the city has really, really transformed itself and there´s no abandoned railways or factories, at least not in the city itself. If you follow the river (9 miles to the sea) you´ll be able to see abandoned mineral loaders and factories, but that´s not Bilbao. It may be that this city is small and very compact, and the outskirts are just other towns, but not Bilbao. For example, Bizkaia Bridge is not in Bilbao, but at the estuary of the river, very close to the ocean (I live a mile from there), but it´s not Bilbao and nobody here call it Bilbao or even suburban Bilbao, it´s Getxo or Portugalete. Maybe by US standards your cities cover larger areas including the suburbs, but not here.

Yes, you´ve never seen anything like the "hanging bridge", as we all call it, as it´s unique. Patented here, built in 1893, and still part of our public transportation system, but unique in the world. Just as our soccer team, "unique in the world", the only one worldwide that plays only with local players. A sense of Basque pride in both.

That bridge is great. Walk across the top one direction and then ride the hanging car back!

If you are interesting in Gaudi, he designed a house in Comillas, between Bilbao and Los Picos. I stayed a couple nights and the sites were interesting. Not a place I’d go in summer because of crowds, but don’t think summer starts until mid-June or so. There are cave paintings to be seen in the area, but I think theyve further limited tickets and tickets are times so they would require some detailed planning.

Urdaibai reserve and visitors center was great if you like birds. It’s near the town of Mundaka north (-ish?) of Bilbao, which is small but there’s a coastal walk to another town nearby that I think began with B. (Sorry- not looking at the map now).

Los Picos is amazing wherever you go, but I was at Fuente De at the end of May or early June and there was still snow on that the trails at the top of the funicular. It was hikeable, but fyi. The other hikes were fine. So pretty!

And if you’re tired of walking by the time you get near Oviedo, there was a bike trail called Senda del Oso. Rent a bike, mosey down the trail, maybe see the bears that are taken care of there because they can’t be returned to the wild, then get picked up for a ride back up the hill. There’s so much to see there, so this may not fit your schedule, but it’s a nice half day if you’re bored. (Ha!)