La Rioja and Basque Country Itinerary for late May

Based on the towns you want to visit, in La Rioja I’ll suggest using Santo Domingo de la Calzada as a base as it is right in the middle between Ezcaray, Haro, Briones, and Elciego. There’s little to the town itself but it’s good to use as abase. We have the Parador there reserved for a couple nights later this month and will take day trips from it. An alternative could be Vitoria-Gasteiz or Logroño. They would be about the same distance to some of the places, but further from Ezcaray. If you intend to visit Getaria, try to visit nearby Zumaia for its beach and Flych rock formations. The towns are 6km from each other.

If you wanted a mid point stop rather than driving to La Rioja in one day, then Lerma or Burgos would work. Burgos is larger while Lerma is relatively small. Since La Rioja isn’t heavily touristed, you may be able to get by without making advance reservations, but not for San Sebastián.

Edited: now that Dave mentioned it, Briones would be good, since the drive to the other places you want to visit would be very short with the exception of Ezcaray, 35 minutes drives away.

Hi Shari,

I would suggest staying in Briones, as it is a bit more central than Sto. Domingo.

May 15th is St. Isidore, and many town will be having small fiesta.
May 20th is St. Barbara in Ezcaray.
Also there is an expression here "Hasta el 40 de mayo, no te quites el sayo", which means "don't take off you smock/cloak until the 40th of May". In other words be prepared for some bad weather.

Hi. Thanks to both of you for the quick reply. Thank you for the recommendation of Briones as a place to stay. What a beautiful town. Would you recommend that over El Ciego? Would several days there be enough? I am interested in also exploring Ezcaray and Valganon (is that a separate trip or overnight?). Our preference is to be able have nice meals and wine without driving too far after dinner. Finally, we would like to visit San Sebastian but given that the weather will be cool and rainy, do you think we would be better off staying elsewhere along the coast or stay in SS and do day trips?

Best,
Shari

From Briones, Laguardia is 21km/12.5 miles away, Haro is about 9km/5.4mi, Elciego is 19km/12mi. Ezcaray is 40km/24mi while Valgañón is 44km/27mi. As you can see they are all close together and could be visited in a couple days depending on how long you spend at each place. I’d allot at least 3 nights for that area. I’ll let Dave opine as to Briones vs Elciego since he lives in that area. Both Elciego and Haro have plenty of Bodegas.

My opinion, but whoever drives the vehicle should not drink at all. The limits in Spain are much lower than in the states and it isn’t worth taking the chance on drinking and driving. We always wait until we’re back at the hotel before having a drink. If we stop at a bodega only my wife will have a tasting.

With regard to weather, we don’t let it interrupt our plans at all. We’ve always avoided SS since the main draw seems to be its beaches and we don’t go to Spain for the beaches. On our May 2017 trip along the north coast we had good weather. There are photos of Santo Domingo de la Calzada, Getaria and Zumaia on my webpage from that trip.

I´d consider Laguardia as the perfect place, as it´s a beautiful medieval town located close to everywhere and its offers underground cellars (4) that can be visited without driving, and some at a walking distance. Briones (where my grandma was born) is a very nice town, but no wineries there and you´d need a car to get anywhere interesting. Regarding Donostia-San Sebastian, it´s a beautiful city but prices of hotels are very expensive, so you may consider staying in a nearby town (not Lekeitio, it´s beautiful but communications are complicated) and take a day trip there. Elciego is in the middle of nowhere and it´s a very small town lacking interest, in my opinion, as is Marqués de Riscal hotel (perfect for splurging, but again, it´s in the middle of nowhere).

Weather on the northern coast of Spain is highly unpredictable and with a tendency to rain. Of course, it does not always rain and we do have beautiful days, but when visiting this area one needs to bring raingear just in case...

Hi Shari,

a possible plan for you trip:

arrive Briones for lunch or in the early afternoon. Then walk down to the Vivancos museum for an afternoon visit. I would say that this is a must visit.

Day 1: go to Santo Domingo de la Calzada. Visit the cathedral. Then go to Ezcaray for lunch. After lunch you can hike up to the ermita of Santa Barbara or cross the river and stroll up to the San Torcuato view point. (both about 3 km) Depending on when you head back you can go back through Casalarreina and visit the monastery of Piedad before going back to Briones.

Day 2: go to Abalos, and visit a few of the wineries they have there. You can eat lunch there or you can also make a picnic and then hike over to the ermita of Santa Maria de la Piscina. (about 3km). Then stop in San Vicente de la Sonsierra. You can visit a winery there and then visit the castle.

Day 3: head out to Elciego and see the Geary building. Next on to Laguardia. Finally head off to San Sebastian.

Just a small remark: La Rioja is a political entity, that is, an autonomous community in Spain (one of 17), as is the Basque Country. Not to be mistaken with Rioja wine country, divided into Rioja Alta (in La Rioja), Rioja Alavesa (in the Basque Country) and Rioja Oriental (in La Rioja and Navarre). Elciego and Laguardia are in the Basque Country (Rioja Alavesa), while Briones and Haro are in La Rioja (Rioja Alta), and Ezcaray does not belong to Rioja wine region and it´s in La Rioja. Easy, isn´t it?

La Rioja was traditionally the name for Rioja wine country, but in 1982 (I believe) the province of Logroño (as it has always been called) changed its name to La Rioja and became an autonomous community, "usurping" the name of Rioja wine region.