Madrid-Bilbao-Donostia-Galicia best route advice

No idea where you plan on going in Galicia. Counter-clockwise you could go for example, Madrid-Burgos-Donostia-west along the north coast- south toward Santiago de Compostela-León-Zamora-Madrid. There are plenty of small towns you can visit that don’t see many tourists. I can’t help you with how to get to them using public transportation.

My most memorable interactions have been in small towns not well served by public transportation, that seldom see tourists, and with residents who spoke limited or no English. We always have a rental car when we know we’re going to small villages and hamlets.

Yes, we share your preferences to smaller, non-touristy villages but hoped to travel by train or bus only - that's what's been our grand challenge. I guess we may need to re-evaluate this! Thank you sharing your itinerary!

In Galicia the towns/cities of Santiago de Compostela, Pontevedra, A Coruna and Betanzos are easy to each by public transportation. So is Vigo, but it should be skipped, not having much of interest. I also managed to get to the much smaller towns/villages of Tui (on the Spanish border), Cambados (west coast) and Combarra (west coast) without a car. It does take more patience to get to the tiny places, and you may not want to devote enough time to Galicia to get to the littlest accessible spots.

In the Basque Country I spent multiple nights in both Bilbao and San Sebastian, which made it easier for me to reach some of the smaller places. I was able to go to Bermeo, Zarautz/Getaria/Zumaia and Hondarribia. I also went to Vitoria-Gasteiz, which I liked a lot, but it's a sizable place. I believe Gernika and Lekietio are also accessible by public transportation, but I didn't have time for them.

In the Madrid area you might like to check out Chinchon (smaller) and/or Alcala de Henares (larger). Those places see few foreign tourists. Alcala is on a commuter-rail line with very frequent service. Chinchon is a bus ride from Madrid and takes more planning.

Wow - thank you for sharing your thoughts validating bus/train travel through small towns in those provinces! I’ve read your replies to this forum and value the details you include for beginner travelers.
Any recommendations for moderate$$ lodging in A Coruna, Vitoria-Gasteiz and San Sebastián? I will have Translation app ready but unsure about Catalan when booking reservations. The TI offices will be my next project! Again, Gracias!

I nearly always do my initial hotel research on booking.com. In the past I've had mixed results when I compared the booking.com rates to rates on hotels' own websites--sometimes booking.com was cheaper, sometimes it was more expensive, sometimes the rates were absolutely identical. This year I've been looking for hotels in northern Italy and Switzerland, and booking.com has never won the comparison, so I urge you to double check rates on the hotels' websites before making a reservation.

My trip across northern Spain was pre-pandemic, and I stay in the cheapest centrally-located hotels I can find with private baths, so my recommendations would probably not be useful to you. (Aside from which I've totally forgotten what those hotels were like!) Unless you bump up against a special event somewhere, I think you'll find hotels generally reasonable in price. San Sebastian and Santiago de Compostela were my most expensive stops, I think, but I'd guess April/May would be less expensive in those areas than the summer.

You are packing a lot in. The biggest problem with the North, is that there are no great fast train connections (Though one did open recently to the Asturias region from Madrid. For the rest of the areas, you are looking at trains (slower) and buses.

So best might be to take a long trip to Donostia-San Sebastian, some 6 or 7 hours and changes, I would not spend less than 3 nights, the to Bilbao, for at least another 3 nights, then continue west, Galicia, whatever you want to do there would be 3-5 nights easily, just consider that any travel day will be mostly travel.

For the South, Granada or Ronda, again, no less than 3 nights plus travel days...so in the end, not really much time in Madrid, and not really a "base" since you are just starting, passing through, and ending there.

I know I mapped out an ambitious plan for a first trip and will whittle it down based on logistics + time. I’ll take a look at all suggested lodging reviews on this and other forums, too.
Gracias everyone!!!

For San Sebastion, based on our stay in 2019, highly recommend Legazpi Doce Rooms & Suites.

I’ll check it out, GRACIAS!

Last year we were able to do this routing all by train (although one segment had track-working being done, and they used a "bus bridge" instead): Madrid > Santiago de Compostela > Ponferrada > Burgos > Bilbao > San Sebastian.

Also, in addition to @acraven's Galicia recommendations, I would also add Ourense. It is accessible by train from Santiago de Compostela.

May I ask how many nights you spent in each city? Bus SEEMS to be faster but, hmmm…..
Any experience w/ agri-farm B&Bs or working monasteries that offer lodging?? (Not the ones that have been converted to fancy hotels)
Gracias for sharing!

And YES, Ourense, A Coruna are also on our list!

Madrid -- 6 nights
Santiago de Compostela -- 4 nights
Ponferrada -- 2 nights
Palencia -- 1 night
Burgos -- 4 nights
Bilbao -- 5 nights
San Sebastian -- 6 nights

So, obviously a slower-paced trip than what you have with 18 days, but I think everything could be shaved to fit (other than Ponferrada and Palencia). You can read all my trip reports here, here, here, and here. Our travel was a little earlier than you -- March, rather than April/May.

If going by bus and/train, working out the logistics might be the hardest part. For lodging, my wife and I prefer the government run Paradors chain if there’s one where we plan on staying. Many are in historic buildings. Prices are in line with other lodgings in the area they are in and prices vary depending on time of year. They are more reasonably priced than one might think. In northern Spain we’ve stayed at ones in Hondarrbia, Ribadeo, Santillana Del Mar, Santiago de Compostela, León. Tordesillas, Real Sitio de San Ildefonso, and Villafranca del Bierzo.

That sounds great! This forum is SO AWESOME!!! I'll check it out - GRACIAS!!!!!