Flying into Madrid mid October with a Portugal destination for the majority of our 28 day trip. We are thinking of heading to North Spain when we land for a 3-5 day road trip excursion. We will rent a car at the airport. Thinking of staying a night at the unique Marriott Eltziego near Logrono then heading to either San Sebastian or Bilbao -then either driving through Picos de Europe(fitting in a hike) OR hugging the coast before heading down into Portugal. Need itinerary ideas for this short road trip. Skip San Sebastian and do gaztelugatxe near Bilbao? Or vice versa? Spend time in the national park or do the coast? Or does anyone have a better idea for must see stops? Thanks!
Posted by
la rioja
590 posts
@Traciv,
the simplest way to would be to take the N120 all the way out to Vigo.
This would take you through Burgos, Carrion de los Condes, y Sahagun, which are hosting the 25th edition of the Ages of Man (Las Edades del Hombre).
If the Marques de Riscal is you prefered hotel type, you might also think about the Parador San Marcos in Leon.
For a longer detour, between the N623 and N611 is the Valderredible which is scenic and full of curious rupestre churches. The church of San Martin is very interesting. At the west side of the valley is Orbaneja del Castillo. The cave, stream and waterfall make it an interesting stop.
Posted by
Paris
7304 posts
With only 3-5 days, I would not go as far east as Rioja / Basque country, because then it is a LONG drive.to Portugal.
With 5 days, I would head due North to the picos de Europa, spend 2 days (at least 2 nights but 3 nights if you can), then 2 days on the coast of Asturias (I suggest Lastres, Tazones, or Cudillero, and 1-2 nights will do if that's what you have), and drive inland to Northern Portugal stopping in Leon to see the cathedral (to me it's a quick stop, but others may differ). And even then, it is a lot of driving!
With 3 days, I wouldn't even try to reach the coast. I would rather head to Segovia for the night, then Salamanca for 2 nights, and on to wherever you are going in Portugal.
Posted by
Mid-Atlantic area
7160 posts
With such a short period of time, maybe from Madrid head to Zamora, then up to León, and over to Ponferrada, Lugo, Santiago de Compostela, then down to Portugal. If you went towards Zamora and east, and like castles, there are ones in Arévalo, Valencia de Don Juan, Medina de Campo, Puebla de Sanabria, Ponferrada, and Coca.
The Parador in León dlinstrom mentioned is very nice. We stayed there in 2017 and shortly thereafter it underwent a couple year restoration and renovation.
Posted by
11570 posts
You do not have enough time to go over to the Basque area of Bilbao and San Sebastián. Save it for another trip.
Look at Picos de Europa, , at Baiona, and very special Santiago de Compostela , the end of the Camino. We stayed in the Paradors in Baiona and Santiago de C. Reserve early. We booked the Parador in Santiago de Compostela a year out. Baiona’s Parador is directly on the oceanfront. It is where the first of Columbus’ first ships returned to Spain from the “New World.”
Important: You will need to return your Spanish rental car in Spain and either take a train or hire a taxi to take you across the border to get a Portugese rental car. We did this trip in reverse.
We dropped our Portugese car off at the Porto airport and picked up a Spanish car in the city of Vigo. We were quoted a 1000€ drop fee if we didn’t do this. We hired a taxi , driver spoke only Spanish which was OK, through our hotel for 150€. “Driver services “ with English speaking drivers were much much more expensive. The train was very slow so we didn’t chose it. Our hotel in Porto arranged the taxi for us. The places mentioned above work very well in combination with Portugal.