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Northern Spain

Hi We are heading to Bilbao,San Sebastian,Madrid and Toledo in August/early September for 12 nights having just spent 14 days on a road trip in Ireland. Has anyone got any suggestions re itinerary. What I am thinking is fly into Bilbao and bus straight to San Sebastián for 3 nights-back to Bilbao for 1 night then train or fly down to Madrid for 4 nights then train to Toledo for 3 nights then maybe back to Madrid for 1 night before flying back to London. Does this sound reasonable? Would quite like to be able to relax at the beach in San Sebastián after a gruelling road trip in Ireland. Or has anyone got any other suggestions? Would appreciate it Thanks

Posted by
642 posts

Take into account that northern Spain, and specially the Basque Country, has a very unreliable weather and rain is a frequent option, so you may not have beach weather (in fact, Donostia-San Sebastian is far from a beach resort, it´s more a beautiful working city that happens to have three beaches, but no bars or restaurants at all by the beach, no beach ammenities). Or just the opposite, you never know, our weather is quite uncertain, but this is not certainly the sunny side of Spain (we do have snow in winter, for example, even if just for a few days). I would spend two days in Bilbao, another two or three in Donostia-San Sebastian (food is absolutely fantastic in both cities, being D-SS more famous for it). In any case, it´s a beautiful, green, mountainous, alpine-like area that you´ll certainly love!

Posted by
241 posts

Agree with @MikelBasque Guide that Bilbao deserves more time. The Guggenheim is awesome and the city is lovely. We found some good food in San Sebastion but our favorite things there were the Peine del Viento and the nearby Chillida Leku. Food was even better in Hondaribbia.