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Northern Spain

Both my husband and I are traveling from Madrid to the north of Spain and have eleven days to spend in San Sebastián , Bilbao , Santander, Oviedo, and Santiago de Compostela . We are planning on renting a car ibut don’t know if it’s best to rent from Madrid or for a certain fragment of our trip. Appreciate any suggestions!
Also how many days should we spend in each city? We will be there from August 28- September 10 . Thanks in advance

Posted by
6788 posts

Hi,
I'm assuming your 11 days / 12 nights don't include Madrid. In 12 nights you can do, counting nights

S. Sebastian: 2
Bilbao: 3 (can do day or half-day trip to the coast, e.g San Juan de Gaztelugatxe)
Santander: 0, not that interesting (the city suffered a devastating fire in the 20th c)
Santillana del Mar area: 2, as a replacement, to visit Santillana itself and Comillas
Oviedo: 2
Santiago: 3, (can do day trip to the coast, e.g. Cabo Fisterra or Cambados)

Spare yourselves the long drive from Madrid; take the train and rent a car as you leave S. Sebastian, then drop off in Santiago.

Posted by
26840 posts

I completely agree with balso's time suggestions. If you have fewer than 12 nights on the ground in Spain, there will be some tough decisions to make.

Posted by
3874 posts

Unfortunately, there is not too good train connections from Madrid to San Sebastian, the route takes 5+ hrs and requires one to switch from the AVE to a regional train at Zaragoza, not a train trip I would do after a long transatlantic flight. Instead, I would recommend you fly direct from Madrid to San Sebastian, the day you get to Madrid, the flight takes only 1 hr and you will already be at the right airport in Madrid.

Then on your return from Santiago de Compostela you can just take the Alvia High Speed train to Madrid or even better just fly low cost again, if you plan on flying out of Madrid back to North America. That way you only need to rent the car from San Sebastian to Santiago de Compostela.

Also, instead of Santander and since you will have a car, I would recommend spending a few days at the medieval town of Potes, located in the Cantabrian mountains, the town makes for a great base to explore the Picos de Europa National Park. That way you add some mountains into the mix, as your current itinerary is very coast centric.

Posted by
16893 posts

There are two direct trains per day from Madrid Chamartín station to San Sebastian, departing at 8:00 and 16:00 and taking 5.5. hours.