Northern Spain Cities Recommendations (using bus or train)

That's a lot of ground covered between Pontevedra (Galicia) and San Sebastian, it's like North Carolina to New York. It's a tall order, with a plethora of options, from the coasts to the mountains and everything in between.

Since you will be travelling during April, the height of the rainy season in the north, that rules out the mountains like the Picos de Europa. It will still be snowed in with limited accessibility, especially without a car. Just prepared for wet weather wherever you go!

You mention you would like to see the Basque country, in that case, I would recommend you just fly there (1 hr) from nearby Santiago de Compostela and save yourself the time consuming hassle of getting their by land. Here's what I would recommend, taking into consideration you would like to end up in Barcelona:

Pontevedra
Fly via Santiago de Compostela airport to
Bilbao (2 nights)
ALSA Bus or Train to
San Sebastian (2 nights)
ALSA Bus to
Zaragoza (1-2 nights)
AVE Train to
Barcelona

Bilbao is the more grounded brother to San Sebastián. With its contrasting old and new architecture and nice riverside area, I actually like Bilbao better than San Sebastián as a city. The main draw is the Guggenheim, one of the leading contemporary art museums in the world.

Zaragoza is the capital of the neighboring region of Aragon. The city has more than 2,000 years of history including Roman ruins of the city walls, forum, and amphitheater, as well as the Aljafería; an 11th-century Moorish palace. It's also the home of the famous pilgrimage site of Nuestra Señora del Pilar Basilica, housing the miraculous image of the Virgin Mary of Pilar. The best part, Zaragoza is relatively undiscovered as far as major Spanish cities go.

Hope this helps :)

Without a car, I don't know if I'd try to do a smaller city, honestly. This area just isn't that well served.

I enjoyed San Seabastian despite the touristic aspect. It was stately and scenic and the pinxtos bars excellent. That said, we only were in Bilbao from late afternoon to late morning and that was not enough time at all. I'd bought into the (false) idea that it was modern and dull and nothing could be further from the truth. The pinxtos scene there was phenomenal and the old city fantastic and beautiful - and that's not even getting into the museum.

If I were to return, I'd spend at least 2 nights in Bilbao.

Honestly, having spent a night in a couple towns in Asturias, (Llanes, which was cool, and Polientes, which was meh) I would have skipped the latter and spent another night in Bilbao.

Off-the-beaten-path in this area and not having a car just don't really work together that well in this region. And there's enough to see on the beaten path that I'll say it again: Bilbao.

Yes, Bilbao is great. There are foreign tourists around the Guggenheim, but that's about it.

I think the bus route will take you through Leon, Burgos and Vitoria-Gasteiz, all of which I enjoyed during a 2016 trip.

Leon has a large, attractive historic district that is now full of restaurants and bars. That's not my sort of scene, but it seemed very festive (in the summer). I assume most of the folks I saw out and about were Spaniards. There are some points of tourist interest in the city, including the cathedral.

The historic center of Burgos was full of pilgrims during my visit. It, too, is very attractive. It is notorious for being windy, though, which might not be ideal in April.

Vitoria-Gasteiz is the capital of the interior Basque province of Alava. It has a large historic district up on a hill, charmingly called the "medieval almond" because of its shape. It seemed quieter than Leon and Burgos, though it could just have been my timing. It was raining on the day of my visit. V-G has a couple of small art museums and a playing-card museum.

Any of those places would be worthwhile stops. One smaller possibility is the very atmospheric hilltown of Laguardia, which is on the bus line between Vitoria-Gasteiz and Logrono. Unless there's something strange about bus schedules in spring vs. summer, I think you could do a day-trip there from V-G, though quite possibly not on a Sunday. I observed some wine bars in LaGuardia; it may get some wine tourism since its near the LaRioja vineyards. I happened to hit the town on the day of a fiesta, so I couldn't tell how touristy it normally is. I think this is more a place to go for just wandering around than for ticking off a long list of sights, but I recall there's an important feature in an old church in the town. I didn't get to see it because (according to my guidebook) the key is held by the tourist office, and the T.O. was closed because of the fiesta.

The town of Astorga, west of Leon, has an Episcopal Palace designed by Gaudi and a few other sights worth a look. I traveled there by bus from Leon and am not sure whether through buses heading from Santiago de Compostela to Leon would stop there. It's small enough that you might prefer it as a part-day side-trip from Leon.

Thank you all for your thoughtful responses!

Scythian, thank you for the links! The slow train along the coast sounds perfect. I enjoy long train rides if the route is scenic. It looks like if I can get to Gijon I can catch a train to Pais Vasco and it winds along the coast. I'll start doing more research into this option.

Carlos, thank you for the the suggested itinerary! I hadn't considered flying since there's so much between Galicia and Pais Vasco but it is something I'll keep in mind since I want to maximize my time in the local areas. I will definitely keep flight options in mind and look into Zaragoza, my host mom in univ was from there yet I realize I know nothing about the city!

Sarah and Acraven, thank you for suggesting Bilbao! Initially I planned on skipping this city because of the reasons you mentioned (modern, industrial, etc.) so it's great to hear people had similar preconceived notions and their actual experience there completely changed their minds! I've started to read up about Bilbao - do you think a day trip to San Sebastian is worthwhile or should each city get their own time?

Finally, this part of my trip is during Semana Santa - since I've explored Southern Spain before I'm departing from family to travel in the north on my own. I had resigned myself to miss the incredible processionals typical of Seville et al but I recently heard that there are some in the north. Has anyone had any first hand experience with events for Semana Santa? I've found a bit online and will keep researching but so much of the information focuses on Southern Spain.

Hi, regarding Semana Santa in the north, you will find some pretty good processions in the region of Castilla y León, which borders Galicia to the southeast:

Zamora's processions are some of the oldest in Spain, dating back to the 1200s, they are known for their more "medieval" ambiance, complete with their own Gregorian chants. To get to Zamora, you first have to get to Santiago de Compostela by regional bus/train then you can take the ALVIA high speed train direct to Zarmora.

Salamanca is a little farther than Zamora, but is also well known for Semana Santa Processions. As Salamanca is a larger town there will be more to see in addition to the processions, as opposed to Zamora. I think there is an ALSA bus they goes direct from Pontevedra to Salamanca.

One day in San Sebastian itself was enough for me. As a solo traveler I was not happy with the tapas-bar scene--mobbed, no place to sit down to have a tapas lunch, etc. The city is pretty but swamped with tourists. However, there are some very good side-trips to be made from San Sebastian. I went to Hondarribia and Zarautz/Getaria/Zumaia. So I think it depends on whether you just want to see SS or are interested in ranging more widely. Folks who travel with a list of top-flight restaurants to try out will no doubt be more enamored of San Sebastian than I was.

The fastest way to travel between Bilbao and San Sebastian is by bus, but I took the FEVE train in one direction, and it was a lovely ride. Highly recommended.

I took a part-day trip to Gijon when I was staying in Oviedo. Gijon is the livelier of the two cities. Its really historic area is quite small, but it does have one. In addition, scattered around what I call "the downtown area" are a lot of attractive early-20th-century buildings. If you need the tourist office, it used to be in an odd location on the port. Check the current address ahead of time. I spent a lot of time wandering around.

I have to agree with acraven, the San Sebastian pintxos scene is over-hyped and over-run, I was surprised it's branded as the "best food experience in the world" by Lonely Planet. As for pintxos themselves, you only really get a sliver of the good stuff (sardines, morcilla, tortilla etc.) on a usually thick piece of bread and by the end of the night, you end up eating more bread than anything else.

Thank you again for the suggestions!

I'm sure I'll stop off somewhere while in San Sebastian for pintxos but I'll probably try to hit up the place during the off period in order to avoid the crowd. The $$$ foodie scene isn't something I'm into since I'm more of a middle of the road traveler but maybe I can find a reasonably priced cooking class so I can learn more about Basque food.

Carlos, I'll do some research into Zamora since it sounds like a really interesting place!

Acraven, Gijon and Oveido were on my potential stops for my trip to Bilbao so it's good to hear they're interesting spots to stop along the way.

I also found that there are processionals in Bilbao the week of Semana Santa so I may just get the procesiones experience I hoped for without the massive crowds of Southern Spain (ideal for an introvert!).

I'm quite excited about my upcoming trip and I really appreciate everyone's advice and insights!

Thanks again to everyone who provided recommendations and insight about Northern Spain! I just returned from my trip and it was fantastic! I appreciate everyone who took the time to answer my questions and provide suggestions! Now it’s off to plan for my next trip! :)

Glad you had a great time! May I ask what itinerary you ended up doing?

When I arrived in the region I was in Galicia (Pontevedra area and then Santiago de Compostela) for 3 nights and then Bilbao for 3 nights (I also spent a few nights each in Barcelona and Porto (Portugal) as part of my 2 week trip). I believe it was your suggestion to fly rather than buses/trains and although I was a bit bummed about not seeing the countryside as much in the end I appreciated having more time in each location. Flying between the cities was only a little more expensive than trains/buses when I went.

I did a day trip from Bilbao to San Sebastián and spent the rest if the time relaxing and watching the processionals. My only disappointment was that I didn’t plan out the timing of the visit as well as I thought and missed the guided tour to the Rioja region. I’ll have to add it to the itinerary for my next visit!

Thanks glad I could help! :)