''Northern'' Spain questions...

• North Coast (San sebastian, Bilbao, Oviedo, to St-John), what is St John?

Beautiful ride on N-634 or A8 motorway, plenty of beautiful stops in the Basque Country, Cantabria, Asturias and Galicia. I assume you refer to Santiago de Compostela as the end of your trip?

Festivals in Iruña-Pamplona start on July 7, for 8 days. You may find festivals in your way, and it´s lots of fun, family friendly and with many activities day and night.

@bucephale - Don't forget to add Toledo on the list in addition to Madrid and Segovia. Toledo is a great medieval town that is rich in art and culture. You should also add Leon and Burgos as part of the North Coast Tour. Burgos has a castle that the kids will enjoy exploring. You can skip Pamplona.

Thanks for those answers !
Sorry about the St-John....I've tried (very poorly) to translate St-Jacques-de-Compostelle (french is my daily language !)

When coming into Spain you could take the inland route heading west (Burgos, León, Ponferrada or Ourense) and return east via the north coast (Gijón, Santander, San Sebastián), or vice versa. The listed towns are only provided to show the route. Since you’re driving, once you figure out the route, check the cities, towns, and villages along it. There are plenty of places to visit and things to see depending on what you like to see and do. There are far too many to try and list them here.

It took me a while to figure out that Jacques is James in English; that's anything but obvious!
This broad triangle that you are planning to cover is a good 3.5-week road trip if you do not go too far east along the Pyrenees and do not spend too much time in scorching Castilla (I would skip Toledo in August).

Here is what I came up with as a possible route in your time frame, with bases from where you can go on day trips:

• País Vasco e.g. Gernika 4
• Asturias/Cantabria e.g. Potes or Llanes 4
• León 1
• Santiago or Muros 4
• Salamanca 2
• Segovia 1
• Madrid 3
• Aragon Pyrénées e.g. Alquézar or Ordesa 4

Obviously there are many possible variations.

Skipping Galicia altogether would greatly shorten the driving distance and give you more time for other locations along the north coast and in the mountains. Galicia combines very well with a trip to Portugal, if that is something you have in mind.

Many thanks for that answer and those stop ideas Balso !

Only one night in Leon...We usually try to avoid one nighters but is there any reason why that place only deserve that short amount of time ?

We dont intend to go In portugal, we already made a trip there and dont feel the need to go back for now. We can skip Galicia if it suits our plan better, we still have to decide what our itinerary will be.

We realy want to go to Madrid, I know it will be hot, but we love to go to at least one or 2 big cities in our one month trips.

Right now we still have to decide which flights is the best. All those options are the same prices/dates
1) Bordeaux - Bordeaux
2) Marseille - Bordeaux
3) Toulouse - Bordeaux

Leon has a beautiful cathedral and a lively city center, but a few hours is enough. It is a good place to break the Asturias - Santiago drive. If you stay 2 nights, you could consider visiting nearby Astorga, which has a notable Gaudí building.

As a Bilbao local, I spent 4 days in León last November on a long weekend getaway. As you´ll have a car, I do recommend at least two nights there. It´s not only the cathedral and its amazing stained glass windows, the "Barrio Húmedo" and great atmosphere in its tapas bars, and the incredible San Isidoro medieval paintings. It´s also nearby Astorga, the Médulas, Castrillo de los Polvazares...

I also feel the León is worth two nights, as well as Burgos.

Thanks to all !
So maybe there's more to see/do than what we thought !

Like i've said the first step is too chose our flights !

Option 1) Arrival in marseille, 5-6 nights for Marseille, Arles, Montpellier and Carcasonne (quick glance we knbow). Leave from Bordeau (2-3 nights around Bordeaux). taht would leaves us 19-21 nights for Spain

Option 2) Arrival and departure from Bordeaux. Keep 4-5 nights for Bordeaux and around. So 23-24 nights for Spain.