Rioja Home Base

I can highly recommend Agustin Ciriza as a tour guide. He was our Rick Steves guide for our Basque tour. He owns his own tourism business. Check out his website at www.gorilla-trip.com. You can click on EN on the top right for English. He speaks a few languages, his English was perfect. He told me that he would individualize tours for people. He is our favorite guide ever! He has other guides that work for him, and am sure they are also top quality guides.

I am not a wine person, I traveled through that area on buses and trains, and I don't know exactly where the wineries are located, so I'm not sure how helpful this will be:

I only passed through Logroño on the bus, so can't comment on that city. I used Pamplona as a base for day-trips by default, not being able to find reasonably-priced hotels in more convenient locations. It does have a historic district that's fine for some rambling. I wasn't interested in the running of the bulls so didn't check to see whether there was a historical museum of some sort. I did find the large, life-size statue of the bull-running worth a look. In summary, to me Pamplona wasn't particularly interesting (which is the impression guidebooks give, too). My suspicion is that Logroño may fall in the same category minus bull-running sights.

I made a day-trip to Vitoria-Gasteiz and enjoyed it more than Pamplona. It has a significant historical district on a hill, charmingly called "the medieval almond" due to its shape. The cathedral is being reconstructed but you can see it on an English-language tour; the office is around the back side of the cathedral. There are a couple of smallish but worthwhile art museums (one modern) and a museum of playing cards that I didn't have time to visit.

V-G is the capital of the Álava region (part of the Basque Country) and has relatively good transportation connections. If for some reason you didn't want to drive, you could get to Logroño by bus (and from there to Pamplona). Rome2Rio.com doesn't seem to know about the bus to Logroño but some Googling will find its schedule. San Sebastián is accessible by both train and bus (bus being a bit faster), and Bilbao takes only about an hour by bus. You can use ViaMichelin to get driving-time estimates from V-G to places you might like to visit in the area. This is not a small city, so it might take some time to get out into the country from a centrally-located hotel. (A possible consideration in Pamplona as well, though it is a bit smaller.)

Between V-G and Logroño (closer to Logrono, and on the bus line) is the very atmospheric hill-town of Laguardia (aka Guardia). It's quite small but it has at least one hotel. There are multiple wine bars (very noticeable, even to me), and I believe the Rioja vineyards are not too far away. It would be a charming place to stay; I'm sure it's very nice in the evening if you can make your own entertainment. I assume there's usually not a lot to do there except go tapas-hopping and wine-sipping, but on June 24 this year I stumbled on a small local fiesta during which a few young bulls (but no people) ran through the streets. One other thing: There's an important church, I think with a polychrome door, but I didn't get to see it because of the fiesta. Guidebooks say you have to stop in at the tourist office (closed on festival day) to arrange a visit to the church.

If you happen to be passing nearby, I found these smallish places worth a visit: Puente la Reina, Estella, and Olite. I imagine they all have hotels. The first two are on or near the route from Logroño to Pamplona.

Finding budget-priced hotels in this area in mid-summer was a bit more challenging than I had expected. I was booking just 1 - 3 days in advance, and of course that makes things more difficult. I believe the area is very popular with both Spanish and French visitors.

Weather note: The closer you get to the northern coast, the cooler and wetter it is likely to be. For me it was cool and sometimes wet from Vitoria-Gasteiz north, warm and dry south of V-G and east toward Pamplona.

When in the summer will you be in La Rioja? June the 9th is the Day of La Rioja, so most places will have some kind of activity. In Logroño the 11th is San Bernabe, the patron of Logroño, so the two days are turned into a week of Medieval fun. June ends with the Wine fight in Haro. For more info, here is a calendar of the fiestas in La Rioja

If you don't want to stay in Logroño, the best place would probably be Laguardia. (Fiestas San Juan and San Pedro, June 23-29, with encierros)
Haro is okay, and you might try San Vicente de la Sonsierra home of the Picaos or Briones

One thing that you mustn't miss is Dinastia Vivancos

Logroño to Pamplona is 1hr.

We are going in mid-July. Thanks for all of the great information! Does anyone have a recommendation for lodging in this area? I've been scanning rentals on VRBO but would be open to hotels as well. Not opposed to Lograno, but after reading Rick's tour guide he said it was "skippable" so I thought there may be better options in the area.

Don't miss Haro. We stayed at an AirBnb there and had a good time. Don't miss the Haro wineries including Muga (no reservation required there to visit the tasting room) About halfway between Haro and Logrono is Marques de Riscal. Excellent tour and tasting
tickets required (see their website) was worth the money. Lots of vineyards along the highway between Haro and Logrono.