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San Sebastian to Santiago De Compostela

Posted by (Sacramento, Ca, Usa) on

My husband and I are aggressive travelers, packing as much in to our trips as possible. We like to be on the go seeing new sites every day, starting early and ending late. We travel light so moving frequently is not a concern to us. We have been to Spain twice but never to the north. We begin our journey in early September from the US to Barcelona for 2 nights (mostly to acclimate since we have been there twice) then fly to Bilbao. Arriving in Bilbao we plan to get a rental car, see the Guggenheim, stroll the old town and then drive via Guernica (time and weather permitting) to San Sebastian where we have bonvoy points for 3 nights at the Maria Cristina. Plan to spend one full day in town, do a pintos tour and a Michelin restaurant. We will take a day trip to the Rioja wine region (a tour or on our own, undecided).

The question comes next: best option for getting too Santiago. We would prefer to drive it in one day via Playa de las Catadrales and A Coruna. Using google maps its appears as though we could possibly do the following: Drive 7am-12pm (5 hours) arriving around low tide at Playa de las Catadrales, spend 2 hours exploring, then 2:30-4 (1 1/2 hours) to A Coruna, spend 2 hours, then 1 hour to arrive in Santiago around 7pm to check in and get dinner. Is this doable? I'm unsure if driving times are accurate. Other options would be to ditch the car and bus Bilbao to San Sebastian, tour of La Rioja then bus back to Bilbao and fly to Santiago missing Playa de las Catadrales and A Coruna not to mention the scenery on the coastal route. Or, lose a day in San Sebastian and drive half way then spend the night (maybe Oviedo) then complete the drive the next day. Any advice/comments greatly appreciated!

Our total trip itinerary:
Flight LAX-BCN
Barcelona 2n
Flight BCN-BIO pick up car in Bilbao
San Sebastian 3n
Santiago de Compostela 2n
Bus-OR-private transfer mydaytrip.com via Ponteverde and Braga-OR-keep car and pay heavy trans country fee
Porto 3n
Pick up car
Coimbra 2n
Tomar 2n
Nazare 2n
Lisbon 3n
Evora 1n
Lagos 2n
Lisbon 1n
Return Car
Flight LIS-FNC
Madiera 3n
flight FNC-LIS then LIS-BCN
Barcelona 1n
Flight BCN-LAX

Posted by
6534 posts

Thinking back on my trip in that area in 2017, i’m not certain that is really possible to do in a day. When we left Santiago we went over to Muxia for a couple hours, then up to Cathedral beach for a couple hours, and spent the night in Ribadeo. The next day we went to Cangas de Onis and Picos de Europa for about 4 hours and spent that night in Santillana Del Mar. The following day we were in Hondarrbia. Where you will lose time is once you get off the autovias. That roads in the north are very rural and you’re not going to be driving much more than 30 miles an hour on them. Most are barely 2 lanes wide. You’ll also lose time once off the autovia gong into A Coruna. Again, local roads, traffic, and looking for parking.

Posted by
27111 posts

I know you're speedy travelers, but I hate to see just 3 nights in Madeira. It is really gorgeous, with varied scenery, lovely vegetation and great walking opportunities along the irrigation channels (levadas). And you have to fly to get there--though I realize you'd otherwise be flying straight from Lisbon to Barcelona.

Posted by
6894 posts

So, let's see...it's a long long drive via the coast and your 7.5 hour driving time estimate is optimistic; 8.5 hours is more realistic - even the highway is surprisingly winding, not all of it comes with the usual 120 kph speed limit. And forget about taking the old non-highway road with such time pressure, it is unbelievably curvy. My stomach still remembers a first, early 2000s trip in Asturias with my parents.
I would break it:
- if only one night, around Cudillero, a pretty harbor (no need to detour to Oviedo if you won't visit)
- if two nights, then Santillana and Ribadeo make good 1-night breaks

To me, there is no need to visit La Coruña if short on time. It is a fine place, but in my opinion, no match to, say, San Sebastian from a sightseeing standpoint.

Now, where to "steal" one or two nights... I'd look at your Portugal itinerary
- I'm no expert of that Portuguese region, but the Coimbra-Tomar-Nazaré section of trip looks very generous in comparison, I don't think Tomar deserves as much time as Santiago for instance
- Going Nazaré-Evora-Lagos-Lisbon is more efficient that sleeping in Lisbon twice

In short: I would not consider driving from San Sebastian to Santiago in a day with sightseeing in mind.

Posted by
11156 posts

We did this itinerary in reverse. Dropped off Portugal rental car in Porto. Taxi across the border to Vigo, Spain. We figured this all out using AutoEurope's website. We were quoted a 1000E drop fee for pick up Lisbon, return in Barcelona. Our hotel in Porto found us a taxi driver, non English speaking so cost less, no problems, , to take us from Porto hotel to Vigo care rental agency instead of taking the train. This was easy to do. Drivers I had researched online quoted much higher fees. The drive was mostly on highways.
We stayed in Baionad and then up to Santiago de Compostela, then stayed in Leon, Santillana del Mar, then San Sebastian.
Then across north side(France) of Pyrenees, staying in two locations, then Collioure, France on Mediterranean, then Begur, Spain in Costa Brava, finally turned car in at BCN, and stayed a week in Barcelona. This was, however, a six week trip.

Posted by
7662 posts

Way too many places.

You can do Evora on a day trip from Lisbon.
We did Santiago de Compostela in one day on a day trip from Porto.

Posted by
80 posts

Thank you for suggestions. Working to tweak itinerary to include longer stays in main cities with more day. trips. Will post updated itinerary for comments when complete!

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