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Santander to Girona

Hi,I am a divorced male in his fifties and although well travelled had not really explored the Spanish side of the Pyrenees, I am sailing via the car ferry to Santander on the 17th of Feb and taking about two weeks to drive as close as possible to the Pyrenees,can take longer but picking my son up in Madrid about the seventh of March,have booked a night in Pamplona as it seems a good stopover,I want to visit Bilbao but not keen on driving in so a recommended park and ride or similar would be great,planning to most on down and stop a day or two here and there,obviously it isn't a good time to be at a high elevation as my Cornish car will be scared of snow and ice!,it is used to rain though.So,any suggestions would be very much appreciated,both places to stay and things not to miss,I don't mind hostels as they can be very sociable and I haven't got a problem with mixing with much younger travellers,I am an artist by profession so will be looking for inspiration along the way,plan to be in Europe for a few months and the only date I have to stick too is the 7th of March in Madrid.
Thanks for reading.

JT

Posted by
28083 posts

I've never been in Europe during the winter, nor have I driven there, so I can't contribute much to help you. Last year I spent 3 months in Spain and enjoyed the following places in northeastern Spain; I have no idea what conditions will be like at this time of year, other than "not warm", though I think Barcelona may be rather mild. I'm omitting places in the "cute small town" category because I assume they are currently dead.

Bilbao
San Sebastian
Vitoria-Gasteiz
(Pamplona, to me, is just "OK")
Burgos
Zaragoza
Barcelona
Girona
Teruel
Cuenca
Toledo (just south of Madrid)

Rick covers some but not all of these destinations in his "Spain" guidebook. You'll probably need a more comprehensive book for your trip.

At this time of year I think you'll find good prices on perfectly decent 2-star hotels in most cities, though Barcelona and Madrid hotels will not be at give-away prices.

If you end up close to Andorra, I thought the Spanish towns of La Seu de Urgell and Puigcerda were very pretty in July. In February, I just don't know.

ViaMichelin.com may be your best all-purpose online route-mapping website.

Posted by
28083 posts

Just thought of something else:

Rick mentions a free tour of the Guggenheim in Bilbao. I took it and enjoyed it. I don't remember the exact time, but it may have been 12:30 PM. As Rick mentions, you should show up a bit early and inquire at the information desk. They'll give you some sort of sticker that identifies you as a tour member, then you can wander around until time to show up for the tour. For all I know the tour may be reconfigured, depending on the content of temporary exhibitions or the person conducting it, but my tour was on the ground floor and did a pretty good job of covering that area. I'd suggest asking the info-desk staff if they know where the tour goes so you spend your free time pre-tour elsewhere in the museum.

Posted by
7175 posts

You weren't specific about how Girona figured in your plans, so I just went with some of the other places you mentioned on the road that gets you to Madrid by Mar 7 (travelling every other day).

Feb 17. Santander/Santillana del Mar
Feb 19. Bilbao
Feb 21. San Sebastián
Feb 23. Pamplona
Feb 25. Rioja
Feb 27. Burgos
Mar 01. Leon
Mar 03. Valladolid
Mar 05. Salamanca
Mar 07. Madrid