Santiago De Compestella to Bilbao

I stayed 3 nights in San Sebastian last July, I could of used 5.
I did Bilbao as a daytrip from San Sebastian and I think 2 nights would be enough.

You might find these articles about northern Spain useful:

https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2017/aug/19/galicia-spain-holiday-guide-best-seafood-restaurants-bars-beaches-hotels

https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2017/aug/17/northern-spain-galicia-basque-asturias-cantabria-readers-tips

https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2017/aug/15/slow-train-spain-feve-railway-santander-asturias-galicia

do try and visit Vitoria - the capital of Euskadi

I always rent a car so I'm of little help there. However, 5 days in Santiago seems long unless you're going to take some side trips. One place to see close to the city in Monte de Gozo. There are a couple monuments there. One for the Pope's visit, but a nice monument dedicated to the pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago. The monument (about 4 miles from the city center) is of 2 pilgrims looking towards the cathedral in Santiago. Another day trip people make is to Muxia on the coast (about 40 miles from Santiago). Very pretty coastline with a small chapel. There were a number of tour busses there when I visited the in May. Both sites are in the movie "The Way" if you've watched it.

I spent a good bit of time in northern Spain last summer, traveling by bus and train.

Two Galician cities I liked were A Coruna and Pontevedra. The small town of Tuy on the Portuguese border is worth a visit of perhaps a couple of hours. There's an English audio guide available at the cathedral. Vigo is imminently skippable, in my view. There are quite a few attractive small coastal towns in Galicia--former fishing villages that now have tourist infrastructure. It's just a matter of how much time you have. I liked Combarro, Cambados and Betanzos, but I didn't visit any from Santiago, so I'm not sure whether transportation would be available to make any of those viable day-trips.

I made a lot of stops between the Basque Country and Galicia. The two liveliest cities I visited (both with very pretty historic districts) were Leon and Burgos. Both are on the pilgrimage route, so there's the hustle-and-bustle of the pilgrims. Oviedo is much quieter and less likely to be on an efficient bus or train path for your trip. I thought Santander, other than its magnificent beaches, was not particularly interesting. But nearby you have Santillana del Mar, a quintessential cute village (very touristy) and the Altamira Caves (prebooking required). On balance, I wouldn't use your limited time in that area unless you are very interested in the caves and can make the necessary advance arrangements.

The smaller towns of Astorga and Comillas have Gaudi sites, but I'm not sure I'd recommend one in lieu of Leon or Burgos.

As far as the cities themselves go, I preferred Bilbao to San Sebastian. The former has a larger medieval district and is less touristy. Both have interesting side-trip possibilities, with SS perhaps being better set up in that regard. Small towns in the Basque Country that I liked included Zarautz/Getaria/Zumaia (west of San Sebastian) and Bermeo (east of Bilbao). Multiple guide books recommended Lekeitio, but I didn't get there. I especially liked Hondarribia, which is practically on the French border and easily visited from SS by bus. (Trying to do it from Bilbao would be really pushing the definition of a "day-trip", I think, but it could be done since Hondarribia is not huge.) It has both a picturesque fishermen's quarter full of restaurants and an older upper town.

When moving between Bilbao and San Sebastian, the bus is much faster than the train. The latter is a narrow-gauge affair that winds its way slowly through really pretty countryside--the most dramatic non-mountain scenery I've seen in Spain. This is the old FEVE line, and I highly recommend it if you have time and need to rest your legs for about half a day.

I agree with the recommendation for Vitoria-Gasteiz. Very interesting medieval quarter, multiple museums. Few tourists.

Be aware that the area you are visiting can be cool and wet even in mid-summer. Santiago de Compostela is notoriously non-sunny. A Coruna and Pontevedra seem to be a bit sunnier. You'll need an extra layer or two for warmth, and I highly recommend a waterproof jacket. Burgos is remarkably windy for an inland city; perhaps it's the river.

Thanks so much for all the replies. There is a lot to digest in your replies. We will look into the narrow gauge rail across the top of Spain and some of the places mentioned in the web sites ramblin'on suggested. And the small towns mentioned by acraven. We are about to turn 76 and 80, so some of the places seem daunting at this point. But we have don crazier things, we were just a little younger. Thanks again to all.

If you want my impressions of Bilbao, Vitoria, Getaria, Hondarribia, and San Sebastian (warning - they're mixed), and don't mind a long read, here's my trip report from May 2017: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/basque-country-trip-report-bayonne-san-sebastian-vitoria-gasteiz-and-bilbao-may-2017

Bilbao is a good base because it's larger and has more indoor attractions than the other places. Buses are not only faster than trains in this area, but go places the trains don't, so they're the mainstay of transit.

Based on the reactions of the locals to my good weather in May, in April I'd prepare for rain every day, and be pleasantly surprised if it's a dry day. It will certainly not be beach weather (the beach season starts June 1, and although I had days warm and dry enough for people to be at the beach, locals indicated this was a bit unusual).

Bilbao and Vitoria have a number of good museums, so there are things to do if it's raining. Just watch out for Monday, when all of the museums in Vitoria and many (but not all) in Bilbao are closed. San Sebastian has far fewer indoor attractions than Bilbao or Vitoria, although there's an aquarium there.

I was 64 when I spend the summer in Spain, but I do walk a lot at home and have no particular mobility issues except when I do something like sprain an ankle.

Vitoria's old town is on quite a hill, but there are some outdoor escalators to help you out, though it might still be somewhat challenging. There's tram service between the bus station and the old town, which is some distance away. The medieval part of Hondarribia is hilly though not large. The fishermen's district is flat.

Bilbao has good transportation, but a certain amount of walking (pretty much flat) will be needed. San Sebastian is also relatively flat.

I think the Burgos train station is closer to the cathedral than is the case in Leon, and Burgos just felt smaller. But Burgos's two monasteries are on the outskirts of town; you'd want to take buses, which might not work so well on weekends, especially on Sundays. Taxis would also be available.

Santiago de Compostela isn't totally flat, and I recall a flight of steps between the train station and the part of town of tourist interest. More walking will probably be required in SdeC than in many cities because I suspect the buses are limited to certain streets and the pedestrianized area may be rather large. (I walked everywhere, so I'm sort of vague on the bus situation.)

Parts of Vigo (Galicia) are hilly, and it's a city I'd skip due to general dullness.

One good thing about using the base-city (hub-and-spoke) travel technique is that you get enforced rest periods while taking the train or bus to the destination of the day.

Thanks for your report acraven. We are old but in good shape. We don't relish walking up lots of steps, but we did a lot of it last year, in the rain(not fun). We are looking at making our way slowly across the top of Spain, but we need to do a lot more research. RS does not give a lot on information on that part of Spain. We need to get Lonely Planet, but they are not as helpful as RS on how to get from one place to another, and they often assume you are driving, which we are not. Thanks for you trip report Harold. We will read it for sure! I have book marked it. We are working on a Portugal itinerary right now, where we will make our way up to Spain. Thanks again for all you responses, they help a lot.

••Santiago de Compostela (4/5N)
- day trips to Pontevedra, A Coruna, Lugo
••Fly to Bilbao (3N)
- day to Getaria
••Bus to Vitoria-Gasteiz (1N)
••Bus to San Sebastián (3N)
- day to Hondarribia