Skip inland Spain in july ?!

First of all, if you start from Toulouse, you should plan on visiting Carcassonne. It is amazing.
Also, the Basque region is great, loved San Sebastián and Bilbao. You could do a couple of day in the Bordeaux region of France as well.

We have visited Galacia, enjoying Santiago de Compostela, which was very interesting. Also, Salamanca is wonderful. Haven't been to Burgos or Leon.

I suggest trying to do both Santiago and Salamanca.
Also, enjoy the Douro River Valley, it is VERY scenic. We did a week long river cruise. If you don't do that, spend some time in Regua and Pinhao.
Porto deserves a couple of days. Loved the InPatio Guesthouse B&B. It is the best ever, but only has five rooms, so book early.

Traveling along the coast or going inland is a personal preference. Both make for pleasant experiences. If deciding to go inland then you need to decide how far inland to go.

There are a couple considerations however. I did a dummy booking for rental cars with pickup in Toulouse and drop off in Porto and the one way drop charge was as much as $2,000 USD. Making a loop, starting and ending in Toulouse would be preferred to save money. If making a loop take a coastal route one way and return via an inland route.

Another consideration is where you intend to enter Spain. From Toulouse, the easiest way is to drop down to Andorra then over to the coast. A couple other routes are to go to either Pau, then down towards Canfranc, or over to Bayonne then into Spain. If entering at Andorra there are few major road immediately by the Pyrenees to take one over to the Basque coast. There are plenty of places along any of the routes that are worth visiting and will occupy some of your trip time.

While 28 days seems like a long time it will go by quickly. Pick out the cities, towns, villages, etc., that you think you’d like to visit and a potential route will start to appear. Then, you can fine tune the route and places you want to stop at based on how many nights you’d like to stay in each place.

On my trips I try to limit daily driving time to 3 hours and try to break that up with stops in out of the way places, or places along the route. While I could mention any number of places I enjoyed you need to select places that speak to you and not visit a location based solely on what others say.

In 2017 we did a shorter 17 days northern Spain trip starting and ending Madrid. We only went as far west as Santiago de Compostela and as far east as Saint Jean Pied du Port. The photos on the linked page will give you an idea of the countryside, as well as León and Burgos.

I would stick to the coasts in Spain and not go inland, in the heat of July.

Burgos and Leon are lovely, but the coastal regions of the north are spectacular. As well as the Picos de Europa in Cantabria and Asturias..

You should have time to explore the Rias Baixas in Galicia; when you look at the map of Galicia you can see all of the deviations you have to drive to get from place to place, due to the inlets...

I'd say two nights maximum in Santiago and then drive out to Fiinistrrre/Muxia, and then south to Pontevedra,Cambados, Isla de Arousa, etc etc..and finally head to Baiona and into Portugal. Maybe visit the Cies Islands (I've not been, though)

Whatever you decide to do, you’ll always find someone who tells you that you’re missing out on something marvellous, but only you can decide whether you can cope with the summer heat in inland Spain. As the other posters above have said, you’re planning to go to some spectacular places in northern coastal Spain, maybe the other places can wait for another time.

In Spain, we locals often head to the mountains during the high summer months for our vacations, and abandon the coastlines to the foreign tourists. The mountains of Spain are often cooler/less humid than the coasts in the summer. The summer is the best time to visit the Pyrenees imo.

The country is a federation of distinct regions and cultures. To get the full flavour, plan on at least two separate trips. One simple division is north or south. The effort and expense will be richly rewarded.

The country is a federation of distinct regions and cultures. To get the full flavour, plan on at least two separate trips. One simple division is north or south. The effort and expense will be richly rewarded.

Indeed!