Bilbao-San Sebastian-Pamplona-Madrid Itinerary Thoughts?

From St-Jean de Luz drive up into the foothills of the Pyrenees to visit the very charming Basque villages such as Ainhoa,Ascain, Espellette and more.

Having just been to Spain for 3 weeks, I think you could add one night to Toledo by borrowing it from Pamplona.

I found Pamplona pretty underwhelming, which agrees with the opinion expressed in most guidebooks. It sure as heck is no Toledo.

Another possible use for that night would be to add it to Madrid and allow for a day trip to Segovia.

My comments, as a Basque local, on some of your dates:

April 26 - Bilbao (Guggenheim, etc), I´d add the funicular of Artxanda, of course the old quarter, Azkuna Zentroa and Diputación building, for your first and second day.

April 27 - Bilbao (partial or all day trip Guernica, 1 hr train). Bus makes sense, instead, but it´s quite true that the train ride is very scenic. Try to get all the way to Mundaka and Bermeo.

April 28 - Bilbao (day trip, Rioja area winery?) Much better with a car, as distances in Rioja can be long from one winery to another, unless you stay just in Haro and visit the Barrio de la Estación wineries only.

April 29 - Bilbao, side trips on the metro (cheap, cleanest, safest, modern) to Getxo (Hanging Bridge, so unique) and Plentzia, off the radar.

May 1 - Donostia San Sebastian (partial or all day trip to St Jean de luz, 45 min bus)

May 2 - Donostia San Sebastian (partial or all day trip to Bayonne 1 hr bus) I would do both St Jean de Luz and Bayonne on the same day, much more logical, and visit Hondarribia and Pasai Donibane on the bus on one of these two days.

May 3 - Pamplona (1 hr bus from San Sebastian) Not much to see here...two days may be too much. It´s like Biarritz, people go there for the name but there are better places, IMO. Nice city, half a day is enough.

May 4 - Pamplona

A hint on our meal schedules: lunch is, in Spain, the most important meal of the day, and it´s big (a first, a second, dessert, with bread, water and in most daily menus, wine included). It´s around 0130pm (the earliest available time, normally) to 0330pm. But when you cross to the French Basque Country lunch time is between 12 to 0130pm...and very few chances of finding any meals after that time. Dinner for locals in a restaurant in Spain is rarely before 9pm, and that´s still quite early for us.

Hope this helps!

Mikel

Thanks everyone! And thank you Mikel, for the detailed reply!