To rent or not to rent car for Northern Spain trip

We did a similar trip including the same places. We had a car and I can’t image doing it with public transportation. The only parking challenge was San Sebastián but we did find places to park.

In 2013, we spent a week in Madrid, then took the train (5 hours at the time) to Bilbao. Rented car in Bilbao, and turned it in in Barcelona, so it was easy to ere t one place and return in another.

San Sebastián was easy for parking, if a bit pricey. There’s an underground parking garage, a short walk from the old town, where we stayed for several nights. I’d certainly recommend 2-3 nights there. We did day trips around the area, then other towns not on your list on the way to Barcelona. San Sebastián also had a free parking lot on the eastern edge of town, but it was then a 10 minute walk to our lodging.

Santiago de Compostela is an amazing experience as you watch the pilgrims enter the plaza in front of the cathedral. And this was going on in the reign of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella.

And this was going on in the reign of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella

And even 600 years before thier time too! It was just as old to them as they are now to us.

Back to the main topic, I always think that Northern Spain is best served with a rented car, the charms are really not in the big city sites, but all the small villages and rural country sides in between, a car allows you to make spontaneous stops for a serendipitous trip!

Having covered that ground myself in 2016, I can tell you that your itinerary would be very difficult by public transportation within the allotted time. I covered the same territory you're planning (though I did go to some additional towns), and I had 39 days. Buses and trains in that area don't move all that fast, nor are they necessarily frequent.

The only practical way I found to see a bit of the Picos de Europa area without a car was to take a once-a-week one-day bus tour from Santander. You obviously are prioritizing the Picos de Europa, so something like that would be useless for you. In any case, that tour didn't start running until July.

I wouldn't try to cover as much ground as you are in 17 days even with a car, given how much time you want to devote to the Picos de Europa. I wouldn't push as far west as Santiago de Compostela.

You may well find that picking up and dropping off a rental car in two different cities doesn't cost all that much extra, since there is no international drop charge being triggered. If you haven't already done so, check with AutoEurope, Kemwel and/or Gemut.

AS stated above, rent a car. Be prepared to pay for parking which can get pricey. See if your hotels offer parking free or at a discount. Check Google Maps or Apple Maps the night before you arrive in a city for parking and then use your GPS to guide you.

If you want a great place in the Picos to stay, choose the Parador de Fuente de in the heart of the Picos right next to the cable car for a memorable stay. Make sure to visit the Centro de Interpretación de Los Picos de Europa, a very nice museum about the Picos on route N-621.

Another vote for a rental car. As others have said, visiting some of the small towns and the Picos would be difficult using public transportation. On our 2017 trip to that area we stayed at Paradors as much as possible, simply because we like them. About half of the places we stayed parking was free while the remainder were 15€ or so per night.

Hello from Wisconsin,
Get a car. Try to do some type of a loop. Like rent in Santiago de Compostela do the coast and then the inland heading back to S de C. Train from and to Madrid is easy. Or rent in San Sebastian and do the same. With your car make sure to drive up in the Europas. The valleys are spectacular. Northern coastal Spain Is not what you picture when you close your eyes and think of Spain, this area is lush, green and wet.

Don't ignoe the megalithic circles and standig stones of northern Spain nor the Cueva del Pindal.

17 days could mean fewer that 14 days of rental. Land in Madrid or where ever. Train to your first stop, and that first stop has to have car rental agencies. Spend your day or two there, then pick up the car. Same at the end of the rental. Pull in a day before you are going to leave for Madrid, or where ever, and drop the car off. This circle rental is unnecessary if there is no dead head charge, which can run hundred of dollars.

Start with Autoeurope to search for a car. Think small and manual transmission. Some roads and streets are very narrow.

Parking in the cities...it is always a 'problem' if you want free parking. Even in my little city, don't expect to park on main street by the shops. All the spots are taken by the owners of those shops. Other wise, a place like San Sebastian has under ground parking in a perfect location. Tourist cities some times have remote parking with a bus to take you in and out.

wayne iNWI

A lot of thanks to all who responded. New info makes me to rethink my trip. I decided to cut Picos de Europa to 4 days because of possibility a cold and rainy weather (cold just for us, we live in South Florida). Also, I am contemplating to cut Santiago de Compostela. My idea is to stay in the same hotel and city for 2-3 nights otherwise if we stay every night in a new city, it will be more like a work, and we will be tired at the end. Rick Steves in his book usually gives 1 -1.5 days for those cities, it is a little bit too fast for me. We are likely going to stay 3 nights in Bilbao or San Sebastian, 4 nights in Picos de E. area, but I am really not sure which of the other cities worth 3 nights and which just one, how to divide rest 9 nights?

I urge you to keep Santiago de Compostela on your itinerary. It is a totally different experience. And if you like octopus, there are many small restaurants dedicated to this dish.

Are you sure a few nights would be sufficient for San Sebastian or Bilbao? Of course it all depends on how much ground you wish to cover, but there are tons of small appealing towns and beautiful countryside to explore, and that's what makes the car worthwhile.
I am trying to decide now if I will use a car for my entire trip (round trip Madrid, but looking at central Spain), or use train first and then pick up a car, so it really depends on how much driving you want to do on arrival. We can manage a two-hour drive but won't push beyond that.
With such a luxury of time, I would try to see more of Basque country for sure.
You could think of it as three areas--east, central, west (really broad strokes here)--and divide the trip roughly into thirds, with a few shorter stays for places that only need an overnight or to break up a long drive.

Do you mean 3 days or 3 nights? Those are mostly fairly small cities where you probably wouldn't need three full days just for the city itself. I agree that a trip feels hectic if it includes stays of less than 3 nights (I prefer 4 or 5). I make that work by picking places with good nearby daytrips.

Pamplona has a small historic center and a cool life-size Running of the Bulls statue. I think I also went to a museum, but there's not much to that city, to my mind. I don't think I'd be able to fill even one full day there.
There are lots of more interesting places in Spain. I'd scratch it from the itinerary without a second thought, but if you must go there, you can consider day trips to Vitoria-Gasteiz and the hill town of LaGuardia. There's wine stuff in that area, too, about which I know zilch.

Bilbao and San Sebastian have interesting places around them I much prefer Bilbao, but the are good side trips from San Sebastian: Hondarribia and Zarautz/Getaria/Zumaia. From Bilbao you can visit Lekitio, Bermeo, Guernika and the aforementioned Vitoria-Gasteiz.

I like Burgos but can't recommend any nearby side trips. .

Leon positions you well for a side trip to Astorga to see Gaudi's Episcopal Palace.

You can day trip from Oviedo to Gijon for a livelier (but less historic) city.

Galicia not only has lovely scenery, it also has a lot of attractive villages and towns. I enjoyed all of A Coruna, Betanzos, Pontevedra, Combarro and Combados. Santiago de Compostela had enough to keep me busy for about two days, but I do spend a lot of time in museums.

Thank you Suki, Valadelphia and Acraven. Now I am trying to find 3 towns for the regional bases and longer stays and then squeeze 2 or 3 one night towns in between.
We like to do sea walks, mountain walks and historic city walks much more than to be inside of the museums, cathedral an etc. We have seen too many of them before and mostly I keep them for rainy days.
At the same time we like to walk to the miradors and enjoy the city panoramas, castles, walls, churches and great ocean and mountain views.
So far, I am pretty sure we are going to stay several nights in Picos de Europa area. Now we are looking for a base in Basque Country area (something near Bilbao or a small town like Logrono) and for a base in Galicia. Smaller town with great nature around it would be good.
Leon and Burgos we likely going to see on a way to Santiago de Compostela. Also we are going to have 15 nights available, because we have to spend last one in Madrid before flight home.

In Basque country, if you are looking for a smaller coastal town, then perhaps Mundaka or Bermeo could be suitable. They're quite charming and the roads are not too slow (day trip to Bilbao is possible). Lekeitio is also a possibility, but the roads are slower - it would not be ideal to visit Bilbao.

Galicia is much larger, so it's a bit tricky! I'm going there in July which will hopefully improve my knowledge of the region :-)

You mention Leon and Burgos: I suggest you see them on your way from Galicia to Madrid. Going from, say, Lugo, to León, then Burgos, then Madrid is not that much longer than the direct route via the A6 - much better than crossing the mountains back and forth between the coast and these inland cities. Burgos is just a quick stop in my opinion, León is worth an overnight.

Thanks balso, it is good idea, I was thinking the same about Bilbao area. Problem with Galicia and Madrid- I have to return car to Bilbao. May be I just rent a car for a week for the mountains and do rest using buses?

How much more would it cost to return the car in Madrid rather than Bilbao? Getting from Galicia back to Bilbao then to Madrid is really time-consuming; you would basically waste a day of your vacation.

And public transportation is really bad / slow along the northern coast, so do not count on it. It is OK within the Basque country, and along the Galicia-Leon-Madrid axis, and that's it.

If you decide on Logroño as a base, send me a PM and I can give you a list of about 30 places you can visit within about 30 miles of that town. A couple possible places you could visit from Burgos include Colegiata de San Martín de Elines in San Martín de Elaine’s and Cueva del Agua in Orbaneja del Castillo. Only a couple miles outside of Burgos is Cartuja de Miraflores. South of Burgos is Lerma. Near Santo Domingo de Silos are some filming sites from The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly, as well as the nature walk, Desfiladero de La Yecla. I agree with acraven that Pamplona is worth a day at most, but there are a couple sites outside of Pamplona worth visiting; including Mirador Alto de El Perdón, Iglesia de Santa María de Eunate, Puente Románico de Puente la Reina, Cerco de Artajona and Iglesia de San Saturnino in Artajona.

balso, if I rent a car in Bilbao and return it in Madrid it will cost me just 100$ extra, not bad, it is less than Madrid-Madrid. But if I return car in Santiago de Compostela from Bilbao it will cost 220$ more. But I have to use weekly rates (14 days), if I add another day price will go up a lot. I have downloaded viamichelin and now learning about tolls. Talked to friend in Barcelona yesterday, price of gas now is 2$ for 1 liter. BTW I can drive a car only with an automatic transmission, so in some small places it is not available or very expensive.

$100 is a great deal and even $220 is worth it, gas back Bilbao from Santiago would cost at least $100 these days.
From Santiago to León you can take the train, and again from León to Madrid. If you no longer have the car you might have to skip Burgos, and that's totally OK in my mind - the cathedrals in Santiago and León will check the cathedral box already (in different architectural styles than Burgos, but if you ever go to France for instance you will have your fair share of Burgos-like Gothic cathedrals in more interesting cities than Burgos!).

EDIT: my point regarding León vs. Burgos, is that Burgos has very little to offer besides the cathedral, in my opinion. León has more. Also, I live within 100 miles from several first-rate Gothic cathedrals, so I am not that inclined to go out of my way to visit such cathedrals when I am travelling. Your perspective may be different.

Contrary to Balso, I found León’s cathedral to be only moderately interesting, other than the one window that lets in a focused ray of light, whereas I loved Burgos’. If you’re an El Cid fan you have to visit his tomb and that of his wife Jimena in Burgos’ cathedral. That being said, if you do go to León be sure to stop at the Panteón Real beside the Basílica de San Isidoro. It is very much worth visiting and only a few blocks from the cathedral. If spending the night in León, consider the Parador de León at Plaza San Marcos. It’s in a 16th century building. Visit the cloister next door in Convento de San Marcos too.

I liked both the cathedrals (Burgos and Leon) but do especially remember the glass in Leon. Burgos felt more touristy because of so.many.pilgrims, but once away from the cathedral it was a normal city. What I remember of my briefer visit to Leon is the very active entertainment district in the historic center. I had the feeling that most of the folk in the restaurants and bars were locals.

If you happen to be interested in Antoni Gaudi's work, you will want to know that Leon has a Gaudi Museum. It's in the Casa Botines, a Gaudi-designed building. Don't expect something as over-the-top as La Sagrada Familia, but I thought it was interesting. The museum itself didn't exist at the time of my 2016 visit. Darn it.