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Where to overnight between Bilbao and Llanes?

My general itinerary thread died, so I have one specific question: where should we overnight on our journey from Bilbao to Llanes and why?

I am considering several options. This is a Thursday night so I've considered Santillana del Mar (for chance to go in Altamira cave via lottery on Friday morning and general atmosphere - worried it's too touristy/crowded), and San Vicente. Santander doesn't appeal as much as we're spending 3 nights in San Sebastian so we're getting the lively food/bar scene there and one night in Bilbao. But I don't think we want anything too sleepy, as we're staying in a rural hotel outside Llanes for 2 nights after.

I'm willing to consider inland places but we love the sea. San Sebastian is kind of pricey so we're on a bit of a budget for this stay. We'll have a rental car. See my previous post for more info about this trip. Everything is nailed down except this one stay! (which is in 3 1/2 weeks, oops).

Posted by
519 posts

If you want to stay on the coast, Castro Urdiales has a nice beach and a nice old port. But it is probably too close to Bilbao.

San Vicente is you probably your best bet, although it is pretty close to Llanes.

Comillas is a nice beach town.

Just to throw this out their, it is a bit inland, but Orbaneja del Castillo. You could come down from Bilbao and spend the night there. It is a sleepy, but very interesting, then the next day you could follow the Ebro through the Valderredible back up to Reinosa, then up to Llanes. The Valderredible is a narrow valley the Ebro passes through and is filled with many rock churches, carved out of the cliffs, dating back to the VIII-X centuries.

Posted by
3049 posts

I was super interested in the rock churches, so I'm going to look into this inland suggestion! Thank you!