Which city between Barcelona and Bilbao?

Driving is not difficult here, but note that you'll pay a premium to pick up a car in Spain and drop it in France. There are two direct trains per day between Barcelona and Bilbao that take 6.5 hours. Cars attached to the same train will split off and get directly to San Sebastian in 5.5 hours, or to Pamplona in under 4 hours. They also stop at Zaragoza or Logrono. If you're going Barcelona-Bilbao-San Sebastian-France, than would be a logical order, without much backtracking. Bilbao-San Sebastian is linked by frequent bus or local EuskoTren, not reflected on most train schedules.

Thanks Laura. Because of the high drop cost, we're going to circle back around after time in Sarlat - Albi, Carcassonne, Costa Brava and back to Barcelona. Will we have to pay a fee to take it out of the country too? Should we skip a day between Barcelona and Bilbao and go by train and use the extra day elsewhere?

I'd probably take a route that included San Sebastian, Olite, Zaragosa, Montserrat and ended up in Barcelona. I would probably take four nights to get there, stop one night (or two in San Sebastian and do a stop in Olite to tour the castle on the way to Zaragosa) in each place except Montserrat (it's only about an hour to Barcelona by car).

Brad, Olite looks like a perfect stop for what I love to see. What are your thoughts on Bilbao - I think my friend would love the Guggenheim but it's not a must - I've heard San Sebastian is lovely. It looks like the train runs every 30 minutes from Barcelona to Zaragoza - would it be easy to buy a ticket at the station or do we really need to know in advance? Thanks

San Sebastian is a really pretty town. It's expensive by Spanish standards but we liked it a lot, great seafood, great beach, nice bars to have a Gin and Tonic (the local drink along with Mojitos) in the evening, beautiful small city. It's ideal when the weather is warmest.

To me the must see in Bilbao is the Gugenheim. Other than that, the smaller cities are nicer. To the west is Santander, which is considered one of the nicest towns on that coast.

Getting a train ticket on short notice to Barcelona from Zaragosa won't be hard, but the price goes up a lot for last minute tickets. The AVE (fast train) gets you there quickly. You can always take a bus for less than the train ticket. It's a 3 1/2 hour ride. I'd expect regular departures and no need to book ahead.

It sounds like maybe you have been to Spain before. Otherwise I would say that the museums in Madrid far outweigh the Guggenheim, and there's not much more to Bilbao-a decaying post-industrial city. Even Santiago de Compostella has more to do than Bilbao. If your itinerary is going to be driven by the auto route and France destination, you are limited to the upper right quarter of Spain. That leaves out a lot.

Thanks everyone. I've been to Barcelona for 1 night, that's it for Spain. Been to France before. Still working it out but it looks like we'll take the train between Barcelona and Zaragoza and rent the car in Zaragoza, stay over, visit Olite, then 1 in San Sebastian, then move into France for 8 nights, then return to Spain with 1 night in Tamariu, (Palafrugell?? or Girona??) ... somewhere on the Costa Brava..and then 3-4 nights in Barcelona where we'll return the car when we arrive. It's been a lot of fun planning this trip, I know what we want to do in France, it's been the Spain portion that's been hard as I don't want to waste too much time driving long distances between sights. I could spend a month in each country but we only have 2 weeks. Our focus is Dordogne and Barcelona with a few other stops along the way. Or do the same thing in reverse... Costa Brava first and dropping off the car in Zaragoza.