shara952

Hello!

I've been a long time reader of the posts on this forum, but my trip planning has become a bit overwhelming, and it would help to pose a few questions of my own.

My friend and I are heading to Green Spain (Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria, Basque) for three weeks in June, and are NOT renting a car (yes, it will be more challenging, but unfortunately we don't meet the age requirements).

Because we must rely on public transport, and are determined to have our hotels booked and our itinerary planned beforehand, we are having trouble planning which cities to stay overnight in, and how feasible it will be to take day trips to smaller villages, nature areas, etc.

We are staying in Santiago for 2 days, and will be in Ribeira Sacra for five days, where I have family. The following questions are regarding other cities...

So in conclusion...
-For three weeks, which cities would you recommend we stay overnight in? Should we do 4 or 5 nights in larger cities, or a few nights in all types of cities/villages?
-How difficult will it be to take day trips from the cities we do make our bases?

Any other suggestions on where to go, what to do, etc. would be much appreciated! I realize this question is rather vague, but we are truly stumped as to how we will plan the rest of our trip, as we have no idea how public transport will work.

bobthenavigator

I cannot give you a full itinerary in north Spain, but I will tell you that San Sebastian is a real gem and deserves 3 days or more.

annhig

Shara - if there are only two of you, you are [i am assuming] young, and you are travelling in June, why do you want to book all your accommodation ahead of time?

IMHO you will be limiting your flexibility unnecessarily - for example, you are thinking of 3 nights in san Sebastian - you may be right that that's all you need, but if you fall in love with th eplace, but you are booked in somewhere else, what are you going to do?

ribeirasacra

Ribeira Sacra? Hi neighbour!!!!
From here it does depend on what part you are staying in.
If you’re in the Ourense area you can go from there to say Lugo and on to the coast, Ribadeo onto Gijón and on again.
Have you thought about the FEVE train service, the route is slow so you can take in the passing countryside.
http://www.feve.es/
or if you want to look through the bus services read the following and depends on the areas you wish to travel:
http://www.alsa.es
http://www.monbus.es/index2.htm
http://www.transportedecantabria.es/
http://donostiasansebastian.com/autobuses.html


Hopefully you have a car whilst in the RS as public transport is not so regular. I only know the one direct line from SdC to Monforte de Lemos as it passes about a km away from my house.

shara952

Thanks for your responses!

Annhig- Because we will only be 17/18 years old, our parents have allowed my friend and I to take this trip on the condition that we have a set itinerary with places we are staying at each night, which is understandable, but not convenient. However, do you know if there are hotels that would allow for 24 hour cancellation without incurring a fee?

Ribeira Sacra- We are staying at our family's farm 20 minutes from Ourense (but I don't know any more details about the exact location.) In terms of having a city that is itself beautiful but would also be a great base for day trips, this is what we were thinking:

Vigo
A Coruna
Santander
Arenas de Cabrales
San Sebastian

Do you recommend we edit this list and add/replace these cities with Lugo/Gijon/Ribadeo/Pontevedra/Santillana del Mar or others? Which ones would be best for accessible day trips/an enjoyable city on its own?

Thanks so much, you're a wonderful help!

annhig

ok shara,

I get the picture. My kids are 22 & 19 and I can't see them doing a trip like this - sadly! If my kids were doing this trip, I'd want them to have accommodation too.

booking websites like venere certainly allow late cancellations - you'll have to look at the specific sites to check the exact conditions. My feeling is that you'll do better with longer stays in fewer places - for example there will be loads of buses that you can get from san sebastian to various places, then you can come back in the evening, have a swim, go to the little cafe you've found, perhaps meet up with some people you met the night before...if you keep moving, you'll see more but at a cost.

you don't have to stay the same length of time in each place of course - I would think perhaps a week in san Sebastian, but 1-2 nights in some smaller places like Santillana. have you got out a map and looked at how you might get from one place to another?

cruiseluv

Hello Shara,

Although I'm much older than you, the times I have traveled in Northern Spain I have done it by public transport. The following comments are based on what I have done.

I would stay at least 4 days in Santiago and from there you could do day trips to Coruña and P0ntevedra (these two you can reach easily by train), maybe also to Costa do Morte (depending on public trasport availability. You could stay in Oviedo 2-3 days and from there visit Cudillero, Luarca, Gijon. From Oviedo you could go Cangas de Onis as a base for the Picos de Europa , and visit Covadonga and the lakes of Enol and Ercina.

In Cantabria I recommend staying in Santander . Very nice city with a gorgeous beach. From there I did day trips to Santillana del Mar (approx 30 mins by bus), Fuente de, Potes , Liebana (the last three I did with a very inexpensive day tour with a group. There might be ways to do it independently by bus). My son stayed in Santander for 5 weeks each summer when he was 16 and 17 and he loved it.

Finally, from Santander you could go to San Sebastian and/or Bilbao . For sure allocate to this area at least 3 days).

The above itinerary can be easily done by bus , mainly Alsa.

Good luck!

shara952

cruiseluv- Thank you so much for the suggestions, I'm looking into all of them.

Also, to explore the coast of Galicia, what city would you recommend for our base? (Not including Santiago). I've heard Vigo itself is not very interesting, although it makes for a good base city for day trips. How about A Coruna or Pontevedra? Any advice?

And would you suggest Oviedo, Aviles or Cantabria for the base city in Asturias?

cruiseluv

Hi,

I will defer to others that have stayed on the coast for a recommendation regarding base for coast of Galicia. I visited A Coruña and wasn't that impressed with it. Pontevedra was nice but I can't say that I would like to make it a base.

I like Oviedo as a base. In addition to being a really nice city it has a very good hub for buses and train, including the FEVE train (narrow gauge railroad that travels mainly the north coast).

Where are you flying out of to go back home? That might impact your logistics.