8 days Northern Spain need advice.
 

We are planning to rent a car and explore the northernmost border of Northern Spain. How realistic is it to do so in 8 days. Is there one area we should concentrate on as we like to base ourselves in one place and make day trips. We are not very familiar with the region at all and are reading up trying to decide what is most interesting to us. I'm a little stumped - its proving difficult to hone in on the major sites other than Bilbao. We've visited Costa Brava, Barcelona, Madrid and parts of southern Spain...northern is stumping us!
Thanks!

If you are interested in food at all, San Sebastian (Donostia) is the foodie capitol of Spain, and has some of the best rated restaurants in the world. You need reservations for the best restaurants many months in advance. Tapas (small plates, Spanish style), called "pintxos" in this area, are wonderful also.

I think it really depends on what you want to see and experience -- and oh my, you have a wide range of options!

I found the Michelin Green Guide very helpful for planning my time in the area, and you might find some useful information in my trip report (which you can find by clicking on my name) or in my planning threads (linked within that trip report).

Good luck!

Maybe you could base in 2 places, Bilboa and Santiago de Compestella, for example? What do you like to do on your vacations? Where are you flying from, in to and out of?

I spent 3+ weeks in northwestern Spain a couple of years ago and absolutely loved it!!! Here is a link to my photo trip report, maybe it will help you decide where to base and day trip to:

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...n-pictures.cfm

Take a look at Maribel's Guide to the País Vasco. It should help in your research.

Here are a couple of to the point intros to the Basque country, beautiful landscapes, excellent beaches, fine villages both inland and along the rugged coastline, and great and very diverse cities such as Bilbao, Vitoria and San Sebastian. And, of course, the culinary heartland of Spain. http://tourism.euskadi.eus/en/
http://www.euskoguide.com/

The two bases sound sensible. Thank you all for the advice and I will check all the links. You guys are always so helpful!

Two bases might work very well for you! But I will do something I rarely do -- disagree with joannyc, specifically about which two cities to select as bases. With so little time, I'd probably choose two destinations that aren't quite so far apart. Maybe Bilbao and Oviedo? Again, it really depends on your interests... no wrong answers here, just difficult choices.

Before you decide on your base, read Maribel's Guide to the País Vasco: http://www.maribelsguides.com/mg_pais-vasco-2016.pdf

It should help you understand the area. If you do opt on heading to Santiago, you'll end up eating a lot of valuable time on the road, and possibly more, depending where you are flying out of. 8 days doesn't allow much time.

There is much to see in Northern Spain, and quite a distance to drive the whole thing. Even taking the most direct highways and not detouring anywhere it is 560 kms from Santiago de Compostella to Bilbao, even farther to San Sebastián.
We did that drive including detouring to Leon and then back north through the Picos d'Europa. We had 2 weeks and felt rushed.
Bilbao and San Sebastián for sure, but another base would depend on your interests.
Beaches along the north coast into Asturias are very pretty, or you could loop south through wine country and back up to San Sebastián by way of Pamplona,
Depending on where you are arriving/ departing from, if you want to stick to Bilbao airport then you probably don't want to go to too far west because you have to return to Bilbao.

Oh, sorry... I didn't mean to necessarily pick those two exact cities, I just pulled those examples out of the air and didn't check the driving distance.

My point was for the OP to consider 2 separate bases for their visit depending on their interests.

joannyc I really enjoyed your photo trip report, and agree that 2 bases would be nice for the OP.

Sundriedtopepo, thank you very much! It was a wonderful trip!

I had completely forgotten about Maribel's Guides...thanks!