Hello please can you help?
My husband and I have owned a holiday home for many years in Alcossebre on the East coast of Spain, however I've had itchy feet for as long as I can remember wanting to visit
North Spain. We are going to fly from Manchester to Bilbao I think as only direct flight I can find. We plan on beginning of September 2017 pick up hiire car maybe stay a week depending on advice! Then a rather long beautiful drive to Alcossebre. We are in our early 50s fit & healthy love to travel amazing food beaches culture and that X factor vibe.
I would really appreciate some advice on must visit places! Beaches! Hotels B&B and wonderful places to eat.


Thanks
Julie

staying a week in Bilbao, San Sebastián,Cantabria (missed off your list but you have to drive through it),Asturias and then Galicia?
That is too little time to allow you to sit back relax and take in things. My suggestion is to stick to the Basque coast and save the rest for another trip when you have a lot more time.
Travel less and see more.

Thank you Ribeirasacra,

Yes I'm probably over eager.

Yes, more time is needed to see this wonderful part of Spain.

Tha Basque Country is full of great beaches and fantastic food. 39 Michelin star restaurants in a region with only 2,2 million people, but the best thing about the food culture up here is the quality of the food in any place you happen to walk into. San Sebastián is arguably the food capital of Europe: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/de...y-for-foodies/
http://www.sansebastianturismo.com/e...basque-cuisine

I recommend to also visit small fishing village Getaria just west of San Sebastián and the old regional capital Tolosa some 30-40 mins drive inland into the valleys and mountains. Both are fabulous food places and in very different ways. Getaria is fish and seafood heaven, while Tolosa serves up some of the finest steaks around as well as the famous Tolosa beans/Alubias de Tolosa.

Getaria: http://www.euskoguide.com/places-bas...taria-tourism/

Tolosa: http://www.euskoguide.com/places-bas...olosa-tourism/

Here is an excellent and fun five episodes and 75 mins long documentary about the Basque food culture. Starts and ends in Donostia - San Sebastián, but plenty of Getaria and Tolosa etc along the way:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Jbipbzoc1Y
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqdjeGqnVKc
.., and then epsiodes 3, 4 and 5 (the last episode is a must before going to San Sebastián).

About the Basque Coast: http://tourism.euskadi.eus/basque-coast/

And the San Sebastián beaches:
http://www.sansebastianturismo.com/e...o-to-the-beach
https://www.lonelyplanet.com/spain/a.../san-sebastian

Yes you will want to scale way back. I'd simply explore the coast from San Sebastian to Santander at the absolute most--that will be plenty to fill a week right there! We enjoyed Elantxobe, even though we were terrified our hotel was haunted. The coast is stunning and there are some excellent hikes along it.

A week is very, very little time for this area. You could see some wonderful things, but you would, IMO, need to be extremely selective. You might find some useful information in my trip report:
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...-catalunya.cfm

I found the <i>Michelin Green Guide</i> extremely useful when planning my time in the area; you might want to consult it.

If you stay with the Basque Country, seven days should be more than enough to get a very good taste of a fabulous and very diverse region.
http://www.euskoguide.com/
http://tourism.euskadi.eus/en/
San Sebastián in newspapers and travel magazines: http://www.sansebastianturismo.com/e...-san-sebastian

And don't short-change Bilbao: http://www.sansebastianturismo.com/e...-san-sebastian
The Casco viejo/Old town is plain fabulous atmosphere, food and vibrant city life: http://tourism.euskadi.eus/en/cultur...aa30-12375/en/

We just spent a week in San Sebastiàn, with a day trip to Bilbao and a day's stay in St-Jean-de-Luz on the way home to France, and it seemed too short a stay in all three places. We could have lingered around for weeks.

If you really only have a week and your main interests are food and beaches (I feel so out of it -- what is "x factor vibe"? ) -- than I am not sure you want to spend much time in Bilbao. If you are flying back out of Bilbao, then maybe you could leave a bit of time at the end to sample the food there, but otherwise I suggest you land and head for the coast. In September you might find yourself in crowds of toursits in some places -- so between now and when you leave it would be a good idea to figure out if any places will be super-crowded with festivals or cruise-ship tourists, and give it a work around.

As mentioned, the coastline itself is just extremely beautiful. I found it impossible to stay in my car. There are nice walks with beautiful, unspoiled views. Next time I go, I will probably stay out of the towns and in the scenery.

No cruise-ship tourists in the Basque Country (perhaps a little tiny bit in Bilbao every now and then), but September is crowded in San Sebastián because of the Euskal Jaiak local sports and culture festival in the beginning of the month and the huge film festival towards the end of the month. All of September is excellent in San Sebastián, but take these two festivals into account.

Euskal Jaiak: http://www.sansebastianregion.com/87...uskal-jaiak-en
http://www.sansebastianturismo.com/e...-euskal-jaiak#
The 2016 programme, doesn't change much from year to year: http://www.donostiakultura.eus/image...castellano.pdf

The San Sebastián film festival: https://www.sansebastianfestival.com/in/

Wow thank you all so much I'm totally impressed with advice recieved sending links for websites how kind. I think we will have to re think our one week frenzy! Maybe two weeks touring (thankfully I haven't booked flight yet)
Then a rather long drive to Alcossebre for a week.

Kind regards
Julie