Basque
 

I am still stuggling with my Basque itinerary, I don't know why I am making this so difficult.From Madrid I could either fly to Bilboa or drive to Laguardia. I think I have decided to drive, it looks like only about 4 hours. I could have 9 or 10 days. Here is my intinerary that I am considering
Day 1-Drive to Laguardia (4hrs)- we would leave early in the morning. Maybe stop at Santo Domingo de la Calzada.I s this worth it? How about Ezcaray??
Day 2 a day to visit 2 wineries
Day 3 drivie to Vitoria- tour cathedra and then drive towards Pamplona and spend the night in some small town.
Day 4 visit Estella, Puenta la Reina and maybe Olite and then drive to San Sebastian (4 nites)
Day 5 Bayonne Museum
Day 6 Hondarriia, Sare, Ainhoa, Esplelette, St. Jean Piedde Port and back to San Seb. that night
Day 7 Day trip to Bilboa stop enroute at some small villages and then after visitng museum go back to San Sebastian via Gernika
Day 8 to Carcassome and then toward Figures and spent the night enroute
Day 9 Drive to Figueres and visit museum and the drive to Cadaques
Day 10 visit Dali house and then drive to Tossa de Mar
Day 11 Drive to Barcelona
Please let me know if you think the following are worthwhile: Olite, Puenta La Reina, Estella, Santo Domingo De la Calzada Ezcaray.
We could do the cathedral in Vitora and stop in Onati enroute to San Sebastian. I am open to favorite villages. I know that I want at least one day visiting wineries and not opposed to 2 , want to go to Bilboa and Gernika, want to visit French Basque and the museum in Bayonne. Really I am going to make a decision soon.

It´s Bilbao, not Bilboa...a very common mistake, for some unknown reason. You may want to take a look at my blog as a local for useful info, www.blogseitb.us/basquetourism

There is a place near Limerick, nothing more than a crossroads, yet it is called Bilboa.

Thank you both for telling me that!

I have seen that name misspelled so many times here that I assumed the "Bilboa" was the Basque name for the city.

Going to fast, I know that it is Bilbao. Other than the spelling assistance do you have any other recommendations.

To make it even more confusing, the Basque name of Bilbao is Bilbo...

tidy-
Your itinerary is very fast-paced and stuffed fulled of things to do each day. For example, even though you are staying in San Sebastian you don't have any time really to visit there as you have daytrips everyday. Some of the days are very busy (ie. Hondarribia, Sare, Ainhoa, Esplelette, St. Jean Pied de Port - all in one day!). I'd be hard pressed just to visit Hondarribia & St Jean Pied de Port in one day. It's hard to tell from the way it's laid out but it looks like you may also have up to 3 1-nighters in an 11 day itinerary. Have you considered spending the entire trip in the Basque country? You have certainly outlined enought for a 2-3 week trip and the additional days would give you some breathing room.

Depends on where you stay in San Sebastian but we found it time consuming to get in and out (we stayed at the Hotel Parma at the edge of the old town). So, you may need to factor that in. Also, as Cathy mentioned, it is worth giving San Sebastian some time.

Generally, you are trying to pack in quite a bit, I guess I move at a slower pace because seeing the Guggenheim and a bit of Bilbao, using San Sebastian as our base, took the whole day.

For your drive from San Sebastian to Carcassonne, plan on about 4 to 4.5 hours via autoroute.

The Bayonne Basque Museum is very good but fairly small. You might consider seeing it the morning you check out of San Sebastian, then heading on to Carcassonne, which, imo, is most pleasant to "do" around 3 to 3:30 as the crowds are leaving.

The museum in Bayonne closes from 12 to 2.

Trying to pack too much, it does not look like fun. One could spend 5 days in San Sebastian before even venturing out for daytrips. The Basque country is not about a lot of must see places (with the exception of the city of San Sebastian itself). Cut down and enjoy the beautiful green part of Spain and the amazing food.