Stu Dudley, thanks so much for sharing! Her photos are beautiful, and they definitely gave me a better idea of the region. I've noticed that a lot of guidebooks tend to have thinner sections on Basque Country than on some of the more quintessentially "Spanish" regions (Andalucía, etc.), so your photo album was definitely helpful in that regard.

We spent a few days in San Sebastian a couple of years ago and really liked it. We actually flew home to Toronto from Bilbao, an international airport and nice city an easy bus ride away.

I drove into St Jean Pied du Port and out again immediately it was so overloaded with tour buses. We headed further south in the mountains, along the vertiginous switchbacks that are part of the Tour de France, and enjoyed the scenery. From San Sebastian, we also took trips along the French Basque coast, much of which is quite lovely, but once we were near St Jean de Luz, everything turned quite touristy. We never made it Biarritz.

Not everybody has the same reaction when it comes to places with lots of tourists, but we felt it really repaid the effort to be outside the areas covered by guidebooks and tourist magnets. They are extremely rewarding for an experience of Basque culture, especially within Spain.

We spent a couple weeks in NSpain. don't miss Bilbao which is often overlooked except for the museum.

We do Saint-Jean-de-Pied-de-Port every summer for lunch. The crowds are not a big deal. One must allow some tolerance for such a small village that's the center of Camino activity during high season.

Remember, you where just another tourist that day.

Bookmarking! Thanks

I hope you can get hotel reservations. San Sebastian in July and August is the place to be. Great beaches on the coast too.