Driving Madrid to Bilboa and Barcelona
 

We are going to Madrid and thinking of driving to Bilboa, San Sebastion and then to Barcelona in July. Does anyone know how are the roads and driving conditions? Thank you.

How much time do you have?

I would not drive from San Sebastian to Barcelona, it is not the most interesting part of Spain.

I would probably fly to Bilbao, rent a car drive around the area and then go San Sebastian and get rid of the car.

Oh, come on now Aduchamp1. The route through the foothills of the Pyrenees (Navarra and Aragon) is great, but you need the time to make the drive, at leas 4 to 5 days, if not longer.

And as Aduchamp1 says, unless you have the time, flying between Madrid and Bilbao and then Barcelona would probably be easier, but then you would miss everything in between.

Sorry Robert, I was thinking more the Zaragoza route.

9 out of 10 posters misspell Bilbao...wonder why?

The shortest way from Bilbao to Barcelona is a very good highway (toll), it should take about 6 hours. Roads in Spain are excellent, in general.

Most people posting are Americans and there are few places or references to a sound like the end of Bilbao.

There are many people familiar with Italian and Central and South American names which would sound more like Bilboa. And I hate to say it, but the last name from the Rocky movies is Balboa.

I often see on this board Granada spelled Grenada and on the New York board Manhtattan spelled Manhatten.

There is a Balboa in Southern Cal, which can confuse some Americans.

We recently did a trip, Barcelona to San S. and return to B'lona. Stopped one night in the mtns at a parador.

So outbound, we were on 2 lane roads, but all of them were just fine.
Inbound back to B'lona, we did the toll roads and those roads were great too.

How much time do you have, and do you plan to see anything between Bilbao/San S. and B'lona? Or just make the drive to catch a flight?

We are going to be in Spain for 10 days. We are going to Madrid and would like to go to Bilbao--sorry I messed up the spelling!!! We want to drive to Bilbao and San Sebastion and then to Barcelona. I know there is a lot to see on the drive, but time is tight, and feel we may not get back to northern Spain. How long was the drive to Barcelona?
Thank you

10 days for Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao and San Sebastian will barely give you time to enjoy all these places. Honestly I'd save Bilbao/San Sebastian, Madrid or Barcelona for another trip and focus on 2 geographies. If you choose Madrid & Barcelona try to buy an open jaw flight where you can fly into one city and out of the other reducing the time to back track.