thenewlyweds

My husband and I fly into Nice and will be staying in Eze (a town between Nice and Monaco for five days). We were originally supposed to fly to England for a two-week cricket tour. The tour was cancelled, so my husband and I have decided to stay in Southern France head West to Cannes, Aix en Provence, Montpellier, Perpignan and then into Northern Spain and possibly Portugal(if time permits). After the five days in Eze, we have an additional 2+ weeks to travel.

We will be renting a car, would you recommend this mode of travel into Spain?

Can you recommend places to visit/stay in Spain and/or in the Languedoc region of France.

Is it wise to drive to Barcelona, then north to San Sebastian and Bilbao? Or should we skip Barcelona and see the Basque region?

Do we have enough time to see Portugal?

Your comments/ideas are greatly appreciated!

Kelly

PalenQ

Carcassonne, Lourdes, Pau, Biarritz- St jean de luz - donostia (san sebastian)ght on the way

thenewlyweds

Great - thank you!

PalenQ

Portugal is a long long drive from Bilboa - as for Barcelona vs Basque region (i noted the most direct route via Lourdes, etc) that's a difficult choice as Barcelona is certainly one of my favorite European cities. Not too familiar with drive Barcelona-bilboa but think French Basque route is very nice - at foothills of Pyrenees and could touch Bordeaux area if wine houses are of interest. Fantastic beaches at Biarritz (Anglet) and St Jean de Luz and of course San Sebastian with its famous beach and also vibrant Basque culture - locals speak Basque and frown on Spanish which is inevitably blotted off road signs, etc. A very interesting city IMO

Revulgo

San Sebastian, the gastronomic capital of Spain, is a gorgeous town. Info:
http://maribelsguides.com/mg_sansebastian.pdf
The spectacular tapas of San Sebastian are called "pintxos":
http://www.todopintxos.com/home/home.php?lang=en