Inland loop drive from San Sebastian to Bilbao
 

My husband and myself are visiting el Pais Vasco in the beginning of May. The first three nights will be spent in Bilbao, then we move to San Sebastian to stay there for 5 nights. This part of the trip was easy to plan.
Then we shall have 7 full days/8 nights before our return flight from Bilbao. We plan to rent a car in Sanse and drive back to Bilbao making an inland loop to visit La Rioja region and around. We have been to many parts of Spain and prefer to find the unbeaten and less touristy routs there (both of us speak fluent Spanish). We have checked Mikel’s site, Maribel’s guides and this forum, but are still hesitant how to better schedule these 7 days/8 nights. Should we stay in Laguardia for 3 nights and use it as a base? Should we drive to Pamplona for a day or two? What other towns/villages deserve an overnight stay (we do not mind one night stay if needed). I would very much appreciate a recommendation from the local experts. Many thanks.

I can recommend Isaba or Torla in the western/central part of the Pyrenees. From San Sebastián, drive through St Jean Pied de Port, Arrete la Pierre St Martin, and descent down to tranquil Isaba in the bottom of the valley. Nighttime and moonlight in Isaba is as being in the midst of a theater scene. Torla is breathtaking.

Isaba: http://www.metsola.es/indexUK.html
This video eventually becomes quite cool, pure Isaba:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAQH0...eature=related

Torla: http://www.google.no/images?rlz=1T4A...w=1379&bih=805

With that much time you might use a couple of days at the end hitting coastal places like Lekeitio, etc. Largely untouched by foreign tourists altho the Spanish know of them.

kimhe: Isaba and Torla both look very tempting, thanks for the idea.

weber6560: thanks, this is something I was having in mind, but was not sure. Will plan Lekeitio for the last couple of days.

Thank you for looking at my blog. There´s some info on Lekeitio, my favourite (and yet unspoilt) coastal town in Euskadi.

mikelg: thanks, I have already bookmarked your info on Lekeitio.
By the way, will it be a bad idea to drive from Lekeitio directly to Bilbao airport in the morning of our departure(our flight is at 2pm)? Or should we rather stay closer to the airport on the last night?

It´ll take at least a good one hour to get to the airport, very curvy road, so plan in advance.

mikelg: thanks for all your info.

eur0pa: In Lekeitio I stayed at the Hotel Zubieta. Wonderful restored structure. Easy parking. You jwould enjoy it.

weber6560: many thanks, have just booked Hotel Zubieta for a couple of days.