I will be travelling to Spain late October 2010. I've got 13 days to play with. I want to visit Bilbao, Oviedo and Zaragoza. Not sure if I need the entire 13 days to visit. I was thinking more like 9 days and then taking off to another country for 4 days. Note that Vueling airlines has great fares to other countries from Bilbao or Barcelona. What would you recommend? Thank you for your thoughts....Sturion.

It would help a lot to know your interests.

L have only visited Bilbao - 2 days is more than enough ( you may wish to take a side trip to San Sebastian.)

Have you been to Barcelona, Madrid, Seville, Granada....?

Throw in some days in fabulous San Sebastián between Bilbao and Zaragoza, and you'll have a great and varied itinerary. The food capital of Spain - if not of all of Europe - and a culture that people take great pride in. According to master chef Ferran Adria of El Bulli, San Sebastián is the best place to eat in the world "in terms of the average quality of the food, in terms of what you can get at any place you happen to walk into".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandsty...rink.shopping2

If you haven't been to Andalucia, that would be a great place to go. Visit Granada for the Alhambra, spend time in a "white village" and Seville. No need to add another country in the time you have available. Spain has much to offer.

Bilbao, Oviedo and Zaragoza is an odd combination. While in Bilbao you can visit the beautiful coastal towns of Lekeitio and Getaria, for example, and spend some time in the most beautiful town in Europe, San Sebastián. Zaragoza has not much to see, honestly, apart from the El Pilar basilic. And Oviedo is a great nice place, together with Gijón and Santander and all the coast.

I agree with MikelG. I would spend 5 days in San Sebastian itself. I would also hit Lekeitio and Santander and Gijon. I would not go to another country. 13 days is not enough time to explore the North coast.

Oh you're going in Late October I see. In that case I would go to Sevilla and Granada, Malaga and Madrid only because of the weather.

My blog as a local may be of help, mugalari.wordpress.com or blogseitb.us/basquetourism...glad you´re coming to this much (yet) unexplored area.

When in Bilbao, drop by the oldest café in town, Boulevard from 1871. Reopened two months ago after it was closed down to great public protests in 2006.
http://www.eitb.com/news/entertainme...ens-its-doors/

A telling 10 min documentary from the last day before closing: http://vimeo.com/2690209