My wife and I will be traveling around Spain for two weeks in May. We will have a car and we are interested in suggestions on a fishing village or small city for a 2-4 night stay in the coastal area west of Bilbao and east of Gijon. We will use this as a base to explore the area and would be glad to hear about things we shouldn't miss. I have seen Maribel's suggestions on a couple of inland daytrip drives. We wouldn't mind splitting the time between two different towns. We are experienced independent travelers and have a pretty good system for packing and unpacking so we don't mind one or two night stands.

We are in our late sixties and mainly into walking and sightseeing. We don't need a location with a lot of nightlife.

On a previous trip, we stayed in San Sebastian and may spend one night on this trip. We are winging it for the most part and will be coming from a few days in the Segovia area and will then adventure south to Leon and a night or two in Salamanca and eventually Toledo.

Any suggestions will be appreciated.

San Vicente and / or Santoña in Cantabria!
Both of them have nice walking routes. San Vicente is smaller and very, very charming. Santoña with its fortifications from the Napoleon era offers more routes.
Llanes in Asturias is another option. It is very beautiful and close to the National park of Picos de Europa. You have even better access to Picos de Europa from San Vicente, so it might be ideal for you.
In Picos de Europa you might like to visit places like Potes (Valley of Liebana), Fuente De (Valley of Liebana), Covadonga and Covadonga lakes.
May is wonderful time in this area, but I assume that the mountain tops above 2000 meters are still snowcapped..
This website http://www.topwalks.net/en/index.htm has walks in Cantabria and Asturias, in all the above mentioned locations with route descriptions in English, maps, GPS waypoints, driving instructions and thousands of photographs.

Another vote for Cantabria. If you prefer staying in a city, choose Santander - a beautiful city with lots of history, sights, museums, bars, restaurants and beaches.

We opted for nearby Somo because of the fantastic beach there (especially good for surfing).

If you want to do some walking then head for the Picos de Europa.
here is a good website that gives route descriptions without the need for expensive GPS equipment.
http://www.asturiaspicosdeeuropa.com
I do feel that I need to add a discalmer:
I do not have connection with this website (unlike other posters) and I have never stayed at the hotel either. But I do use the website for information.

If in the Basque Country, I´d recommend Zarautz, Getaria or Lekeitio. You may want to take a look at my blog (I´m a local), mugalari.wordpress.com, for more info on this area.

I strongly recommend you take mikelg's advice. Lekeitio or Getaria are special places. So is Zarautz.

Thanks for all the great responses. Lekeitio, Getaria and Zarautz are now on our list of places to visit with a possible overnight in one of them. San Vicente is in the area where we want to be for our visit to Picos de Europa and it looks and sounds like our kind of town.

Over nights mean no real visiting.
I can speak from experience, not mine but my guests. They arrive in the afternoon, for their one night stay, after unpacking they pop out for a quick tour. Return and eat an evening meal. The following day up for breakfast and run to the next nights sleep. When departing they always say they wish they had allowed more time.
The Picos de Europa national park being something like 670 km2 deserves much much more than a one night stay. Especially if you are into walking.
http://www.infopicosdeeuropa.com/

ribeirasacra, one of the advantages of traveling the way we do is when planning our itinerary we leave three days open.
That way if we get to a destination and want to stay longer we have that flexability. We have three days planned for Picos de Europa and can add more if needed. That is, if we haven't used the extra days elsewhere! Thanks for the webside on the park.

Sorry I read the one night bit and got carried away.
.

Have a great trip.

Kettamic:

At Mikel's suggestion, a couple of years ago I overnighted in Lekeitio staying at Hotel Zubieta. Super. I was there on a Saturday night so there was more going on in town than on a weekday but it was just terrific. The "Marina" fronts right on the main square with several restaurants and all the "goings-ons" in the square. I'd have a pintxo and a copa and then sit on the seawall for about 30 minutes. Next restaurant, another pintxo and copa, then back to the seawall for another 30 minutes. Did it for about 4 hours as I recall.

I assume you are driving, but if not, the bus "station" in Lekeitio is about 200 yds from the Zubieta. I caught the 930 am bus the next morn for the 1 hour ride into San Sebastian.