We just returned from a quick 10 day trip to Basque Country, including a five day self guided cycling tour. It was phenomenal!

The bike portion started in Biarritz. I couldn’t find many good options for arriving into Biarritz airport, so we flew in and out of Bilbao. In the end it was great to have that time on the Spanish side before going to the French part. Originally I had planned two nights in Bilbao and two nights in San Sebastian (Donostia), but I needed to shorten the trip, so I cut out San Sebastian.

We arrived in Bilbao on a Monday evening at 6 and took a taxi to the hotel, the Hotel Bilbao Plaza. This hotel was fine. I was going for a budget option. The location was excellent and the room was very practical. I did pay a tiny bit more to get the view over the river, which was nice. As soon as we dropped our bags in the room we walked over to the Casco Viejo area - just about 10 min away. We found the Plaza Nueva and then I spotted Gure Toki - a pintxos bar that I had read about. There was an outdoor seating area that was full, but the bar area was not too crowded, so we lined up and each got 3 pintxos and a beer. It was a fun introduction to the Bilbao food scene. I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to stay awake til Spanish dinner time at 9 or later!

Once fed we wandered back to the hotel for a good night’s rest since we were a little exhausted from a day of travel.

The next morning, since the reviews of the hotel breakfast were not great, I found a cafe called Bertiz, and we walked there for breakfast. It was about 10-15 minutes from the hotel, and a lovely walk across the river and through a park. It gave us a chance to see more of the city. We discovered that there are Bertiz bakeries all over Bilbao. I had scouted out the one on Colon de Laurreategui, which was a good one since there was seating. We noticed that some of the Bertiz locations do not have seating. Anyway, the pastries were fresh from the oven at 7:30 (I had also chosen Bertiz since it opens at 7:30 - many other places opened at 8 or later). We had cappuccinos, fresh squeezed juice and pastries for breakfast.

After breakfast we set off for the Guggenheim, where we had booked the first entry at 10 am. It was another 15 minute walk to that museum. We were early, so we took a few pictures of Puppy. Interestingly we couldn’t even see the enormous Puppy from the river side of the Guggenheim. We had to cross over and go around the front. At 10 am we went in with the other early birds. We loved the museum, which filled up quickly but never felt too crowded. After a couple of hours we got a coffee at the museum cafe. Then it was time to sort out lunch. I had looked up a few places to eat, and I called one, but they were closed for vacation. So I checked Google to see what was around, and I came up with Mugarra. It was right across the street. They wanted us to wait 30 min so they took our name and then we walked around a bit more (actually went over to Corte Ingles department store and looked around) then we went back to Mugarra. At 1pm the place was quiet and the lady and man who ran the dining room were super friendly. The man explained all the dishes - they are very proud of their local ingredients. My husband got a plate of 5 raw fish dishes, and I got fresh peas in a broth to start. Everything was delicious, including their house bread. Then we split a main dish - a pork tenderloin that had apparently been marinated for 15 days. It was fairly raw looking in the middle, but that was just how they served it. It was sweet and came with a mustard sauce and couscous. We shared dessert - a light flaky pastry with almond cream and a scoop of mango ice cream. We also had a bottle of the white wine from that area - Txakoli. It was a wonderful lunch with very attentive service. The restaurant did fill up as we ate.

Our next stop was the cultural center (Azkuna Zentroa) since it is distinctive for its architecture and Philippe Stark designed the interior. It is a former warehouse that was renovated to become a center for culture, arts and sports. It looks like a normal building from the outside, but inside it is 3 cube buildings, and 43 artistic pillars supporting them. It was pretty dark inside. We walked around a little, but probably didn’t appreciate it as much as we could have. I think I was probably fading a little and needed an afternoon rest. Later on we went back to Casco Viejo and sat out and had an aperitif and a few pintxos in a square in front of a church. Then went home to pack for Bilbao.

The next morning we took a taxi to the Bilbao bus station, also called Intermodal. I was glad we took the taxi, because it went into an underground garage and dropped us off. I am not sure I would have noticed the bus station from above ground, since the buses depart from the underground garage. Also no one had mentioned it was called Intermodal. We got there a bit early and there was a very nice cafe near the waiting area. It is the main station for buses from other parts of Spain and Flix Bus. There was a big electronic board that listed the buses, their departure times, and then which bay they were at. There was a turnstile and escalators to get down to the bus area, and you had to scan your ticket. The Flix Bus tickets weren’t working at the scan machine, but luckily most of the time there was a station worker there helping people out. He did disappear for a while, so not sure how we would have managed if he wasn’t there when we needed to go down. I got nervous because 10 min before the bus was supposed to depart they still hadn’t listed which door / bay it was leaving from. I asked the worker near the scanning machines, and he said to go downstairs and wait. Around that time they posted it and we found the right place.

We had previously taken Flixbuses in Italy and Slovenia, and they are fine. Fairly comfortable seats and a/c. You can reserve seats, which we did, but they weren’t paying attention to this that day, which turned out fine, but confused some people. We had a 2 hour trip to Bilbao with a stop in San Sebastian and another in Hendaye or Irun, just over the border, where they may have switched drivers. It didn’t appear that any passengers got on there.

The interesting part was arriving in Biarritz. The stop there is called Biarritz-Iraty. It turns out Iraty is an exhibition hall area, and the stop is near a large parking lot with nothing around it. There is no taxi stand. So everyone gets off and has to figure out what to do. There is a local bus stop a short walk away. Uber wasn’t working for me (I rarely use it) so we wound up walking to the bus stop and waiting 15-20 minutes for the fast local bus which dropped us off near the public gardens in Biarritz - about a 10 min ride. It was a 15 minute walk from there to the hotel - Alfred Hotel Port Vieux- so we set off on foot but quickly stopped for lunch along the way.

The restaurant was called Bimbo and it was good, although the prices were more in line with American prices, a change from Spain! I had a chicken caesar salad and my husband got a pizza, one of their specialties. It was a very pleasant lunch and then we enjoyed the short walk to the hotel.

From Biarritz on, the hotels were booked by the cycling company we used. We used Cyclomundo, a company we have used for 2 other self guided rides. We just go on their website to choose an itinerary we like. All the hotels were great. The Port Vieux (formerly the Georges VI) is down a mostly pedestrian street very close to the Petite Plage (small beach). It was a great location close to shops, restaurants, and the beach which we did not visit for swimming. Our room was small but very comfortable. There was a bar / restaurant on the first floor with outdoor seating. We did not eat there except for breakfast. Our room was ready when we arrived (I think this was about 2 pm), so we dropped our bags and went out to explore a bit. We had the best Basque cakes at Maison Adam. We had bought one individual one to share and then after we split it I went back and bought another. Biarritz was very chic and upscale. Lots of cafes and shops. The weather when we were there was between 70-80, so we could have tried out the beach, but we were definitely more focused on the biking part of our trip which would officially begin the next day. So we just took a walk around, visited some shops, and had dinner at a cafe.

We had a great sleep and then a good breakfast at the hotel. The bikes were due about 9 am, so we packed our bags, labeled the luggage and left it downstairs. You leave your bags every day at the reception and go on your bike, and then the luggage is at your new hotel by 4. The bike guy was running a little late, but he showed up by 9:30 and we walked with him down the street to the van, where he had our bikes waiting. We got regular hybrid bikes. When I chose this trip (which was originally labeled “medium”, like the ones we had done before), the owner of the company wrote back and asked if we wanted e-bikes, since there was a fair amount of climbing - it’s a very hilly area. We have no experience with e-bikes, so we declined. The mileage (25-30 miles) did not seem outrageous, and I kind of fell in love with the itinerary. It was a loop from Biarritz down the coast to Hondarribia, Spain, then inland to Ainhoa, St Jean Pied de Port, and Itxassou, then back to Biarritz via Bayonne, from the north. Each of the places looked charming. Anyway, the bike guy adjusted the seats for us, gave us the equipment (a saddlebag each, a lock, and the puncture kit - they say you should know how to change a tire, which luckily my husband knows, and helmets which we requested.) A few weeks before the trip we had received instructions about downloading an app which had our route on it and some other info. Then when we arrived at the hotel in Biarritz, there was an envelope containing our printed road book with maps and detailed turn by turn instructions each day. You can’t really look at the book while you are riding, but it was fun to study each night. It also had suggestions of places to stop or where to eat. The material supplied was ample, and the app surprisingly worked really well once we figured it all out. We were able to keep the phones on airplane mode to save battery, and the app gave us voice directions. It also indicated if we were off the route. My husband had purchased little brackets to hold the phones on the bike. I didn’t like them, since every time we stopped for a photo he had to unscrew his phone, so I just kept my phone in the front zipper box that was attached to the handlebars. (When we did our first biking trip in 2013 you would fold the map book on top of this little zipper box to look at). The container was nice in the front since I could keep my reading glasses and the road book there, along with my phone, and I could still hear the voice directions.

It’s always nice getting started on the bikes. The first part was along the coast with beautiful water views. The first part of the ride was actually a little confusing with the combination of the coastal bike path and some roads, but we worked it out. The first day was the day we had more trial and error things with the app, but as we got going it was really amazing how well it worked. The nice thing about self guided biking is stopping wherever you want. Our first stop was Bidart, a very small village with a cute central area with a few shops and a beautiful bakery. We stopped for coffee and couldn’t resist splitting a spinach and goat cheese quiche.

Coming next: lunch in St Jean de Luz and a ferry to Hondarribia.

On for the ride

As a note for other travellers, lunch is the most important meal of the day in Spain, and it�s normally around 2pm. Having a proper lunch around noon is practically impossible, as the very early time for lunch in some restaurants is 1pm...just for visitors! Dinner is much smaller than lunch and a less important meal, at home we normally dine around 09 or 0930pm.

Not sure what food prices more like America means. I've not eaten in the USA for 20 years.

I guess I was comparing to Italy, since we most frequently vacation there. Salad and pizza were around 20 euros each. That's about double what we pay in Italy.

I will be interested to hear how this all turned out for you. I really loved self-guided cycling trips but now need to go with a group.

I�m along for the ride as well! Looking forward to reading more.

After our morning coffee our next stop was St Jean de Luz for lunch. It can be hard to get a sense of a town coming in by bike, but we passed a nice looking cafe that was buzzing and had outdoor seating, so we stopped at Le Bistrot Luzien. I had one of my favorite meals - a ch�vre chaud salad and my husband had oysters. And for dessert, profiteroles. It was a very pleasant stop. Soon we were back on the bikes where we did have some trouble navigating the smaller streets of St Jean de Luz. Because of the confusion, we really didn’t get a proper visit, but we had places to go! We did pass through another section of the town with even more pedestrians strolling around, and then we passed by the port. There was a lot more pretty coastal scenery and pretty red and white basque houses on the way down to Hendaye, where we found the port and our water ferry to go to Hondarribia.

Our bike route included the short 7 minute ferry on the Marie Louise. We found the sign for the ferry easily and waited about 15 minutes. Then we boarded, along with our bikes, for the short sail to Hondarribia. Once in Hondarribia we followed the navigation to our hotel, the Hotel Jaregui. Our luggage was waiting, so we were able to shower and go out to have a look around. The hotel was in the newer part of town along a strip that had lots of bars and restaurants. It was a very lively area. After stopping for a hot chocolate at a cafe (we were enticed by the people sitting there having the thick hot chocolates), we made our way to the medieval, older part of town. Surprisingly it was much quieter than the lively area near the hotel. There were some people sitting out at the Plaza de Armas, a pretty square in front of a huge fortified building that is now the Parador of Hondarribia. It looks amazing in the photos! We just saw it from the outside.

There was a beautiful gothic church in the old quarter too, that was on a narrow street, so it wasn’t really apparent that it was so impressive inside. I am glad we went in!

But besides Plaza de Armas, the church, and the beautiful carved gate at Calle San Pedro, there was not much else to see. I wondered if the area is livelier later in the summer (we were there just before July). There were some restaurants and a few bars, but it was quite a contrast to the lower part of the town.

The hotel Jaregui was great. It is part of the Sercotel chain. It was comfortable and well situated. We had a good sleep then were up early for breakfast and ready to go on the bikes. According to the cycling directions, we were supposed to take the little ferry back to Hendaye to start our ride. Unfortunately the ferry did not start running until 10:15 am, which basically would have had us starting our ride about 10:30, much too late for our taste. Luckily there was a road route out of Hondarribia, just about 10K longer, so we chose to do that since we were ready to go by about 8:30! The only issue was a short bit on a busy road. But luckily that didn’t last too long. The route was quite pretty with a nice view of the harbor. We made it back to Hendaye fairly easily with only a couple of wrong turns!

Then we turned inland through some neighborhoods and got our first taste of the hills! It was crazy all the up and down. However one positive things with the bikes is that you are just focused on following directions. You can admire the scenery, but you aren’t thinking about too much else. Soon we were beyond the city and out in open farmland.

It feels kind of freeing to be out on the bikes heading to the next destination.
Our first stop was Ascain, a small village. We found a bakery and got some pastries. It was unclear if there was a place that just served coffee. Several restaurants were setting up, but it was too early for a meal. The one place that was supposed to be a cafe was closed. Then we noticed 2 people sitting at a lone table by the door of the cafe. They were drinking coffee. As we walked up, they left, and I asked the woman clearing the table if we could get coffee. She said “sit here” and so we took those 2 seats and had a lovely coffee and sparkling water. The rest of the place was definitely closed!

Then it was back on the bikes to head for Sare. Now we had our first real climb, the col de St Ignace. It turned out to be fairly short. We walked the bikes a little. Looking back, this was not much! It just had a name. Just beyond that climb we arrived at the Train de la Rhune, a cog train that is a big tourist attraction. We didn’t have the time to take the train, but it was interesting to see what was there. There was a restaurant across the street. I had read that you need to book in advance. At any rate, we still had more than half the ride to go!

Looking forward to the next instalment.

Next we arrived at the village of Sare, which was very charming. By this time it was about 12:30 or 1, so we started looking around for a place to eat lunch. In the main square there was a nice looking restaurant. It was full inside, but there were tables outside. But when we asked if we could eat there they said they were full (looked like a tour bus). There was a vegetarian place that also was full. We wandered around a little and discovered Trinquet Pleka. It looked amazing, but there were already people waiting, and it was clear most people were just beginning their meal. So in the end we had to make do with the cafe on the main square that served toasted sandwiches. A bit disappointing! Moral of the story - look out your restaurants and book up if you can. Unfortunately on the bike it’s not always easy to predict timing. At least we knew that we would have a good meal later at the hotel in Ainhoa!

It was a longish afternoon pedaling through more beautiful scenery - lots of sheep and cows, cheese territory, a pretty Roman bridge. We rode back into Spain to the village of Zugurramurdi, famous for witch trials in the 17th century. Along the way my husband was stopping to look at the birds of prey with his binoculars. There were quite a few vultures overhead. I had read about Zugurramurdi, but we did not stop to see the caves where the witches gathered. I was ready to get to our destination of Ainhoa. By the time we reached the village of Ainhoa, we had been on the bikes almost 7 hours including our coffee & lunch stops. Since our hotel was not on the main strip of Ainhoa, we stopped on the main road first to admire the pretty houses. One comment is that the main road there is very busy! It would be nicer if they diverted the traffic since the cars go quite fast. But we locked up the bikes and walked around, and stopped for a beer and a cheese plate at one of the bars. It was good to know we were almost finished for the day!

Finally we arrived at the Ardi Eger hotel. This was a lovely traditional hotel. It was very calm and peaceful, just a few minutes walk from the main street of town. The staff was welcoming and professional. They put our bikes away and checked us in. There are several common rooms to relax in, and the setting is very pretty. There is a nice pool outside. Our room was lovely with a small balcony facing the hills. Despite the cool temperature (low 70’s) I had to try out the pool. I managed to stay in for about 10 minutes! We went for dinner when the dining room opened (can’t remember if it was 7 or 7:30). The restaurant has a great reputation, and the food was very good. There were a few amuse-bouches. The dinner was included with our cycling holiday, so we didn’t see a menu. After dinner we were ready to sleep. The long days on the bike were tiring us out!

When I booked the cycling holiday, the owner of the company mentioned that there was a lot of climbing, especially on the third cycling day. So I pre-arranged that on the hard day we would skip the cycling and get transferred with our bikes to St Jean Pied de Port. It was a great decision, and gave us a rest day in the middle. It also gave us more time to enjoy visiting the medieval town of St Jean Pied de Port. We were picked up as scheduled with our bikes at the Argi Eder at 11 am and were driven an hour to the Gure Lana guest house in St Jean Pied de Port. Despite the fact that our driver was a bit like a Formula 1 driver, we made it in one piece. Luckily the B&B owners let us into our room when we arrived, so we dropped our bags and went out to explore St Jean Pied de Port, which is the gateway to the Camino Frances - one of the famous pilgrimage routes to Santiago de Compostela. There was no shortage of hiking supplies and the telltale seashell symbol of the pilgrimage. The town was small but bigger than Ainhoa, and it was fun walking to see the river, and the fortifications of the city. We had lunch at “Comme � la maison”, which was an Italian restaurant I had read good reviews for. The food was excellent - pasta was homemade and not heavy and I had a small salad. There is also a restaurant called Les Pyrenees that comes highly recommended, but since we had already eaten a rich dinner the night before, we didn’t try it out. We wandered around a bit after lunch, went back to the B&B for a little rest, then back into town for more shopping and dinner. We chose Caf� de la Paix, put our names down for the dinner service starting at 7, and sat and had a beer and watched the end of the Tour de France that day. The caf� was very busy, and service was excellent. I had duck breast, one of my favorites, and I believe my husband got a lamb dish. While I don’t think the dessert lived up to my husband’s expectations, everything else about our meal was perfect. They are definitely on top of their game.

The next morning we were served a filling breakfast by Christian, one of the owners. We had a nice chat about about what brought them to the area, and Basque history. I even got a few book recommendations.

Then we were ready to hit the road again.

We had scouted out the route the night before, and we knew there was a very long climb to start the day. Needless to say, we walked the bikes quite a bit in the first hour. But with so much beautiful scenery to take in, it really wasn’t a problem. Finally the path flattened out and we were on the top of a ridge. There were wild ponies, and strange earthworms that were about 18 inches long. And then, coming around a corner I saw a big blob sitting on a fence post. It was a griffon vulture. Then we spied 2 more sitting on other nearby fence posts. We were able to get quite close and that really felt like something special. Not long after we encountered a traffic jam of sheep moving from one field to the other, so that also made for some great photos. Soon we pedaled into the quiet town of Issarry, and found a nice cafe across from a church. As we watched people coming to go in the building next door, we realized it was a voting day in France.

After coffee we rode towards Helette. Upon arrival in Helette we were thinking of finding a lunch place. It turned out Helette was very small, and I checked Tripadvisor and found a restaurant called Ezkaratza that was near, but not in, Helette. To avoid the Sare experience where all the restaurants were full, I phoned the place and asked if they could accommodate us, and they said yes. So we plugged it into Google maps and put away our talking GPS for the bike route. Funnily enough we had one of those strange Google maps experiences where you turn onto a path that does not look correct. We wound up down a grassy foot path that was a little worrying, but it eventually led to a small gravel farm road, and then back onto the main road where we found the restaurant.

It had a driveway and then a nice quiet location all alone with a back garden that also had pens for chickens and goats. We locked our bikes up and went in. It turned out to be a rather refined restaurant with pretty high level cuisine. There was a prix fixe menu, but I wasn’t ready for a 3 course meal. So we had a glass of wine, a main dish, and split a dessert. There were limited choices, but they all looked good. My husband got a stewed lamb dish with moroccan spices and couscous and I had duck breast with a cherry sauce and polenta. It was definitely one of the best meals! The dessert was some kind of parfait with strawberries, cream and yuzu. I would have liked to go back to this restaurant for a proper meal - not in the middle of a long biking day. If you happen to be anywhere near Itxassou or Cambo-les-Bains it would make a great option.

After lunch we said a quick hello to the goats and headed on towards Itxassou - our destination for the night.

Enjoying your report. Any photos to come?

Okay I will try some photos!
In chronological order: Bilbao - Biarritz


Tapas at Gure Loki Bilbao

Land of ham

Nervion river Bilbao

Guggenheim

Puppy

Mugarra 5 fish appetizer

Biarritz - petite plage

Maison Adam gateau Basque

And Biarritz - Bidart - Hondarribia - Hendaye - Ainhoa


Basque scenery


Hondarribia

Hondarribia

Leaving Hondarribia


Land of sheep's cheese

Ainhoa

We arrived in Itxassou after 7 hours on the bike (including the coffee and lunch stops).

We were booked at the Hotel du Fronton. It was kind of an odd place in that there was no access to our room from the main entrance. We checked in, followed the receptionist outside and around the corner to a shed where we stored the bikes, and then there was a side door where we were shown to our room. There was a small garden with a view.

After showering, we went back to the main entrance area, where there was a cafe with outdoor seating. There were already people sitting out, so we sat down and had a drink. The cafe tables were right next to the town pelota court. In most towns the court is quite prominent as a large square with a high wall on one side. Luckily for us the court was being used, so we got to watch some teens trying to play. Their game ended fairly quickly as someone mishit the ball and it flew onto the table near us and broke someone�s glass. The poor woman had a diablo menthe drink and the green liquid went flying. But the people at the table didn�t seem too bothered in the end, but the waitress of the cafe was giving some dirty looks, and the teens decided to leave. Next two men in matching shirts arrived with a clipboard that looked like it had a tennis draw on it. Four women soon followed, and they were ready for a match. They were decent players, and we enjoyed watching the local sport.

Itxassou was a pretty sleepy place. There were a lot of outdoor sports advertised by the hotel reception.

We had read that Itxassou was famous for its black cherry jam. While we weren�t served any at dinner (I think there was some in the breakfast buffet), it is often served with the Ossau-Iraty cheese that is a specialty of this area.

Our meal that night was included and we ate at the Hotel du Fronton. I can�t quite say what we were eating. Although we speak French, we were not given a menu, the food was just brought to us. There was a brief explanation, but the dishes were trying to be haute cuisine, but we found they mixed up too many ingredients in trying to be inventive, so this wasn�t our favorite meal. I believe the main dish was pork loin, which wasn�t bad, but the deep fried eggplant didn�t need to be fried. It would have been interesting to see a menu! The restaurant had a nice view with a wall of windows out the back.

After a very quiet night we were up and at it the next morning - our last day on the bikes. We would leave Itxassou, ride through Cambo-les-Bains, the neighboring town, then on to Bayonne and finally down the coast back to Biarritz.

On the bike trip, they book you either in Itxassou or Cambo-les-Bains. Cambo-les-Bains looked much more like a town with apartment buildings and shops.

More beautiful scenery, and ironically we saw a rainbow, just before it started raining. It was the first time in our five days on the bike that it had rained on us. We didn�t have much choice but to soldier on. At one point I was sheltering in the town restroom which was big enough to pull my bike into while I looked for a place we could stop.

We weren�t far from Ustaritz, so we kept going and kept a lookout for a cafe where we could stop. Luckily shortly we did come to a bar that had outdoor seating with a roof over it, so we parked the bikes and had morning coffee.

The rain slowed a bit, and we set off again. I was looking forward to lunch in Bayonne.

Soon we joined a bike path along the river Nive that took us into Bayonne. Finally we were out of the hills moving back towards the coast.

Bayonne was very picturesque, with pretty bridges and the typical houses on either side of the river. We cycled up to the market place, parked the bikes, and went for a stroll.

Actually we first stopped to have a look at the market, and there was an outdoor restaurant that looked perfect. So we put our names down to reserve before walking around to check out the cathedral. We passed the museum of ham, and tried some chocolates, which are a specialty of Bayonne. It looked like a good town for shopping. In a few blocks we arrived at the Gothic cathedral, which unfortunately was underwhelming from the outside as there is scaffolding blocking one whole high tower, and the square in front also looked like a building site.

However, inside it was something special, with some of the most beautiful stained glass windows I have seen. The apse, behind the altar (I had to look up what it was called) is the most spectacular part. I would love to go back and look again once the scaffolding is gone in front.

Bayonne was very pleasant. Lunch was delightful - a salad with some Bayonne ham and a charcuterie board. By that time the sun had come out and we had a great view of the river.

Then back on the bikes for the home stretch along the coast back towards Biarritz. I guess it was about another hour or two. We called the bike guy as we left Bayonne so he could meet us at Biarritz when we arrived.

It was fun to finally see the Biarritz lighthouse in the distance. We passed a lot of big hotels and beach areas, more built up than the stretch south of Biarritz which was more residential and rural.

We arrived back at the petite plage, just a few steps from our hotel, and the bike guy suddenly appeared. He was anxious to check out the bikes and get them loaded quickly, since the area by the beach gets a little congested (as do the small pedestrian streets when they drive delivery trucks down them!).

Everything was fine - we quickly handed over the bikes and went back to the hotel where we had spent our first night in France before departing on the bikes. The receptionist didn�t remember us until we said our name, which he had remarked upon earlier. He reminded me of a cat - very smooth and slinking around. But he was very nice and our room was ready - but the suitcases hadn�t arrived yet! We went upstairs to check out the room and sit down a minute. Within 15 minutes the suitcases arrived, and we were able to shower and go stroll around town. We were pretty tired. Dinner was uneventful for us but the rest of the town was all watching the France - Belgium Euros soccer game. There were crowds hovering by every cafe with a TV screen.

I had stopped writing at a certain point, but now feel like finishing off the last few days, since the information might be helpful for anyone using Flixbus in Biarritz. I had tried to find info about the Flixbus stop in Biarritz and the small amount of info I did find was very helpful. Anyway, following the bike ride we spent a relaxing last night in Biarritz. We ate in one of the cafes on Pl Georges Clemenceau (maybe le Georges?). After dinner walking around people were crowded around bars spilling into the street watching the France - Belgium soccer game. The people who weren't doing that were all at surfing school! We saw large groups of beginner surfers at that hour. We had a good last night at the hotel, and the next morning we had an 11:45 Flixbus to Bilbao. We got a taxi to the stop, or non stop, meaning it was not very well marked on a little access street next to the Iraty parking lot. There were, however, about 20 people waiting there with suitcases. One thing to note is that there is no shelter at this stop, and it did begin to rain softly. Luckily there were some trees we could use for shelter. The lack of a snack bar, toilets, and covered shelter is a definite drawback to the Flixbus Biarritz Halles-Iraty stop. But our bus did come and the trip back to Bilbao was uneventful.

last night in Bilbao
We took a taxi from the train station to our hotel: Sercotel Ayala. It was a good location (meaning fairly central) right next to the Corte Ingles department store. We got a good rate. I actually liked the room better than the room at the Hotel Bilbao Plaza, although we didn't have a view of the river, and it was just slightly further walk to Casco Viejo, but not much - prob 15 minutes. I had eaten a sandwich on the bus, but by the time we dropped our bags at the hotel and walked over to Casco Viejo, my husband was ready for a late lunch, so we followed our nose. Literally we were walking down one street and there was a delicious smell coming from one of the places. It turned out to be the Rio Oja restuarant and it was very full, but some people were leaving and we were able to sit. The waiter was gruff and took his time, but he was on top of things and we had a great meal. We had the stuffed peppers - pimientos rellenos) - 4 small fried peppers stuffed with a creamy meat mixture, and the beef stew (ternera guisada). Stew dishes seemed to be their specialty, but the menu was large and there were vegetarian options. Very reasonable prices. The dishes were both very good. We had 2 glasses of wine, water, a puff pastry / cream dessert and 2 coffees along with our main dishes. Price for everything was 30 euros.

I can't quite remember anything special about the rest of the evening. It was nice to be back where we had started the trip, and the next day we flew home. I have very fond memories of seeing Basque country by bike, getting to visit so many small towns and enjoy the nature along the way, despite the ups an downs (I just mean the hills!). There were really no bad experiences on this trip!

Thank you for sharing! I love seeing Europe by bike and have been able to take my e-bike on trains to get to our destinations. However, this may change as we venture farther away from our home. We have panniers so we take our luggage with us, which is not a problem with an e-bike.

You've inspired me to consider northern Spain/Southern France as a possible destination. Thank you again for all your work into writing the trip report. Much appreciated!

Thanks for your trip report. I enjoyed it all.
The worms may have been slow worms which are really legless lizards.

We are doing our first biking holiday this year, but using a single base with lots of round trip routes, since I can't take my trike on a train or bus, and leaving the car safely parked somewhere proved tricky and very expensive, for the route we had initially planned to ride.

I hope you feel inspired to do another ride somewhere in Europe.

Hetismij2 we are doing a Dolomites rail trail this summer. That will be our fifth self guided trip.

Sounds good! I hope you have fun, and post a trip report. Will you go for electric bikes this time?

My problem is I can't ride a bike any more, and only got into trikes last year, so age is catching up on us both for bike touring, plus as I said trikes can't go on trains or buses, but never say never!