still working on our trip to northern spain in september/october. hope we will not be exchanging the unrelenting rain and grey here in the northwest for an unrelenting rain and grey in spain! starting to panic a bit as the planning has been put off by other concerns and now back on track. have been looking at airfares and not much change, certainly not down since i started looking. even with gas prices will rent a car, ouch.
have followed bob the navigator's trip report and wondering about a variation.
one week from madrid to segovia, avila, salamanca, leon (have spent a few days in madrid but never north of there). then 2 weeks exploring from oviedo to san sebastian, including potes and cangas de onis. would like to stay one week in two different locations for local exploration, preferably a self catering casa, apartment, etc. any thoughts on this plan or ideas for those two home bases? any specific recommedations for rentals? any help appreciated as time is running away from me!

You have seen my report. Save enough time for the "S" towns---especially San Sebastian. May turned out to be the wettest on record in Galicia---you will not have the same.

I see Bob is quoting me in a reply I gave in Slow travel, there is nothing wrong in that. Bob’s report is well written and quite dealtied but in your last posting about visiting Northern Spain you said you have 3 weeks which I think is far longer than Bob had.
Let us know how you are getting on with your planning and maybe we can all add our pennies worth.
The weather is very unpredictable, but don’t let rain get you down. I live in Galicia because I want some sort of variety to the weather. If it is raining look at your surroundings and see how much different it from your hometown. You will enjoy you vacation all the more.

Sorry should add that is you have a car and want to stay in village houses then you could not do better than look at www.toprural.com

thank you bob and ribeirasacra for your replies. top rural is a wonderful site. now to what two areas in which to base.... 2 weeks to explore the area from asturias to bilbao. how far apart should our bases be? any suggestions for specific towns? we would like to get as far as bilbao in order to open jaw out of there. any help appreciated. p.s. torrential rains again in seattle this week.

Last summer after San Fermín, from 7/15, we spent 17 nights in Green Spain, from far western Asturias (Galicia border) to just west of Bilbao, which is a huge chunck of area to explore.

We didn't venture to San Sebastián-had done it in June.

Because that spans a *great* deal of beautiful territory, we chose 4 bases:

base 1:
Trasmiera,Cantabria, near Santoña (within a 40 min. drive of Bilbao)

base 2:
on the eastern Asturian coast, near Llanes (with day trips to Picos de Europa, Cangas de Onís/Potes)

base 3:
in Piloña/Infiesto, in western Picos, (easy drives to Oviedo and Gijón)

base 4:
Luarca (Cadavedo),Asturian western coast (drives to Ribadeo, Galicia and Os Oscos, deep in the Asturian countryside)

We flew back from the Asturias airport, a 30 min. drive from Cadavedo.

But for you, if you want to have just 2 bases

and...
if you need to be within a 45 min. drive of the Bilbao airport...

and...
you've limited the area to Asturias/Bilbao (no Galicia and no San Sebastián, Gipuzkoa)


I would chose base #1 in mid Asturias and base #2 in eastern Cantabria

An excellent base #1 would be around my favorite Asturian coastal town, Ribadesella (btwn there and Villaviciosa).

It is right off the very fast Autovía del Cantábrico with easy access both west to the Galicia border and down to Picos (Cangas de Onís)

A great base #2 could be Trasmiera, Cantabria btwn Somo and Santoña.
This is right off the A8 which speeds you east to Bilbao and west to Santander, Santillana, Comillas, San Vicente de la Barquera or down to Potes/Fuente Dé.

If you base down in Picos, the driving is much, much slower and you get to see less-gorgeous scenery, yes, but less ground covered-depends on what you want.

So do use Top Rural-I've used it countless times.

Also check the self-catering listings of Totally Spain (know the co. very, very well-they deal with a lot of
self-catering)
www.totallyspain.com

for Asturias also see
www.casasdealdea.com
www.bluegreenspain.com

Starting 7/15 we're doing 2 weeks entirely in the Basque Country (yes, there's that much to see in this wonderful corner in 14 days!)

7 day base #1 in Hondarribia, east of San Sebastián (Gipuzkoa)
with forays into the Pays Basque both coast abd interior

7 day base #2 in the Urdaibia Biosphere Reserve, east of Bilbao (Bizkaia)
flying out of Bilbao.

We've chosen our lodgings, as always, at www.nekatur.net, and they are also highly rated on Top Rural.

Hope this gives you some ideas.

just caught a typo-make that the Urdaibai.

thank you maribel. a lot of great information that i will start to digest tonight. any chance your asturias guide will be up and running soon on your website? i will post again as i begin to finetune.

Hi cindyjo,
I'm working on my Asturias-Cantabria guide right now and will try to have it up asap.

But in the meantime, if you find something on the above web sites that you like, a self-catering or casa rural, I may have seen it (or stayed there) and can give advice as to the merits (or downsides) to its location. We've spent a lot of time exploring the highways and byways of that area and are off again very shortly for a another week before San Fermín.