kja

I stopped in Cangas de Onis briefly and then passed through it again later that same day after a visit to the Picos de Europa. I'm glad I saw it, but it was so packed with tourists that finding a parking spot for my visit took nearly 40 minutes -- and then only to park a 20-minute walk away. Driving through on my return trip took nearly 20 minutes just to go through the town itself -- a distance that couldn't have been more than a kilometer -- because of both car and pedestrian traffic. I encountered FAR more tourists there than in Santillana del Mar. YMMV.

BTW, there are TWO paradors in Santillana del Mar. I was pleased with my stay at the Parador Gil Blas. I've read somewhat less favorable reviews of the other parador there, but can't speak to it personally.

joannyc

I don't know of you saw my posting above from about 7:30pm yesterday but I, too, stayed 2 nights in Santillana Del Mar and loved it! My hotel was Hotel Casa del Marqués, lovely! There are pics of it in my photo link in my above post. I arrived mid-afternoon so a lot of the day trippers were already leaving for the day so it wasn't shoulder to shoulder with tourists. Next day, I went to the Altimira caves and Comillas before retuning late in the day to SdM.

If going to Altimira, buy you tickets in advance for a reserved date and time. The ticket line at the site is very long and you may have to wait a couple of hours to get in!

I stopped in Cangas de Onis for a couple of hours. It was very difficult finding a parking spot and there was a lot of traffic as Kja points out. But there were a few sites that I wanted to see so it was worth it to me. Also pics from there and Picos de Europa in the link.

Enjoy your planning and trip!

joannyc

Oh, sorry about those typos!

I don't know "if"

before "returning"

isabel

kja - good to know. Since some places won't make it to the final 'cut' that may be the case with Cangas if it's that bad. And looks like there are a couple of great possibilities of places to stay in Santillana.

Joannyc - your photo gallery is beautiful. I really like the way you introduce each new town with an identifying pic. In fact your photos of Astorga and Aviles have put them on my list. I had eliminated A Coruna since I didn't think I'd have time but your photos of the Celtic stones have me rethinking that now too. Did you overnight at each of the stops on your map? I didn't see in your report that you said what your itinerary was. Did I miss that? Would you mind saying how long it you spent in each place.

ribeirasacra

I am sorry to say but you are not understanding me.
There are airports in Basque country plus some others dotted around northern Spain. The major companies normally have offices at train stations, some do offers on car hire when booking a train ride.
It is obvious that a small place like Olite is not going to have access to the major car rentals. For your interest here are the population statistics from WIKI. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olite
Where did you put A Courña in your list? Those stones are not Celtic, they are very new (erected late last century.

I have said before that everywhere will be very busy everywhere and perhaps now from reports others have said that you are now beginning to see the light.
A lot of traffic will also mean you will be delayed so cut out rather than add to your itinerary.
Agree with others that Cudillero is very pretty. Do not expect this well-known location to be empty.

isabel

I'm aware that there are airports in Basque country and northern Spain. But my calculations are that it would take longer, not to mention allow for a lot less flexibility, for my husband to fly back to Madrid than to just drive. I don't mind an extra few hour bus ride back up to Burgos since it will essentially give us an extra day for 'part 1' of the trip. We can spend as much of the day as we want around Olite and head down to the airport in the late afternoon vs backtracking to Pamplona for a scheduled flight. So, different travel styles I guess. If I were advising someone on a one hour flight vs a 4 hour drive I'd always go with driving (assuming you already had the car, which is the case with us). At the beginning of this planning I did look into whether he could fly out of one of the northern cities back home but unfortunately that didn't work. At the end of 'part 2' of the trip I am planning on flying out of Santander but it's going to require an overnight in either London or Dublin, but I have time for that and he doesn't.

I did read that the standing stones in A Coruna are a modern day installation but they look interesting. However, not as interesting (to me) as other things, that's why I had dropped A Coruna from my initial itinerary (before I even posted).

Thank you for taking the time to respond to my posts.

HappyTrvlr

We had a very extensive trip to Northern Spain and really enjoyed it. However, there was one decision we would have changed if we could. We wished we could have stayed in Comillas and visited Santillana del Mar as a day trip. Santillana is very over touristed and we did not enjoy staying there. I can't imagine spending three days there when there are so many wonderful places to visit.

isabel

HappyTrvlr - thanks for the input. I'll look into staying in Comillas instead of Santillana. We wouldn't be spending '3 days' in either of them, rather we'd probably arrive late in the day the first day, and be gone most of the day the other two days - one to drive into the Picos de Europa and the other to visit the caves at Altamir (yes I know it's the replica, not the original that we would be seeing). We'd also try to see which ever one of Comillas or Santillana that we didn't stay in. I guess I was thinking that since Santillana seems to be the most 'touristed' it might make sense to stay there so we'd be there evenings and early mornings when it would be less crowded.

Did you write a trip report? If not, would you mind sharing your itinerary? Thanks

joannyc

I am hesitant to post my exact itinerary as doing so typically draws out the "know it all" Fodorites who think they should be the judge of how much or little time you should spend in each location on your vacation... even if they have never been there.

Here are my hotel locations:

Burgos
Bilbao
Santillana del Mar
Oviedo
Gijon
Luarca
Santiago de Compostela
Leon
Valladolid
Madrid

The other locations that I visited were either day trips from one of the hotel locations or visited while traveling between hotel locations.

Comillas was very crowded when I visited on a rainy day and parking was very difficult.

After leaving Comillas, I was on my was to Llanes but the traffic was absolutely horrendous!!! Bumper to bumper as far as I could see (still probably a mile or two or more out of town) and barely moving so I turned around and went back to SdM. Good choice... I bought delicious "convent cookies" that day!

Early mornings, late afternoons, and evenings were not crowded in SdM when I was there. I did the same as you are planning, left town for the most crowded part of the day.

The other location I wanted to see between Santiago de Compostela and Leon was O Cebreiro but I missed the exit and by the time I realized it I was too far afield to turn around.

I thought Lugo was worth a short stop but was glad that I didn't plan any hotel nights there.

isabel

Thanks joannyc - I know what you mean about the 'know it alls' but I try to just ignore them. Also, everyone has a different comfort level with how much they want to see and what pace they want to see it at, so one person's advice doesn't fit everyone. But by reading a lot of trip reports and answers on planning posts like this I try to get a sense. So far I've loved every one of my trips, hope this one will be great as well. I see that you were there in August, I'm hoping July might be slightly better in terms of crowds, but not holding out too much hope.

The cookies looked delicious!

kja

My trip was in May, so an entirely different beast, but FWIW, Comillas was essentially deserted when I visited. I got there mid-afternoon on a day with rare, but occasional, drizzles. I had no problem with the drives on either side nor any problem finding parking.

I second joannyc's recommendation to reserve any of the prehistoric caves you choose to visit, including Altamira.

I can't imagine that you won't love this trip as much as each of your others.

BTW, have you seen the standing stones of Carnac or elsewhere in Brittany? Well worth seeing, IMO.