National Road Trip 2 — Rías Baixas · Asturias · Basque Country
- 14 nights (15 days)
- 1,030 km
- Approximately 13 hours of driving
A journey through the green, rain‑kissed soul of northern Spain — from the vine‑terraced estuaries of Galicia to the gastronomic heartland of the Basque Country, with the wild Atlantic never far from view.
You'll begin amid the Albariño vineyards of the Rías Baixas, pause in the ancient pilgrim city of Santiago de Compostela, then travel along the Cantabrian coast to rest and restore at El gran sueño. From here the road turns east to San Sebastián, ending in Bilbao — a city reborn around art, design and food. A route shaped by ocean light, granite, cider and the slow pleasure of discovery.
Total duration: 15 days (14 nights)
- Total driving distance: approximately 1,030 km
- Total driving time: approximately 13 hours
- Fly into: Santiago de Compostela (SCQ)
- Fly out of: Bilbao (BIO)
Accommodation breakdown:
- Rías Baixas: 4 nights (Days 1–4)
- Santiago de Compostela: 2 nights (Days 5–6)
- El Caspiu (Piloña), Asturias — El Gran Sueño: 5 nights (Days 7–11)
- San Sebastián: 2 nights (Days 12–13)
- Bilbao: 1 night (Day 14)
Stage 1: The Vine‑Covered Estuaries — Santiago Airport to the Rías Baixas · 50 min · 78 km
Your journey begins in the Salnés Valley, south of Santiago, where the Atlantic reaches inland through a series of sheltered estuaries and the air carries the scent of the sea. This is the heartland of Albariño — one of Spain's finest white wines — and the landscape of low stone walls, granite granaries and vineyard terraces sets the tone for everything that follows.
Accommodation (4 nights):
What to do:
- Day 1: Fly into Santiago de Compostela (SCQ) and drive south to the Salnés Valley. Settle in, then spend the afternoon on a wine‑tasting tour at a local Albariño bodega — a relaxed introduction to the region, with no driving ahead of you.
- Day 2: Visit the old city of Pontevedra and ,on the way back, stop in Combarro, a traditional stone village where hórreos (granite granaries) overhang the sea.
- Day 3: Take a private boat to the Ons Island or the Cíes Islands, a protected archipelago of white‑sand beaches and turquoise water sometimes called the Galician Caribbean. Alternatively, visit medieval Cambados, the prettiest town in the Rías Baixas and home of some the oldest Albariño wineries.
- Day 4: Spend a gentle day exploring the isolated beaches, heathland and saltwater marshes of Parque Natural de Carreirón.
Stage 2: The City at the End of the Camino — Rías Baixas to Santiago de Compostela · 1 h 5 min · 80 km
Driving north, the road rises gently into a landscape of granite and mist before the towers of the Cathedral appear on the horizon. Santiago de Compostela needs little introduction — it has been drawing travellers for over a thousand years — yet it rewards those who slow down and look beyond the obvious.
Accommodation (2 nights):
- Parador de Santiago de Compostela – Often cited as the oldest hotel in the world, this 15th‑century royal hospital sits directly on the Plaza del Obradoiro beside the Cathedral. Guests speak of "sleeping inside living history — courtyards of silence just steps from the pulse of the old city."
What to do:
- Day 5: Drive to Cambados in the morning. Widely regarded as the capital of Albariño wine, Cambados combines elegant granite architecture, atmospheric old streets and a beautiful waterfront setting on the Ría de Arousa. Explore historic squares and manor houses, enjoy fresh seafood and experience some of the finest wine and gastronomy in Galicia. Drive to Santiago in the afternoon or evening.
- Day 6: Visit the Mercado de Abastos for the freshest Galician seafood in Spain, then witness the swinging of the Botafumeiro in the Cathedral, lose yourself in the granite‑paved streets of the Old Town, and spend a long evening making your way along Rúa do Franco — stopping wherever the smell of pulpo and the sound of conversation draws you in.
Stage 3: The Long Coastal Crossing — Santiago de Compostela to El gran sueño, Asturias · 3 h 40 min · 340 km
This is the journey's longest drive, but also one of its most rewarding — an easy, pleasant motorway that traces the wild Cantabrian coast through landscapes of cliff, pasture and pine. Take the whole day. We recommend two stops along the way: Playa de las Catedrales in the morning, where the tide reveals stone arches and sea caves of extraordinary scale; and Luarca for lunch, a fishing village of white houses stacked above a horseshoe harbour, where the harbourside restaurants serve some of the finest fresh fish on the northern coast. From Luarca, the final stretch east turns inland into the quiet valley where El Gran Sueño sits. By evening, the moving stops — and the restoring begins.
Accommodation (5 nights):
- El gran sueño Boutique Hotel & Apartamentos – Your home and inspiration. A five‑room adults‑only boutique retreat dedicated to sustainability, stillness and genuine care. Guests often write "we arrived as strangers and left restored — it isn't just a hotel, it's an experience that stays with you."
What to do:
- Day 7: Leave Santiago after breakfast and drive east across the Cantabrian coast, stopping at Playa de las Catedrales mid‑morning and Luarca for lunch. Arrive at El gran sueño in the late afternoon or early evening. Settle in with a quiet evening on the terrace and dinner with us.
- Day 8: Recover gently with one of our nine Local Walks straight from the door — apple orchards, eucalyptus forest and grazing paddocks dotted with hórreos. A slow afternoon at the hotel.
- Day 9: Picos de Europa: Cangas de Onís, Covadonga and the Lakes — our most popular day out, following Road Trip 5. The Holy Cave, the Basilica and the glacial Lakes of Covadonga can all be combined in a single day, with lunch in Cangas de Onís along the way.
- Day 10: The two great cities of Asturias in one day. Begin in Oviedo, following Road Trip 8 — the cathedral, the pre‑Romanesque churches and a morning at Mercado El Fontán for cheeses, chorizo and fresh produce. Then drive on to Gijón for lunch and an afternoon by the sea, following Road Trip 10 — the marina, Cimadevilla, Chillida's Elogio del Horizonte and the great curve of San Lorenzo beach.
- Day 11: The cider country and the most beautiful villages of the Comarca de la Sidra, following Road Trip 2 — the postcard‑perfect fishing villages of Lastres and Tazones, the rural calm of Torazo and the dinosaur footprints at Playa de la Griega if time allows.
Stage 4: The Gastronomic Coast — El gran sueño to San Sebastián · 4 h · 348 km
Your next drive carries you east through the tail end of Asturias and into Cantabria, before the road curves along the Basque coast toward the most beautiful bay in Spain. Rather than driving straight to the motorway, the morning offers a final taste of eastern Asturias — Llanes sit naturally on the way east. San Sebastián itself needs to be approached slowly — ideally arriving in the late afternoon when the light turns La Concha gold.
Accommodation (2 nights):
- Hotel Lasala Plaza is a contemporary hotel at the meeting point of the Port and the Old Town, with a rooftop pool overlooking the harbour. Guests call it "modern luxury at its best — perfectly positioned for the best food in the world."
What to do:
- Day 12: Leave El gran sueño in the morning and take the eastern Asturian coast as your route east, following Road Trip 3 — LLanes for a stroll through the harbour and in the old town, then lunch, before joining the A‑8 east. Arrive in San Sebastián in the late afternoon or evening and walk the full curve of La Concha Bay as the light fades. Surrender entirely to the Parte Vieja in the evening — moving from bar to bar, pintxo to pintxo, glass to glass.
- Day 13: Take the funicular up to Monte Igueldo for the view that has defined postcards for a century. For a quieter afternoon, the Chillida Leku sculpture museum, set among ancient oaks, offers a moment of profound calm.
Stage 5: Closing the Circle — San Sebastián to Bilbao · 1 h 15 min · 100 km
A short final drive carries you west along the Cantabrian coast to Bilbao, a city reborn around art, design and pintxos. Arrive in the late morning to give yourself the full afternoon at the Guggenheim — perhaps the single best reason to end the journey here — before a farewell pintxos crawl through the Casco Viejo.
Accommodation (1 night):
- Hotel Toyko – A design hotel in the heart of the Casco Viejo, set in the fourth concrete‑frame building ever raised in Spain, with the river at its feet and Martín Berasategui's Michelin‑starred Ola restaurant on site. Guests highlight "an unbeatable location, beautifully quiet rooms, and a team whose warmth turns a one‑night stay into something memorable."
What to do:
- Day 14: Leave San Sebastián after breakfast for the short drive west to Bilbao. Spend the afternoon at the Guggenheim Museum — Frank Gehry's titanium masterpiece, and one of the most extraordinary museums in the world. Walk back along the Ría as the light fades, then close the journey with a pintxos crawl through the Casco Viejo, or dinner at Ola Martín Berasategui downstairs at the hotel — a final gastronomic flourish after fourteen nights of green coast, granite and good food.
- Day 15: Fly home from Bilbao (BIO).
