We are visiting Barcelona for the first time and have one week. I would like to have a taste of the Basque country, Bilbao and possibly San Sebastian. My wife refuses to let me drive. 
We are visiting Barcelona for the first time and have one week. I would like to have a taste of the Basque country, Bilbao and possibly San Sebastian. My wife refuses to let me drive. How difficult would it be to use a train or bus to get there? We think we should have at least 4 days for Barcelona. Any thoughts on this?
We are doing basically the same itinerary this May, but taking a little more time and driving. If you only have one week and are staying 4 days in Barcelona which is fine, it would take you another day to travel from Bcn to Bilbao, (the train connections are a little slower than the fast trains elsewere in Spain) then a day or two in Bilbao and your time is gone. We decided to take the fast train from Bcn to Zaragoza which is only 1.5 hrs, then drive the rest of the way to Bilbao and then westwards along the coast to Santiago. I don't know of any efficient trains on that route but I've heard of busses. It is pretty much the route that pilgrims take for their pilgrimage to Santiago so you may want to check on that. Good luck.
We did this a few years ago... take an overnight train to Bilbao or San Sebastian. Either way, you arrive in the morning-get a couchette on the train and sleep! Then you can take a bus to either destination which is less than an hour away. Four days in Barcelona should give you a great overview of this wonderful city, but traveling to Bilbao and seeing the Guggenheim is also worth the trip. By the way, San Sebastian is lovely and boasts the most Michelin starred restaurants in Europe. Enjoy.
We just spent the month of September in southern Portugal and Spain. The high-speed AVE trains in Spain are great but they're a lot more expensive than regular trains. We were going to take the train from Granada to Barcelona and later on Barcelona to Madrid. It was actually cheaper to fly than take the high-speed trains - and a lot quicker. There are shuttle buses that run from downtown Barcelona to the airport and they're a lot cheaper than a taxi. So you might consider looking at a flight to Bilbao or San Sebastian.
Many, many years ago we spent 2 weeks driving from Bordeaux down to San Sebastian then along the coast to La Caruna before heading to Madrid and Andorra. What an experience!
Cyril- we are also planning a trip to Spain, ending in Portugal and I am looking into flights with Vueling from Madrid to BCN and from BCN to Lisbon. I haven't been able to confirm how much they will charge for luggage which might substantially increase the fare from the reasonable E30 quoted. Any thoughts? Also, we were planning to take either trains or buses from Madrid on days trips to El Escorial, Segovia, Toledo, Cordoba and possibly Seville. It is not easy to book those trains from the US with a US-issued credit card. So I was thinking of just buying the tickets at the station in Madrid, except I understand that I would save a lot on the AVE by booking ahead. And in some cases, like El Escorial, buses may be better anyway. Any thoughts on this?
The easiest is to fly from Barcelona to Bilboa; it's a quick flight leaving plenty of time to explore the old city as well as visit the Guggenheim. If u rent a car from Bilboa, there are one -day excursions to nearby towns such as San Sebastion that are worthwhile. An awesome, supermodern hotel in Bilboa is the Sheraton, which is close to the museum. Susan Stone
May I sugguest you try the website; Seat 61.com this site not only lists all of Europe's train schedules but prices, dining, cabins etc. From London or Paris you can travel by train to hong kong, turkey, india or madrid.San Sabastian is simply wonderful and you can eat your way to adding a few pounds.I think there is a total of 16 micelin stars in the town cafes. Do not miss The guggenheim Museum in Bilbao.
Why not take the train from BCN to Pamplona and spend the night, it's part of the Basque country and has a great old town. Take a train to San Sebastion the next day, spend a couple of nights there then take a bus (quicker than train) to Bilbao and fly home from there.
Cyril- we are also planning a trip to Spain, ending in Portugal and I am looking into flights with Vueling from Madrid to BCN and from BCN to Lisbon. I haven't been able to confirm how much they will charge for luggage which might substantially increase the fare from the reasonable E30 quoted. Any thoughts? Also, we were planning to take either trains or buses from Madrid on days trips to El Escorial, Segovia, Toledo, Cordoba and possibly Seville. It is not easy to book those trains from the US with a US-issued credit card. So I was thinking of just buying the tickets at the station in Madrid, except I understand that I would save a lot on the AVE by booking ahead. And in some cases, like El Escorial, buses may be better anyway. Any thoughts on this? Posted by swifs
There was no charge for one carry on and one stored luggage per person (up to 20 kg I believe) with Vueling or Spanair, the two companies we flew with. As for day trips out of Madrid, buses will be cheaper but since the distances aren’t that great, AVE trains are great, too, and not too expensive.
I believe the train from Madrid to Lisbon is very long. You may want to take the train from Madrid to Seville then do the Cordoba day trip from there by train – it’s only like 45 minutes away. Then to get to Lisbon, you can take a 6.5 hour bus from Sevilla that goes thru Faro. Here’s our itinerary from September:
- Lisbon to Faro (train)
- Faro to Sevilla (bus)
- Sevilla to Cordoba, Jerez and Cadiz (day trips by train)
- Sevilla to La Linea (bus) - La Linea to Gibraltar (foot) - La Linea to Algeciras (bus) then Algeciras to Granada (train) - Granada to Barcelona (plane) - Barcelona to Madrid (plane)
If you have two weekends, you could spend three days in Barcelona, rent a car for five days to the Basque Country. A little longer would be better, renting the car for a full week and include the French Basque Pyrenees/coastal area.
