Visit the Spanish Basque Country: itinerary, budget and when to go

Donostia is the city people come for: a curved urban beach, two hills for the view, Urgull and Igueldo, and the Parte Vieja, where bars line their counters with pintxos at 2 to 4 euros each. The local rule: one pintxo and one drink per bar, then move on. It is also the region's most expensive city, especially during Semana Grande in August and the Film Festival in September, when room rates can double. Allow two to three nights.

Once a shipbuilding city, Bilbao changed course in 1997 when Frank Gehry's museum opened on the Nervion. The rest is explored on foot in a day: the Siete Calles of the Casco Viejo, La Ribera market, Plaza Nueva for pintxos, then the Artxanda funicular. The metro reaches Getxo and the Portugalete transporter bridge in about 20 minutes. Cheaper than San Sebastian, it is the natural base for Biscay and has the region's main airport.

East of Bilbao, the coast alternates between cliffs and estuaries. Gernika, bombed in 1937 and immortalised by Picasso, opens onto the Urdaibai biosphere reserve, listed by UNESCO. Mundaka draws experienced surfers to its left-hander at the river mouth, from autumn to spring. Bermeo and Lekeitio are working fishing ports, and the Gaztelugatxe hermitage is earned at the top of 241 steps. A car is almost essential: plan a full day from Bilbao, two to reach Lekeitio.

Between San Sebastian and Bilbao, the Gipuzkoa coast takes half a day by road. Zarautz has the province's longest beach, ideal for learning to surf. Getaria, birthplace of the navigator Elcano and the couturier Balenciaga, grills turbot over wood fires and grows txakoli on the slopes nearby. In Zumaia, the flysch cliffs of the Basque Coast Geopark stack millions of years of rock layers: come at low tide to walk along the foot of Itzurun beach.

The administrative capital of Euskadi, Vitoria-Gasteiz lies about an hour's drive from Bilbao and sees few tourists. Its almond-shaped old town, Plaza de la Virgen Blanca and Santa María cathedral, visited in the middle of its restoration works, fill a day. Named European Green Capital in 2012, the city is ringed by a belt of parks you can cycle. Pintxos cost less than in Donostia, and one night is enough before heading down to the vineyards.

In southern Álava, Rioja Alavesa produces part of the Rioja appellation's wines on a plateau sheltered by the Sierra de Cantabria. Laguardia, a walled village riddled with cellars dug beneath its streets, makes the best base. Around it, wineries blend tradition with signature architecture: Gehry's hotel at Marqués de Riscal in Elciego, Calatrava's wavy roof at Ysios. In the calados, these underground cellars, a tour with tasting cost 20 to 35 euros per person in summer 2026. September and October, harvest time, are the finest months; book wineries ahead.

The food alone justifies the trip. From about January to April, the cider houses of Astigarraga and Hernani open txotx season: you get up to fill your glass straight from the barrel, between a salt-cod omelette and a rib steak. Txakoli, a crisp, lightly sparkling white, is poured from a height. The region, around San Sebastian above all, has one of the highest densities of Michelin-starred restaurants in the world: book those tables weeks ahead, and go for the lunchtime set menu to eat well for less.

Euskera, a language with no known relatives, is co-official with Spanish: road signs and town names come in pairs, Donostia and San Sebastián, Gasteiz and Vitoria. Pelota is played on every village fronton, and summer festivals set the calendar: Virgen Blanca in Vitoria in early August, Semana Grande in San Sebastian around 15 August, Bilbao's Aste Nagusia straight after. As in Catalonia, regional identity runs deep: a few words of Euskera, such as eskerrik asko for thank you, always go down well.