4 days in Spanish Pyrenees - help us plan, please? Thanks!
Discussion
Hi. After many years driving in Scotland and the Alps, we've taken the plunge and booked our ferry travel to Bilbao.
In a nutshell, it's 4 days of driving from and back to Bilbao.
If anyone could provide us with guidance either on the forum or offline to help us create the best GPX routes, identify stopping points, restaurants and hotels, that would be wonderful.
Our schedule is as below!
Portsmouth to Bilbao, return
September 2023
Leave UK – 17th @ 2130 hours
Arrive Spain – 19th @ 0800 hours
Full day drive – 19, 20, 21, 22,
Half day drive – 23 (basically hoofing it to the ferry, I imagine)
Leave Spain – 23rd @ 1300 hours
Arrive UK – 24th @ 17:30 hours
We're taking a Ferrari so hope to hit a few tunnels...
In a nutshell, it's 4 days of driving from and back to Bilbao.
If anyone could provide us with guidance either on the forum or offline to help us create the best GPX routes, identify stopping points, restaurants and hotels, that would be wonderful.
Our schedule is as below!
Portsmouth to Bilbao, return
September 2023
Leave UK – 17th @ 2130 hours
Arrive Spain – 19th @ 0800 hours
Full day drive – 19, 20, 21, 22,
Half day drive – 23 (basically hoofing it to the ferry, I imagine)
Leave Spain – 23rd @ 1300 hours
Arrive UK – 24th @ 17:30 hours
We're taking a Ferrari so hope to hit a few tunnels...
No idea if this fits in with your current thoughts on the route, but we stayed here in March 2020 https://www.hotelvinasdelarrede.es/. It was just as Covid was kicking in and the owners were quite worried. They were lovely people and I hope the hotel is now thriving. It's a lovely hotel in a really nice setting. It's not 5*, but it is very clean and comfortable and the food in the restaurant is excellent.
Also - and it may be too late to change anything - but I would possibly re-consider the ferry. We did almost the same thing last year, but to Santander, and we had 2 weeks between the outbound and the return. The outbound was fine, although the catering was struggling with the number of passengers wanting to eat at the same time. The return however had me climbing the walls - the 2nd day is just so tedious. Also - the arrival time at Portsmouth is pretty late and passport control into the UK takes forever these days. We had one of the 3 cabins with a double bed and loads of space, and even that didn't compensate for the tedium. I would say that the Commodore Club (or something with a similar name) is very good and worth paying extra for if it's not included with your cabin.
We're heading home next Monday, and we're doing Santander -> Plymouth on the Pont Aven, It doesn't have the same catering arrangements as the Portsmouth ferries, so it should be alot more relaxed. Also, it gets into Plymouth at 3:30pm, so the 2nd day should be a lot more tolerable. Brittany Ferries now have a feature on their website so that you can check cabin availability and the book accordingly. We've managed to snag a cabin with a private balcony.
Finally, both Bilbao and Santander are fabulous places for eating and drinking.
Also - and it may be too late to change anything - but I would possibly re-consider the ferry. We did almost the same thing last year, but to Santander, and we had 2 weeks between the outbound and the return. The outbound was fine, although the catering was struggling with the number of passengers wanting to eat at the same time. The return however had me climbing the walls - the 2nd day is just so tedious. Also - the arrival time at Portsmouth is pretty late and passport control into the UK takes forever these days. We had one of the 3 cabins with a double bed and loads of space, and even that didn't compensate for the tedium. I would say that the Commodore Club (or something with a similar name) is very good and worth paying extra for if it's not included with your cabin.
We're heading home next Monday, and we're doing Santander -> Plymouth on the Pont Aven, It doesn't have the same catering arrangements as the Portsmouth ferries, so it should be alot more relaxed. Also, it gets into Plymouth at 3:30pm, so the 2nd day should be a lot more tolerable. Brittany Ferries now have a feature on their website so that you can check cabin availability and the book accordingly. We've managed to snag a cabin with a private balcony.
Finally, both Bilbao and Santander are fabulous places for eating and drinking.
Ffffaster said:
Thank you, Omniflow. PH really is a shadow of what it used to be in terms of quality of contribution, so thanks for your very helpful post! We're paying for a company to draft the route for us. :-)
I think you would have much more success if it was in the "roads" section, not holidays.I have driven this area a few times and had a great time with excellent driving roads and great food/wine.
The best area in my opinion is the N260 but the best part runs east of Ainsa which is a fair drive from Bilbao, depends on how many hours of driving you want to do and how much motorway you want to put up with to get there. The loop between Sort and Viehla (N260/N230/C28) is great and there's a nice Parador in Vielha to stay in. You can loop over to the French side of the Pyrenees as well but I've found the Spanish side quieter. If you want to stay in Pamplona the Hotel Alma Pamplona is great and walking distance into the city.
You could alternatively head west into the Picos de Europa where there are plenty of good roads but in my experience they are busier, again there is a nice Parador, Parador de Fuente Dé.
Last option from me is to head south, there are some good roads in the hills around Vitoria-Gasteiz and north of Lorgrono, the bonus being you're in the Rioja region if you like wine and plenty of the bodegas do accommodation! Anaother Parador I can recommend in a lovely town is Parador de Santo Domingo de la Calzada, it has an underground car park which if I remember rightly you might need to pre-book.
The best area in my opinion is the N260 but the best part runs east of Ainsa which is a fair drive from Bilbao, depends on how many hours of driving you want to do and how much motorway you want to put up with to get there. The loop between Sort and Viehla (N260/N230/C28) is great and there's a nice Parador in Vielha to stay in. You can loop over to the French side of the Pyrenees as well but I've found the Spanish side quieter. If you want to stay in Pamplona the Hotel Alma Pamplona is great and walking distance into the city.
You could alternatively head west into the Picos de Europa where there are plenty of good roads but in my experience they are busier, again there is a nice Parador, Parador de Fuente Dé.
Last option from me is to head south, there are some good roads in the hills around Vitoria-Gasteiz and north of Lorgrono, the bonus being you're in the Rioja region if you like wine and plenty of the bodegas do accommodation! Anaother Parador I can recommend in a lovely town is Parador de Santo Domingo de la Calzada, it has an underground car park which if I remember rightly you might need to pre-book.
Just back form a 6 day trip to the Pyrenees and it was superb. Little or no traffic, mostly great roads and pretty great weather.
We took a different approach to you OP, and drove from Calais down to Puigcerda and started our mountain adventure East to West, however just put some of the following in reverse and you will have great fun.
We did 2,500 miles in all in 3 cars:- GR Yaris, Focus RS and A45S. Bit of a surprise (or maybe not) which one was quickest in the mountains, and by a long shot...
Puigcerda - Ribes de Freser - Berga - Solosona
Solsona - Col de Nargo - Tremp - Pont de Suerte - El Grado - Ainsa
Ainsa, La
ie, Laruns, Arette, Isaba.
Laie was in there because we wanted to go up to the Pic du Midi Observatory. Unfortunately when we got to La ie, we were told the view was total cloud so we didn't bother getting the gondola to the top.
There are 2 routes between Isaba and Arette, one via Larrau and one more direct, both fantastic in both directions so we played around there until sunset which was pretty cool.
Isaba to Pamplona is a lovely quick sweeping road which we did out of necessity (long story) but enjoyed it anyway.
On the way back we dropped into Oradour sur Glane and Le Mans en route to Calais.
Enjoy your trip OP and let us know what you think.
When I get some time I will post some pics.
Regards,
D
We took a different approach to you OP, and drove from Calais down to Puigcerda and started our mountain adventure East to West, however just put some of the following in reverse and you will have great fun.
We did 2,500 miles in all in 3 cars:- GR Yaris, Focus RS and A45S. Bit of a surprise (or maybe not) which one was quickest in the mountains, and by a long shot...
Puigcerda - Ribes de Freser - Berga - Solosona
Solsona - Col de Nargo - Tremp - Pont de Suerte - El Grado - Ainsa
Ainsa, La
ie, Laruns, Arette, Isaba.La
ie was in there because we wanted to go up to the Pic du Midi Observatory. Unfortunately when we got to La ie, we were told the view was total cloud so we didn't bother getting the gondola to the top.There are 2 routes between Isaba and Arette, one via Larrau and one more direct, both fantastic in both directions so we played around there until sunset which was pretty cool.
Isaba to Pamplona is a lovely quick sweeping road which we did out of necessity (long story) but enjoyed it anyway.
On the way back we dropped into Oradour sur Glane and Le Mans en route to Calais.
Enjoy your trip OP and let us know what you think.
When I get some time I will post some pics.
Regards,
D
Been back a couple of weeks now from a 800 mile circular tour of northern Spain starting in Bilbao and returning from Santander (Portsmouth being the start/finish point).
We had 15 nights so you can see that our objective was not to spend all our time driving even though I took the Vantage!
First off, the ferry. Outbound was 2 nights and as others have said serious tedium sets in on the second day. To suit their scheduling the travel time varies from 27hrs to 36hrs which means either sailing at 14 knots or 21 knots. Some crossings also include a stop-off in Roscoff to do crew changes so do check. Booking Club Class is strongly recommended. If it's not included in your cabin price then on boarding the ship buy an upgrade at the info desk. Costs around £60 a head but worth it as food/wine/soft drinks are available all day so breakfast/lunch and dinner are sorted. The food is adequate. We did eat in the main restaurant one night. The food was better than the lounge but I recall the prices were not insignificant (£90 for two inc. wine). The return was just the one night which was infinitely better!
Our itinerary was as follows:
Bilbao -2 nights Sercotel
Picos de Europa:
Potes - 1 night Villa Elena (B&B)
Fuente De - 2 nights Parador
Santa Domingo de la Calzada - 1 night Parador
Laguardia - 2 nights Hotel Silken
Logrono - 2 nights Apartamentos Congresa
Pamplona - 1 night Hotel Tres Reyes
San Sebastian - 3 nights Hotel Zenit
Santander - 1 night Hotel Gran Victoria
With your limited time I wouldn't spend time in The Picos de Europa (Fuente De) but I would recommend an overnighter in Potes at Villa Elena just to get a flavour of the Picos (and the road up to Fuente De is a nice drive ~ 18kms from Potes). One thing to be aware of is the 'direct' route from Potes in the direction of Burgos (CA184) deteriorates to a gravel track when you cross in to Castille Leon region! Probably be better to go via Santander.
Places I would go back to include Laguardia (Rioja territory - wine tasting at Ysios, Fabulista and Bodega Javier San Pedro Ortega), Pamplona (Tres Reyes will let you park outside the front door if you tell them you're bringing a Ferrari; when we were there there were 7 Austin Healey's from Austria and my Vantage arranged across the front), great lunch at Restaurant Rodero (I think Michelin listed) and San Sebastian although I wouldn't recommend the Zenit. I'd recommend trying to find somewhere on the east side of the river below Mt Ulia.
Many of the hotel choices were influenced by having secure parking hence why we ended up at the Zenit in San Sebastian as secure parking is scarce near the beaches/old town of san Sebastian. We had a 25 minute walk each day just to get to the town so next time I would definitely try to get something closer.
Just some ramblings which you might find useful
We had 15 nights so you can see that our objective was not to spend all our time driving even though I took the Vantage!
First off, the ferry. Outbound was 2 nights and as others have said serious tedium sets in on the second day. To suit their scheduling the travel time varies from 27hrs to 36hrs which means either sailing at 14 knots or 21 knots. Some crossings also include a stop-off in Roscoff to do crew changes so do check. Booking Club Class is strongly recommended. If it's not included in your cabin price then on boarding the ship buy an upgrade at the info desk. Costs around £60 a head but worth it as food/wine/soft drinks are available all day so breakfast/lunch and dinner are sorted. The food is adequate. We did eat in the main restaurant one night. The food was better than the lounge but I recall the prices were not insignificant (£90 for two inc. wine). The return was just the one night which was infinitely better!
Our itinerary was as follows:
Bilbao -2 nights Sercotel
Picos de Europa:
Potes - 1 night Villa Elena (B&B)
Fuente De - 2 nights Parador
Santa Domingo de la Calzada - 1 night Parador
Laguardia - 2 nights Hotel Silken
Logrono - 2 nights Apartamentos Congresa
Pamplona - 1 night Hotel Tres Reyes
San Sebastian - 3 nights Hotel Zenit
Santander - 1 night Hotel Gran Victoria
With your limited time I wouldn't spend time in The Picos de Europa (Fuente De) but I would recommend an overnighter in Potes at Villa Elena just to get a flavour of the Picos (and the road up to Fuente De is a nice drive ~ 18kms from Potes). One thing to be aware of is the 'direct' route from Potes in the direction of Burgos (CA184) deteriorates to a gravel track when you cross in to Castille Leon region! Probably be better to go via Santander.
Places I would go back to include Laguardia (Rioja territory - wine tasting at Ysios, Fabulista and Bodega Javier San Pedro Ortega), Pamplona (Tres Reyes will let you park outside the front door if you tell them you're bringing a Ferrari; when we were there there were 7 Austin Healey's from Austria and my Vantage arranged across the front), great lunch at Restaurant Rodero (I think Michelin listed) and San Sebastian although I wouldn't recommend the Zenit. I'd recommend trying to find somewhere on the east side of the river below Mt Ulia.
Many of the hotel choices were influenced by having secure parking hence why we ended up at the Zenit in San Sebastian as secure parking is scarce near the beaches/old town of san Sebastian. We had a 25 minute walk each day just to get to the town so next time I would definitely try to get something closer.
Just some ramblings which you might find useful
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