Bilbao - San Sebastián- Barcelona

[Lotsofplanetshaveanorth]

Hola!

I posted a couple of weeks ago about choosing a package for the summer - but couldn’t find anything that inspired me (probably too much choice) but also some nervousness about spending a shit tonne of money and maybe not liking it?

So re thinking -

Thinking about a couple of weeks in Spain with DH, tween dd and ds. Thinking about train, hostels, beach and city. Whilst it’s not ambitious in and of itself I am tired and will be organising by myself (don’t ask - I know DH should do half but one should pick ones battles)

Anyone done similar and loved it? Tips and tricks? My Spanish comprehension is good but I can’t always verbalise what I mean - dd has been learning for a year

Any thoughts?

Holy smokes San Sebastián is pricey - might only be a day there ...

I'm doing 2 weeks between three different places this summer. I did struggle to find anywhere in San Seb as I agree it's expensive. If you go into the country it's much cheaper. I can't wait. More than we usually spend, but it's a big birthday for me this year

I loved it but I went so long ago I can't really remember exact places. San Sebastian I know we stayed in a hotel without en-suite bathrooms but it was lovely I didn't mind. Bilbao I know we went to the Guggenheim and then bizarrely bumped into my boss. Not much help, sorry.

Not quite the same but we did trains between Madrid and SS, then an overnight train from SS to Lisbon. Trains were comfortable and we booked in advance.

SS is expensive but you could do it as a day trip from Bilbao. Santander is a nice little town/resort on that coast too.

Download the Renfe app and then you can buy and store train tickets on your phone.

SS was indeed very expensive for accomodation when I looked last year - never went as had to cancel trip due to personal circumstances, but best bet might be either Hostelling International (join UK YHA/SYHA before you go and you can use your membership) or look at airbnb.

I did do a train and bus trip in Southern Spain in January - Malaga>Seville>Cordoba>Granada/Ronda/Nerja and trains (Renfe) and buses (Alsa) were efficient and easy to use. Bus/coach can sometimes be a lot cheaper and if you download the Alsa app they occasionally have cheap offers/deals. Bags will be scanned by xray machine at most train stations so arrive early to allow time for this.

One if the apps (train or bus cannot remember which one) you can only pay by paypal - but when you do this you can then select payment by debit/credit card as an option - do not pay with the paypal option option as they give you a terrible exchange rate.

Also get a monzo or Starling account (app based) here in the UK - takes 5 mins all done via app, then you can load the card via your current UK account or debit card and use the monzo/Starling card in Spain - at ATMs for cash and to pay by card in shops, restaurants, etc with no exchange rate loading or fees. Use Caixa bank atms in Spain as no charges by Spanish bank - most other atms there charge a fee - Santander charges a 5 euros fee for non Santander cards!!

We went to Bilbao and San Sebastian for a week in summer 2016 and loved Bilbao, which has plenty to do for 2-3 days. We stayed at the Melia hotel and it was great.

As for SS - I thought it was going to be a lovely, chilled out beach resort, but it's a busy beach-side city which is really popular with Spaniards in summer. We went in July and it was rammed! We were literally struggling to find a spot on the beach on which to lay a towel on sunny days. There is a big, busy shopping district and a one-way road system that totally confused us to start with, but the old town is lovely, bustling and full of good places to eat and drink. However, if I went back and I wanted to relax I would do Bilbao + one of the beach towns along the coast between Bilbao and San Sebastian. Lekeitio and Getaria looked really nice.

We got an AirBnB apartment in SS btw and I don't remember it being hideously expensive.

We did Madrid.Seville>Valencia>Barcelona last year. It was brilliant and the high speed trains are excellent in Spain for travelling between cities. There is an app called Loco2 that lets you buy and pay for foreign trains in GBP. The exchange rate was pretty ok on it compared to Renfe in Euros

Oooh thanks everyone - I was imagining SS as relaxing so that’s very useful feedback - might add in a different beach town.

Thanks for the money and train tips too - lots to look into

We did a trip to all 3. Totally agree with getting train. We loved all 3 but obviously very different. Bilbao food was amazing and quieter than the other two and the Guggenheim is absolutely amazing. We took a day trip to Guernica which was really interesting. SS was expensive but we love it and there is a festival in the summer with fireworks and parades which was v cool

If you're looking for a beach resort between Bilbao and San Seb, check out Zarautz which is really lovely and popular with locals rather than tourists. Or heading the other way out of Bilbao towards Santander, Laredo is lovely too.

There are also beaches within easy reach of Bilbao, take the low level train up the coast to Plentzia or Algorta.

We are in (slightly rainy) Bilbao just now. Public transport is efficient, clean and cheap (especially with the Oyster-style barik card). Went to the beach in Getxo yesterday on the train and the crazy bridge.

We are in an AirBnB, existing largely on a diet of pintxos from the bars and bread, cheese and sausage from the covered market. It’s a lovely city in its own right, as well as being a good base to explore the surrounding towns. The Old Town is largely traffic-free and full of little shops that I imagine tween/teen DCs would enjoy exploring.

Hi,

We're thinking about interailing for 3 weeks next summer in Spain and Portugal in the last week of June/first few weeks of July but I've been told the weather will be crazy hot. Has anyone got any experience of this?

Depends where you want to go wonderstuff99. Portugal tends to be cooler than Spain - at least near the coast - because it gets breezes off the Atlantic. I've been to Porto in June and it was lovely and I'd imagine that any coastal area in Portugal would be the same - yes sunny and hot - but not roasting. As for Spain, I think it can be very hot in June/July and the area around Madrid is known is known as the 'frying pan of Spain', because of its boiling hot summer temps. The south of Spain can be very hot too. As for the north (i.e. Galicia and the Basque country), it's usually very nice and in the 20s, although we had a freakishly hot couple of 40-degree days in San Sebastian, which was miserable with no air-con. Choose your itinerary wisely though and you should be okay.

We just stayed at a lovely B&B in Hondarribia which was very reasonably priced. Its a lovely place and you can get the bus into nearby San Sebastian and save yourself a fortune

Thanks how lovely - will have to get booking

Bumping for any more tips as hoping to book in next couple of days. Brilliant things to do with children in Bilbao? Any other ideas of places to stay to avoid pricey SS. Child friendly beaches?

Had a half thought of a trek to Portaventura from Barca to ensure the children love me forever. Am I out of my goddam mind?

Been to the 'Big Week' in Bilbao ( approx third week in August), absolutely fantastic, been twice and will definitely go again, it's their festival, try to get there for the opening ceremony it is crazy, but great fun, they have free activities in the day for families including traditional parades, dance, music, culinary competitions ,road train, siesta in the afternoon then various pop up bars and foodie places in the evening with areas set up for various musical performances that are all free to watch, firework display every night at 10pm. We saw brass bands, flamenco shows, rock bands, rock opera and the best Mariachi stage show ever (13 musicians and dancers on stage), with the whole of the audience young and old dancing, including us! Hotels are not too pricey and very good quality, there's river cruises, Atletico Bilbao football, a finicular railway and the Guugenheim. The traditional food, pinxos, like tapas is gorgeous and cheap. We went to San Sebastian by bus from Bilbao for the day, also a lovely place, but on the coast, excellent food and beach, shops, but so pricey to stay there, good for a day out. We found Basque people to be very hospitable to us , quite different from the Spanish, they loved us being from Wales, we had love of rugby in common. Walked and walked, came back home for a rest!