Bilbao to San Sebastián (and vice versa)

We start in Bilbao, but we could also start in San Sebastián because the two cities are only an hour's drive apart. It might take us a bit longer because the treasure isn't found at the end of the route but within the journey itself. So, you choose: Would you rather kick off the adventure in an urban area, reborn after its industrial past, and finish in a tourist city nestled in one of Spain's most breathtaking natural landscapes? Or vice versa?

The (Linked to Land) Magical Island

We only need 45 minutes to leave the bustling 'botxo' ('the hole', as the people of Bilbao affectionately call their city) and reach the first stop of our journey, a unique coastal enclave. Some call it Rocadragón, but its name is San Juan de Gaztelugatxe, an islet connected to the mainland by a thread of 241 stairs and crowned by a hermitage. Gaztelugatxe became ultra-famous after appearing in the series Games Of Thrones disguised as Dragonstone: though the 'castle' is a CGI effect, everything else (vertiginous cliffs, sharp rocks, flocks of birds, the sound of the sea...) is fiercely real.

The World’s Best Wave

After a good dose of curves (the beauty of the Basque coast is best appreciated by traveling on secondary roads), we arrive at a wide open space, a parenthesis in the landscape of cliffs and mountains. This is the Urdaibai Biosphere Reserve. Mundaka is a hot spot on global surfing routes: its beach boasts one of the most perfect (perhaps the most perfect) left-breaking waves on the planet. We'll stroll from the Santa María church (which looks more like a castle) to the Santa Catalina hermitage without losing sight of the sea, the estuary, and the famous wave. We'll also discover some secrets of the Urdaibai landscape that change radically depending on the tides.

Zumaia: Meet the Flyschstones

In just an hour, we'll find ourselves in Zumaia, already in the province of Gipuzkoa, to discover a radically different place. This charming fishing village is also world-renowned. Why? Because of a series of curious words (flysch? karst? what???) that describe the impressive cliffs and rocky beaches of its coastline.

gEATaria

It's worth taking a look at the rural lands surrounding Zumaia because there, in the sun, the txakoli vineyards ripen, a peculiar dry white wine with a bit of fizz that is cultivated in vineyards battered by the winds of the Cantabrian Sea. We'll taste a bit of txakoli in a nearby winery and then move on to another monumental town, Getaria (the birthplace of the sailor Juan Sebastián Elcano and the fashion designer Cristóbal Balenciaga) to enjoy the typical grilled fish that has also given it worldwide fame.