10-Nights Northern Spain

10 nights from: $3,105

Northern Spain
Go beyond the normal northern Spain trip and immerse yourself in the region’s distinctive culture and history. On this trip, you’ll trace the footsteps of pilgrims, witnessing breathtaking landscapes and timeless traditions.

Dining Summary

• 3 Dinner (D)
• 10 Breakfast (B)
• 1 Lunch (L)

• Oviedo: Join the Castañón family at their working cider mill near Oviedo. Tour the cellar, learn how Asturian cider is made, and taste it poured the traditional way. Hosts Marta and Julio share their family’s story over an Espicha dinner featuring local dishes like Fabada, cachopinos, and Spanish omelette.

• Barcelona: With your Local Specialist, see the elegant Passeig de Grcia to take in some of the city's finest Modernist architecture. Journey past the beautiful façades of the Eixample district to see the exterior of Gaudi's extraordinary masterpiece, the mesmerizing Sagrada Família.
• Pamplona: Explore the historic heart of Pamplona, a city known for its medieval walls, lively plazas and rich traditions. Best known for the Running of the Bulls, it offers much more, from quiet alleyways to vibrant local cafes.
• Bilbao: Admire the striking exterior of Bilbao’s Guggenheim Museum, a modern icon of curved steel and glass that has transformed the city’s riverside. Designed by Frank Gehry, this bold building helped put Bilbao on the global art map.
• Picos de Europa: Admire the stunning lush scenery and distant rocky peaks of the Picos de Europa.
• Luarca: Stop along the Way of Saint James at Luarca to appreciate the natural setting and historic charm of this quaint fishing village.
• Santiago de Compostela: Join a Local Specialist on a visit to Praza do Obradoiro and admire the cathedral facade festooned with architectural frills.
• Zamora: See the cathedral of Zamora and the 12th-century Church of Mary Magdalene during an orientation with your Travel Director.
• Salamanca: See the handsome arcaded Plaza Mayor, the honey-colored cathedral and the 16th-century university buildings as you explore the city with a Local Specialist.
• Madrid: Visit the Prado Museum in Madrid, where you'll have time to admire its extraordinary collection of European art dating from the 12th to early 20th centuries.
• Madrid: See the highlights of the city with your Local Specialist. Visit the Old Town, traveling along the elegant Paseo de la Castellana, past the Cibeles fountain and Royal Palace.

• Barcelona: In Barcelona, join the talented team at Mescladis, an initiative promoting work opportunities for victims of social exclusion. You will be introduced to local and seasonal flavors during dinner. Your visit directly supports United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 10: Reduced Inequalities.

• Explore Barcelona, Santiago de Compostela, Salamanca and Madrid
• Discover Pamplona, San Sebastián, Bilbao and Oviedo
• Visit the fishing village of Luarca, St. James Cathedral in Santiago de Compostela and the Prado Museum in Madrid
• View La Sagrada Família in Barcelona, the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao and the Cathedral and University of Salamanca

Also known by its Basque name of Iruna, Pamplona, Spain, is a proud, prosperous, devout and usually conservative town with city walls and cobbled streets. The city, 195 mi/315 km northeast of Madrid, is the capital of the green province-region of Navarra, which borders France. Free Pamplona Travel
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The central square is the Plaza del Castillo, dominated by the Neo-classical Palacio del Gobierno de Navarra and also home to one of Spain's finest cafes, the Cafe Iruna. The streets of the old town fill the space between this square and the cathedral, largely Gothic in style but with a facade added in the 18th century. The other main sight not to miss is the Museo de Navarra in a converted hospital, which has some large Roman mosaics among its other historical and archaeological exhibits.

The town's sedate personality gets turned upside down during the fiesta of San Fermin that runs 6-14 July each year. Immortalized in Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises, the fiesta's most famous event is the running of the bulls. Each day at 8 am, the brave, foolish or drunk take to the narrow, barricaded streets to run alongside (or away from) six fighting bulls.

Less dangerous (but still exhausting) are the other activities that run the full week of the festival, including parades of giant figures, marauding bands, fireworks, endless dancing and lots of drinking.

If you can handle only a day or two of such merriment, try to make it to the first day or two of the fiesta (the weekend is the busiest time). The celebration that explodes at noon on 6 July is an incredible sight (plan to be soaked by champagne).

If you hope to stay in the city, accommodations should be booked at least a year in advance—be sure to get a room facing away from the street because the noise is relentless. Temporary campsites are set up on the outskirts of the city, and shuttle buses provide transport into town. Note also that petty crime is rife at this time.

Pamplona makes a good base from which to explore the rest of Navarra. Highlights of the province are the restored fairy-tale castle at Olite, the carved portal of the church at Sanguesa, the medieval town of Estella (Lizarra), the pilgrim bridge at Puente La Reina, the two monasteries of La Oliva and Leyre, Javier Castle (birthplace of St. Francis Xavier) and, near the French border, the tiny town of Roncesvalles, a traditional starting point for pilgrims heading across northern Spain to Santiago de Compostela in Galicia via the Saint James' Way.