Catalonia & Basque Vacation: Barcelona, Bilbao, San Sebastian

With all the images of Gaudi and company, it will be easy to forget that Barcelona is mostly dominated by the Mediterranean. The sea runs the length of the city, and its cooling breeze will work wonders on summer evenings. You can gaze out from almost anywhere in Barcelona, and you will see the blue Mediterranean along the horizon, which is just one reason the city has such a laid-back vibe. You will arrive in Barcelona today, and you will be transferred to a hotel that is just two blocks from Barceloneta beach. You can take a stroll along the promenade, grab a drink at one of the hundreds of little bars, and settle in to the city’s warming, Mediterranean atmosphere.

Wandering up a spine-like staircase, you will gaze around at mosaic tiles and wavy lines. Standing on a roof terrace, you will admire peculiar chimneys and ribbons of bricks. Gaudi’s early work was residential properties and houses that jump out of the street and into the Eixample neighborhood. Casa Batllo and Casa Mila will be a wonderful introduction to his style, and they are houses where you can really appreciate the minute details before visiting the enormous spaces of La Sagrada Familia. Gaudi’s cathedral is over a century into construction, and it is still not finished. You can visit most of it and find a sublime mix of details for scale.

These three sights will make for a relatively active morning. So, you will do what the locals do for lunch: take your time. You will dine on a shaded terrace and allow your meal to spill over into the middle of the afternoon. While the concept of actually sleeping during a siesta is no longer widely practiced, midafternoon is when it will be best to stop, relax, and let the heat pass. Afterward, you will continue your tour of Catalan art nouveau at Palau de la Musica Catalana where colorful shards of light will shine through the ceiling. Here, the dedication to art even exceeds that of the cathedral. Your evening will be left free, and there are many excellent restaurants that will be close to your hotel.

Down cobblestone lanes, there will come whispers of competing eras. Roman foundations will be topped by Gothic churches and contemporary wine bars, and great slabs of medieval stone will crowd around slithers of art nouveau. It will be easy to get lost with alleys poking out in all directions and church bells echoing in harmony. A Barcelonan native will lead you around this oldest part of the city, taking you past street musicians on La Ramblas and then into the intoxicating smells of La Boqueria market. There will be many individual treasures in this area, but mostly you will remember the atmosphere and the feeling of where Catalonia keeps its roots.

The afternoon will be kept free, and it could be time to hit the beach. Then, this evening, you will be exploring another windy neighborhood. El Born is where the best Barcelona tapas bars are located, which are tiny places each with their own culinary specialism. Tonight’s guide will know exactly what to order and from where, leading your palate on a journey through diverse flavors. It will be an enchanting place to be after dark with chitchat from all the terraces and so many little treats to try. Tapas may originate from Andalusia, but Barcelona has made them its own with the dishes that utilize the foods being the most readily available in Catalonia. You will be tasting as you go and will visit at least four different bars.

High on a mountain, you will let the wind whip past your ears. Benedictine monks will wander past, and a choir song will ring out and beckon you forward. This is Montserrat, which is where a majestic monastery proudly stands above the Catalan plains. Every morning, this choral harmony echoes through the nave, which is an experience that can make you stop and think about the world around you. Just getting to Montserrat will be worth the day trip excursion with a winding road that is followed by a mountain cable car. After the choir song, there will be time to explore more of the monastery before descending to a Catalan lunch in a small, nearby village.

From here, it will be a one-hour transfer to Sitges, which is a small, coastal town that is south of Barcelona. Boutique art galleries and tiny cafes will line the streets here, guiding you towards the beach. You will immediately notice how quiet it is here. While Barcelona’s beaches are popular and get busy in the late afternoon, Sitges is where Barcelona’s locals go to escape crowds and doze off beneath the sun. You will make your way back to the city by train, which will be a comfortable, 40-minute journey. There are a few superb seafood restaurants in Sitges if you wish to dine early, or there will be a plethora of choices that make Barcelona such a big culinary destination.

This day will be left free and can be customized to your wishes. For many visitors, this can simply be a quiet day where you lounge around the hotel and the beach, wandering the old streets and promenade. Excellent museums dot the city, including one that is dedicated to Picasso and another to wider Catalan art. Possible day trips can include the Dali Museum in Figueres, the vineyards of Penedes, or Priorat if you are in the food for decadent, red wine. Even without a plan, you can go far in Barcelona, as the city has many unique neighborhoods.

You will fly directly to Bilbao, which is a Basque city that is spread across three distinctive eras. All three parts of the city have preserved a unique atmosphere, making Bilbao feel like a trilogy of destinations in one. Medieval charm will flow through the old city where the houses lean into each other and most of the streets date to the 12th and 13th centuries. Grand boulevards of fashion boutiques will be a feature of the new town with ornate flourishes that give off a late 19th-century glamour. You will then follow the river a little further, and you will be in the future as symbolized by the Guggenheim.

As with all contemporary art museums, the Guggenheim’s actual art is very much open to interpretation. Not everybody likes it, and it is intended to be controversial. The two main highlights will be the buildings itself and the on-site restaurant. Approaching the shimmering metal structure, you will feel constricted as the building looms as you can only enter through a tiny doorway. Following this, you will be hit by the vast, open space. The restaurant is in the top 100 according to the list of The World’s 50 Best Restaurants and is a fine purveyor of Basque cuisine with all the artistic ingenuity that you would expect from such a museum. Dinner will be on your account.

You will travel just an hour south from Bilbao where you will arrive at the vineyards of La Rioja, which is Spain’s most iconic wine region. This tranquil land will encourage you to indulge in your senses. You can taste old-world wines slowly in enchanting old cellars around Haro, and pair wine with food at a country estate that opens to just a few people each day. You will venture beneath the ground in Laguardia, finding musty corridors of wine barrels that seemingly stretch for miles. Then, you will return to Bilbao after the private tour and spend your evening in the old city where the small plaza will offer a selection of pintxos bars.

Guernica can be a haunting place, and its narrative was dominated by the civil war in early 20th-century Spain. It will be essential viewing if you want to understand the Basque region, especially if you want to know why it remains so proudly independent in its style. Fortress-like walls will stretch up onto the cliffs of San Juan de Gaztelugatxe, and magnificent steps will take you higher and higher. Hundreds of them will wind uphill to a church that is cut off from the world and perched above the quiet lapping waves. These two destinations will be comfortable and breathtaking stops on today’s transfer to San Sebastian.

You will arrive in time for a late lunch and some free time to explore. Two beaches will stretch out from each side of the old city as glamorous townhouses fill the streets. La Concha is sublime even if you do not like beaches. As afternoon blurs into the evening, you will head out on a private pintxos tour. This unique form of tapas is more fine dining than a beer snack. Think sea urchin, moose with aged ham, and phantasmagorical seafood creations that will be held together by small sticks. Basque is famous for its food, and San Sebastian’s pintxos bars are the quintessence of the style.

This final day will take a leisurely journey up the coast, winding beneath the mountains as you stop in Hondarribia, which is a famous fishing village that will serve you a superb seafood lunch. Many of the restaurants have Michelin stars or are near the top of worldwide lists, yet their atmosphere is more of the beach-shack and feet-in-the-sand style as opposed to being overly formal. Further north, you will cross into French Basque where you will explore a couple of small towns before you wind back to San Sebastian in time for sunset from La Concha. It will be your final night in Spain, and the guide can arrange reservations at one of the city’s most celebrated restaurants.

You will depart from San Sebastian’s small airport on a local flight to Barcelona. Here, you will transfer onto your outbound flight. For late departures, it will be easy to lounge away the day on one of San Sebastian’s two beaches.