Cantabria and the Basque Country. Currently only in Spanish

Departure and a day on the road

Short stops along the way with a chance to grab a bite (at your own expense). In the evening, arrival at the hotel, check-in and dinner.

Picos de Europa, Santo Toribio, Potes

Full-day excursion with lunch at a restaurant, at extra cost (paid separately).

Picos de Europa

A national park with the highest points of the Cantabrian Mountains. It is also home to the deepest caves in Spain: Torca del Cerro (−1589 m), Sima de la Cornisa (−1507 m) and Torca los Rebecos (−1255 m). The park protects unique plant and animal species, which is part of why it is UNESCO-listed and so carefully preserved.

On the way, a stop at Fuente Dé, where you can ride the cable car up to the Mirador del Cable viewpoint (at your own expense and subject to weather conditions).

Monastery of Santo Toribio de Liébana

The monastery holds one of the great relics of the Christian world: the largest surviving fragment of the Holy Cross.

Potes

In the afternoon, the capital of the Picos de Europa and the Torre del Infantado, a superb medieval monument. Dinner and overnight at the hotel.

Santoña, Santillana del Mar, Comillas

Santoña

Breakfast at the hotel, then an excursion to Santoña, one of the main fishing ports on the Bay of Biscay. A stroll along the waterfront and a visit to a cannery where the anchovies and seafood famous all over Spain are preserved (entrance included); there may be a tasting. Optionally, a boat trip around Santoña Bay (tickets not included). Back to the hotel for lunch.

Santillana del Mar

In the afternoon, a tour with an official guide. Santillana del Mar is one of the most beautiful towns in the province: narrow cobbled streets and old manor houses from the twelfth to the nineteenth centuries, decorated with carved family coats of arms. The old town surrounds the monastery of Santa Juliana, built in the thirteenth century, although the first chapel on this site is mentioned as early as 890. Here too is the Museum of the Inquisition and Torture (Museo de la Tortura).

Comillas

El Capricho, built by Antoni Gaudí for Máximo Díaz de Quijano, a relative of Eusebi Güell, whose famous park is in Barcelona. Plus the majestic Sobrellano Palace and the Jesuit university.

Dinner and overnight at the hotel.

San Sebastián and Getaria

Full-day excursion with lunch at a restaurant, at extra cost (paid separately).

San Sebastián

In the morning, San Sebastián, the jewel of the coast, with a local guide for half a day. The city became the most fashionable resort on Spain's Bay of Biscay thanks to Eugénie de Montijo, wife of Napoleon III, who first brought the imperial court to neighbouring Biarritz. Back in the seventeenth century, San Sebastián was one of Spain's most important ports. The shell-shaped La Concha Bay with its beaches, the Kursaal Congress Centre, the old town and the Plaza de la Constitución.

Getaria

Via the small town of Zarautz to the western coast of Gipuzkoa and the fishing port of Getaria. This is the birthplace of the sailor Juan Sebastián Elcano, a member of Magellan's expedition: after Magellan's death he brought the fleet's only surviving ship back to Spain, completing the first voyage around the world. Fashion designer Cristóbal Balenciaga was also born in Getaria.

Back to the hotel in Cantabria for dinner and the night.

Bilbao

Breakfast at the hotel and a trip with a local guide to Bilbao, a port city ringed by mountains. It is a modern metropolis with skyscrapers and the unofficial capital of the Basque Country.

The city owes its fame to Frank Gehry's Guggenheim Museum, whose opening in 1997 caused quite a stir. Visitors are usually most taken with the curves of the building itself, clad in sheets of titanium. We will see the museum from the outside and visit the 16th-century Basilica of Begoña. Also worth seeing in Bilbao are the historic centre, the Museum of Fine Arts, Doña Casilda Iturrizar Park and the Maritime Museum of Bilbao, with its collection on the history of the port and shipping.

Free time

In the afternoon, time to wander the old streets and visit whatever catches your eye. You can stop at a local restaurant and try Basque cuisine, such as pintxos (lunch at your own expense).

Back to the hotel in Cantabria for dinner and the night.

Journey home

Breakfast at the hotel and departure for home. Short stops along the way with a chance to grab a bite (at your own expense). Arrival at your destination.