5-Day Private Basque Country Tours: Coast, Biarritz, Bilbao and Rioja Wineries

Five full days, each led by a local guide, cover both sides of the Basque Country. The route mixes the main sights with smaller places that local people know, and the aim is to see the region the way residents do.

San Sebastián is covered on foot with a private guide. The French side follows: Biarritz with its lighthouse lookout, Saint-Jean-de-Luz and its market, and Hondarribia, a medieval town inside its walls on the Spanish border. Bilbao gets its own day with the Guggenheim. Rioja adds two wineries, among them Marqués de Riscal, the Frank Gehry building, lunch in a local restaurant, and a walk through a walled medieval town above its wine caves.

A drive along the Gipuzkoa coast passes Orio, Zarautz, Getaria and Zumaia, the cliffs the operator lists as a Game of Thrones location. A stop at the Loyola sanctuary leads into the mountains and the valley villages below.