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OT: Spain travel questions (San Sebastián, Bilbao and Riojo)

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Planning a couple nights trip to San Sebastián after arriving to Barcelona. 

 

Any one been to San Sebastián, Bilbao or Rioja region? Going to rent a car from barcelona and make my way to San Sebastián for a night and maybe to Bilbao for a night and back to Barcelona. Maybe skip night in Bilboa for night in Rioja?

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My sister spent a semester abroad in San Sebastian and I was lucky enough to be able to visit her. It is truly one of the most beautiful places I've been. I'm not sure what time of year you're planning, but the summer is great. The beach is amazing, some great hikes along the coast, incredible nightlife, cider houses, pintxo's at every bar. Definitely worth a visit. I only went to Bilboa for the day, but it seemed very nice as well.

Unfortunately I wasn't able to visit Barcelona, so I can't really compare but you should definitely visit San Sebastian. 

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San Sabastian is a really nice, laid back college type town. Make sure you hit up the old section, lots of small bars each with there own tapas. You can't leave without heading to Nestor's for their steak and tomatoes, incredible. Like already mentioned the beaches are nice, nice hikes in the surrounding hills. I flew straight in so not sure about the drive from Barcelona.

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I used to live in Spain and visited San Sebastian and Bilbao (but not Rioja).  San Sebastian is relaxed and laid back, small town-type atmosphere and lovely beach area.  Like it was mentioned earlier, there are a lot of trails going along the coast as its one of the branches of the famous Camino del Santiago passes through there.  As for Bilbao, I stayed with a local and he led a group up a nearby mountain which was awesome.  The town is also famous for its Guggenheim museum... even if you don't make it to the museum itself check out the building, it's pretty amazing.  And the central plaza area and surroundings are really nice, modern, convenient. They have a football team in La Liga (the top league in Spain), if they are playing while you go I'd take in a game.  Spanish soccer is always a great atmosphere and exciting to watch a game, even if it's not Real Madrid or Barcelona playing. 

Have a great time there man!

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I'll be visiting Barcelona for the first time in October for four days. Although I won't get out of town to San Sabastián, Bilbao or Rioja, I'm still looking forward to some good tapas and red wine. 

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Thanks fellas. Yeah. Originally going to drive to San Sebastián or Bilboa but it's a good 5-6 hour drive. That's fine for 5+ days but I only have two nights.

Im thinking of flying to Bilboa and returning car am driving to Santander or San Sebastián. I am familiar with Guggenheim and have always wanted to visit but most people say just stay one day. To the south of Bilboa is Rioja which is about 1-hour drive and loaded with cava bodegas. 

Other option is scrappy the north all together and spending time in wine country near around Barcelona. 

Decisions decisions and time is running short.  

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1 hour ago, BSUTOP25 said:

I'll be visiting Barcelona for the first time in October for four days. Although I won't get out of town to San Sabastián, Bilbao or Rioja, I'm still looking forward to some good tapas and red wine. 

The red wine is excellent.  

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1 hour ago, VincentVegaBond said:

I used to live in Spain and visited San Sebastian and Bilbao (but not Rioja).  San Sebastian is relaxed and laid back, small town-type atmosphere and lovely beach area.  Like it was mentioned earlier, there are a lot of trails going along the coast as its one of the branches of the famous Camino del Santiago passes through there.  As for Bilbao, I stayed with a local and he led a group up a nearby mountain which was awesome.  The town is also famous for its Guggenheim museum... even if you don't make it to the museum itself check out the building, it's pretty amazing.  And the central plaza area and surroundings are really nice, modern, convenient. They have a football team in La Liga (the top league in Spain), if they are playing while you go I'd take in a game.  Spanish soccer is always a great atmosphere and exciting to watch a game, even if it's not Real Madrid or Barcelona playing. 

Have a great time there man!

Are you really in Thailand?  I'll be there for 4 days in July for work.  I'm pretty sure I'll be in Bangkok the whole time.  Any advice?

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I was in Spain last August, stayed in Barcelona a few days then rented a car and drove to Torla-Ordessa in the Pyrenees. The highways in that part of Spain are really well maintained and the people are polite drivers. They actual use the left lane as a passing lane. Imagine that. The Costa Brava area to the east of Barcelona is spectacularly beautiful. If you get a chance to drive up into Montserrat, do so. 

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1 hour ago, RamSack said:

Are you really in Thailand?  I'll be there for 4 days in July for work.  I'm pretty sure I'll be in Bangkok the whole time.  Any advice?

Just returned to the USA last month! In suburban Chicago at the moment but will probably return to Vegas later this month. 

As for Thailand it really depends on your budget and interests.  I could provide a ton of tips and advice tho. If your work is paying for a hotel, thats great. But if not get an apartment from airbnb. They have some really nice deals (with pool, gym, etc) and much better quality for a tiny fraction of a hotel price. 

There's an interesting cobra show you can check out, of course the obligatory temples. Take a boat taxi down the river and canals.... they are cheap like 25 cents US for a ride!  You can go to the top of the Baiyoke Tower for nice views.

Eat some Thai food from street stalls (my favorites are som tam- papaya salad, and jim joom- thai bbq) but if u miss Mexican food at all they got a great place there called Sunrise Tacos. Go to a muay thai match live.

I can go on and on but again depends on what u want.  There are some fascinating places nearby (ayutthaya, amphawa, kanchanaburi, etc) that can be visited on day trips.

I have a few articles about Thailand on my travel blog vincentvegabond.com u can check out ?

It's a huge sex tourist hotspot so I think ph should visit!  He'd be able to wet his whistle for less than 700 bucks!! Hahaha

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I studied abroad in Bilbao for 6 weeks back in college, and also had a one-night trip to San Sebastián during it. I'd go with your thought of flying to Bilbao and driving back through San Sebastián because that's a lot of driving for two days if you did it both ways. Visit the Guggenheim, it's really cool. San Sebastián is a beautiful town with an huge beach so hopefully it's warm when you are going there to take advantage of it. As mentioned the old town part of the town is filled with a ton of cool bars and nightlife.

A couple tips (some may have been mentioned already):

- Watch your drinks because another guy studying abroad with me got roofied when we went to San Sebastián.

- On Sunday's a majority of everything closes for the day except for bars and restaurants. Even their version of Walmart closes on Sundays (at least it did in Bilbao). 

- You can get pulled over if you get caught driving in the left lane for too long. That lane is meant only for passing. 

- Spaniards love to party hard into the night and watch the sunrise.

- I'm not sure if this will be as frequent up north as it was in the center of the country, but be on the look out for old castles in the country sides. We also did a trip down south to Salamanca, then to Seville, then to Madrid, and then back to Bilbao. 

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