Road trips in Spain
Unrivalled road trip experience & outstanding value for money with local gastronomy in Spain
Save your precious time and work on your trip with a local expert
Let us take care of the planning for you and put together a trip that you will never forget. Fantastic hand-picked 4-star hotels and small family owned hotels, the best of Spanish wine and gastronomy, tips for what to see in each city and region… All you need to do is pick up your rental car and go.
Find our already planned road trips below on the map. And if you would like to combine 2 or make some additions, feel free to contact us. Our self-guided trips are customizable.
Basque Country, Pamplona and Rioja Luxury Road trip
This self-guided gastronomy road trip in Spain takes you through the North of Spain (Bilbao, San Sebastian, Pamplona and Rioja) and the French Basque country. It is a fantastic opportunity to get to know the real and authentic culture, gastronomy and wine of these regions. You will enjoy Michelin star restaurants, stay at superb hotels and enjoy wine culture in Rioja. There is so much to discover in this unforgettable gastronomic trip through the North of Spain
San Sebastian to Santiago gastronomic Road Trip
Enjoy northern Spain with accommodation in a selection of fantastic hotels and with the best local cuisine. This road trip in Spain offers a great way to discover the north of Spain by visiting elegant cities such as San Sebastian, Santander and Oviedo and small fishing villages, all with their traditional architecture. This road trip has been selected as one of Spain’s best holidays by The Times
Spain and Portugal gastronomy Road Trip
This self-driven road trip combines cities in Spain and Portugal and ends in Santiago de Compostela. Far from the most transited roads in Spain, with this self-driven road trip you will discover cities with a great cultural legacy, beautiful vineyard landscapes, and wineries with very different traditions. Fantastic cathedrals, fado music, red and white wines...as well as a stroll through Santiago de Compostela in the north of Spain, the final destination on the Way of St. James. An unforgettable road trip experience
Madrid to Bilbao Road Trip via wine country
Discover an authentic Spain in 8 days by travelling from Madrid to Bilbao (or Bilbao to Madrid) on a self-guided Spain road trip, through the fantastic areas of La Rioja and Ribera del Duero. Let us take care of organising you an unforgettable trip with Spanish castles, medieval fortresses and Avant-Garde architecture, accompanied by the best high quality wine and gastronomy, as you drive at your leisure
Madrid and Barcelona Road Trip via North of Spain
Indulge in the vibrant life of Madrid and Barcelona and discover the flavors and food of Spain's Basque Country and Rioja on this exclusive road trip. A fantastic itinerary with an excellent selection of romantic hotels and restaurants, amazing architecture, and culture to get immersed in the Spanish lifestyle. The itinerary can be enjoyed starting from either Madrid or Barcelona
Planning a road trip in Spain?
We believe our road trips offer a great experience and very good value.
We have a lot of experience in the selection of locations, hotels, restaurants and in making sure our itineraries are realistic and enjoyable.
The following posts are full of ideas very useful and full of recommendations.
If you are planning a road trip in North Spain, this post can provide you with good ideas for your itinerary.
If you are planning a road trip in the South of Spain we recommend this post.
Roads in Spain
One of the most important things to consider when deciding on driving in a country is the quality of the roads. Spain has a very good highway network and secondary roads are also good. While using highways means you would lose a lot in terms of sightseeing, they are convenient and should be used to cover longer distances on those areas which are not of particular interest. We however recommend using highways when returning from the road trip in case the car is being dropped off where it was originally picked up.
Our Spain road trip itineraries are built taking into consideration 3 elements: the total amount of driving per day, the recommended stops to make the road trip interesting, and the kind of road you drive on that day.
We provide road trip itineraries from 7 to 9 days. This can be considered by many travelers to Spain as short itineraries. But the fact our itineraries can be combined makes it easy to come up with longer itineraries simply by connecting 2 or more of our Spain road trips.
Driving distances in Spain
Spain is not a huge country and the fact it is almost square means driving distances are also reduced. A typical road in Spain could be driving from Barcelona in the North east to Seville in the south. This implies between 1,000 and 1,200 kilometers.
Driving from Barcelona in the North east to Santiago de Compostela in the North west implies driving a total distance of 1,100 kilometers.
Madrid is located in the center of Spain and it can serve as a good starting or end point for many road trip itineraries.
Things to bear in mind when you plan a road trip in Spain
- Accomodation. Most small family run hotels will request a minimum of 2 nights accommodation during high season. Bear this in mind if you are planning a road trip in Spain for whihc you have limited time and an ambitious itinerary with many things to see and do.
- Local food: Spain offers a very diverse and rich local gastronomy. We strongly recommend to eat local food and to find restaurants that offer a good example of local famous recipes. We recommend to take time to plan your road trip itienrary carefully to include those villages which are famous for local gastronomy.
- Prioritise: Spain is full of history and culture. There are so many monuments, museums and places than you can visit that it takes a lot of preparation to ensure you prioritize well. In our Spain road trip itineraries we make sure we include the “must see” things, but also some other venues and experiences which are very interesting and not so popular. We do also prepare our road trips in such a way that there is always a bit of time time to “get lost” in the streets of a small village and discover something unexpected.
- Roads: all distances are expressed in Kilometers. Please note that local roads change name if a different province.
- Webiste. We recommend using local Guia repsol or via Michelin to get recommended roads in Spain.
- Car rental. Make sure you rent with a company that has no problem in dropping off at your end point. This becomes even more important if you are planning to continue your road trip to Portugal or France
- Petrol Stations. Nearly all petrol stations offer snacks and drinks in Spain. The distance among petrol stations in regulated and you should be able to find one before you run out of petrol (from the moment you get your low level petrol warning from your car. We of course recommend to refill once your level is a ¼
- Toilet at petrol stations. Despite big improvements have taken care in this area in past years you may still find poor examples of what a toilet should never look like. Petrol stations on larger motorways are normally safer in this respect.
- DGT. This is Spain´s institution in charge of the road network. They provide with alerts on their website for things like work on a road, etc.
