Insight / Spain

A Culinary Journey
In Northern Spain

Spain will always be a classic destination, from its classically popular destinations to its secret swathes of lovely, little-visited areas to discover.

From Bilbao to Madrid, this road trip takes you on a journey through northern Spain’s delicious culinary customs and finest gastronomic experiences while you explore countryside and city from the humble pintxos to the magnificent Michelin-star meal.

Highlights

  • Travel through northern Spain appreciating the nuances of each culinary region
  • Explore Bilbao and try your hand at creating Basque snack: the Pintxo
  • Savour a foodie walking tour of alluring beach town San Sebastian
  • Stay in sustainable luxe at two hotels which benefit from thermal waters
  • Discover rural life in little-visited regions including truffle hunting and visiting cheese farms
  • Dine at Michelin-star restaurants that celebrate local ingredients

 

From Bilbao to Madrid, this road trip takes you on a journey through northern Spain’s delicious culinary customs and finest gastronomic experiences while you explore countryside and city from the humble pintxos to the magnificent Michelin-star meal.

Highlights

  • Travel through northern Spain appreciating the nuances of each culinary region
  • Explore Bilbao and try your hand at creating Basque snack: the Pintxo
  • Savour a foodie walking tour of alluring beach town San Sebastian
  • Stay in sustainable luxe at two hotels which benefit from thermal waters
  • Discover rural life in little-visited regions including truffle hunting and visiting cheese farms
  • Dine at Michelin-star restaurants that celebrate local ingredients

 

WHAT

A 12-day road trip through northern Spain, discovering its foodie delights

WHEN TO GO

This is a year-round trip, although each season has its merits and culinary highlights

WHO FOR

Those who like to get under the skin of a place through its foodie traditions

Bilbao

Start your trip in Bilbao, the biggest city in Basque country. Once an industrial hub, Bilbao has reinvented itself as an art haven with Frank Gehry’s impressive titanium-sculpted Guggenheim Museum leading the charge alongside smaller museums such as the Museo de Bellas Artes and Bilbao Maritime Museum.

In between gazing at artwork and wandering the old quarter, make time for culinary excursions. We’d recommend staying at Hotel Artist who can facilitate experiences in the city such as a visit with the chef to the Ribera food market, the largest covered food market in the world. Pick out ingredients to craft your own pintxo, which are everyday Basque Country snacks served on bread which range from the simple tortilla to a refined creation of piquillo peppers filled with tuna.

San Sebastian

Just an hour eastward from Bilbao brings you to the attractive town of San Sebastian, set along a curved beach with golden sand. Frequented by the Spanish royal family since the 19th century, San Sebastian has a relaxed, holiday ambience whether you’re strolling the streets of the old town or surfing the waves at La Concha. Let us arrange a foodie walking tour of San Sebastian – with a guide get to know the best spots for imaginative pintxos paired with local wines and beers.

Stay at Akelarre, just ten minutes from San Sebastien, a stylish contemporary hotel with a glorious position overlooking the Bay of Biscay. Known primarily as a three Michelin-star restaurant with rooms, Akelarre will give you an extraordinary culinary adventure with its tasting menus peppered with innovative creations, plus an extremely comfortable place to stay with a soothing subterranean spa to add to its appeal.

Castilla y Leon

From San Sebastian your road trip takes a more rural turn as you head inland, well off the beaten track into the hinterlands of Castilla y Leon in northwest Spain, characterised by rugged mountain ridges, Atlantic forests and national parks, littered with Roman ruins, medieval architecture and World Heritage cities.

Around three-and-a-half hours from the coast brings you to a beautifully restored 12th-century monastery that doubles up as an exceptionally lovely place to stay with a forward-thinking, sustainable outlook. Castilla Termal Monasterio de Valbuena is ribboned with thermal waters, meaning wellness is on the agenda as well as wine tasting their own wine and enjoying delectable meals created from the organic garden. With a full day here, we propose a bike ride along the Douro River, stopping at a local artisan cheese maker and a traditional winery. For something special, visit Michelin-star restaurant Ambivium, set on the Ribera del Duero wine estate for an exceptional meal that pairs traditional preservation techniques in experimental fusions set to surprise your tastebuds.

Castilla y Leon

From San Sebastian your road trip takes a more rural turn as you head inland, well off the beaten track into the hinterlands of Castilla y Leon in northwest Spain, characterised by rugged mountain ridges, Atlantic forests and national parks, littered with Roman ruins, medieval architecture and World Heritage cities.

Around three-and-a-half hours from the coast brings you to a beautifully restored 12th-century monastery that doubles up as an exceptionally lovely place to stay with a forward-thinking, sustainable outlook. Castilla Termal Monasterio de Valbuena is ribboned with thermal waters, meaning wellness is on the agenda as well as wine tasting their own wine and enjoying delectable meals created from the organic garden. With a full day here, we propose a bike ride along the Douro River, stopping at a local artisan cheese maker and a traditional winery. For something special, visit Michelin-star restaurant Ambivium, set on the Ribera del Duero wine estate for an exceptional meal that pairs traditional preservation techniques in experimental fusions set to surprise your tastebuds.

Castilla La Mancha

Following the flow of thermal waters, drive for three hours to your next stay, another rural find located in the region of Castilla La Mancha which encircles Madrid. Castilla Termal Brihuega is a stunning restoration of a circular 18th century cloth factory, including original features giving it an atmospheric sense of place. The thermal hotel is set in the town of Brihuega, known as a National Historical Artistic Site where you can wander around Moorish architecture, grand plazas and the old bullring. In season, the town is surrounded by fields of indigo-hued lavender.

At the hotel, culinary delicacies await at the restaurant, enclosed by a glass dome in the centre of the restoration. Local ingredients form the mainstay of the menus including delicious concoctions created from jamon, smoked cheese, wild mushrooms, melons and tomatoes. During truffle season which runs from November to March, take a day to visit a truffle farm and meet the dogs who seek out ‘black gold’ before enjoying a luscious truffle tasting menu.

 

Madrid

Foodie experiences don’t stop when you reach Spain’s capital, Madrid. Culinary encounters come thick and fast in this buzzing city, whether it’s joining locals in a vermutería to toast your health with a ruby-red vermouth or perusing the many upscale food markets such as Mercado de San Miguel where you can pick and choose between a huge variety of tempting morsels, ready to eat. Even a local, neighbourhood tapas bar will unearth some tasty treasures, such is the high quality of Madrid’s culinary scene.

If fine dining is more your style, then be sure to stay at Hotel Unico in classy Salamanca, where world-renowned chef Ramon Freixa’s two-Michelin star restaurant is an experimental feast for the senses where perception plays with your tastebuds while you sample his creative menu. From Madrid, full of the gastronomic joys of northern Spain, return directly home, perhaps with a recipe or two ready to impress your friends.

Enquire now

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