France and Spain in Camper

Diary and travel itinerary to Pamplona and in the Basque Country

On this page, photos, information and travel diary for the Basque Country visited in Camper!

Information and travel tips for Pamplona and the Basque Country

Why go? What questions! To explore two of the most beautiful countries in the world in absolute freedom, improvising and without housing problems thanks to the camper. It is a quiet vacation that can become a bounced trip, full of activities and surprises.

When to go? The San Firmino festival falls in the first half of July, Period fortunately also ideal for visiting the coast of the Basque Country and for the entire travel itinerary.
How to move? Camper or camper van, do you!
To rent a car here at the best prices for your travel itinerary I absolutely recommend by Search and book at this link .
how much it costs? Obviously it is an extremely cheap trip, if you have the camper or if you rent a little.
It is talked about a few hundred euros, and keep in mind that in what it costs I take into account the whole journey ... from the middle for the airport departure to the drink passing through meals and souvenirs.
for an idea of Hotel Prices in France Click here to compare the hotels and find the cheapest accommodation.

Where to go? A travel itinerary between France and Spain offers the embarrassment of the choice, but the destinations touched on this holiday are really advisable: Ardeche, Pamplona, San Sebastian, Bilbao, Hendaye.
Other destinations? Too much choice to respond senselessly, so I'll write senseless things: ppyqzzugbhks yayayayaaaa BuddduBubù. You can find other travel ideas Here on France e Here on Spain .

Pamplona and Basque Country: Travel Diary

A Friday night of July we left the Ligurian Riviera and with SMANIA and JOIOUS absence of programs we left towards Spain aboard a camperized van with Bellows roof. After five hours of boring highway between Liguria and French Riviera, we stopped at Aix-en-Provence when he was now one at night.

The next morning, we walked around in the charming city center and soon stopped, alternating with driving. Success Montpellier, Narbonne, Carcassonne, Toulouse, Pau ... and in the afternoon we finally left the highways and headed to the Pyrenees. We stopped in the fascinating medieval country of Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port : from this town it starts the long and intense Way of Santiago . There were many tourists to visit his beautiful historic citadel.

A few kilometers later we arrived at Roncisvalle Pass and then in Spain. We went down to Pamplona , which was the main destination of our travel itinerary in the Basque Country. It was seven in the evening when we entered the city, welcomed by surreal images. Groups of hundreds of people, all dressed in white with red belts and handkerchiefs, crossed the road. It was in fact the first day of the feast week of San Firmino , the one told by Hemingway in the novel Fiesta .

We parked near other campers, in a vast area, not far from the center, dedicated to wandered travelers. The hygiene was here a distant memory: drunken people slept in the meadows, which were also the bathrooms!
we went up to the walls of Pamplona and its historic center. was an authentic collapse. Full alleys, drunken people, high music, dances, strong odors ...
In Pamplona, ​​ during the Week of San Firmino, every morning at 8 am the encierro is held, the race with bulls . It was the first Sunday of celebration, so there was a lot of confusion: Baschi, tourists, runners and drunk night scrap earlier. To find a good place, we were therefore woken up very soon, at 6. There were people climbing everywhere. Many were on the street, where they ran the bulls, to run with them and try to touch his horns. The police hunted of Malo way from the way that too drunk or whoever wore a backpack. People perched on fences was thrown into the street. The bulls appeared suddenly, imposing and fast, and someone fell on the ground, without serious accidents. Shortly after cows passed, running, but nobody considered them. Hashtag Sexism.
The "Plaza de Toros" was the final goal of the race . In the confusion we found a place on the railings of the steps.

The stands were full of spectators who sang and screamed, while those in the arena chased the bulls that in turn, one at a time, were released into the Plaza de Toros. Several people in the arena ended the air legs and one were taken away the trousers, with great fun of the public.

We left the arena and the delirium continued for the city. Parties and people at every hour. It was the time of the traditional Pamplona processions , unusual manifestations with crucifixes who alternated silhouettes who took bishops and popes. There were bands of religious music and goliardic bands, he danced laughed and celebrated.

After lunch we returned to the bus and left Pamplona heading towards San Sebastian , beautiful Basque city on the northern coast of Spain. One hour later we were on the beautiful bay of Concha, on which the city overlooks. The beach arc is very busy and closed by two headlands and a islet. Turn to the center, then stopping on the beach of the second bay of San Sebastian, that of zurriola .

Cenemmo with Pintxos (ie San Sebastian tapas), which are tasty tasting dishes, and slept at the campsite. The next day we rented three canoes and we paid along the wild cliffs west of the city .

It was a beautiful three-hour itinerary, on the beautiful coast of the Atlantic Ocean, at the end of the Bulf of Biscay.

To admire a splendid panorama of San Sebastian you have to go to the Monte Igeldo . The entrance is for a fee and on the top there are a playground and an immense hotel, but it's worth it for the view of the bay of Concha .

We resumed our travel route along the coast, to the west, admiring beautiful views and beautiful beaches, but also citizens ruined by excessive cementification, as at Zarautz , which was also a paradise for Surfers, with its very long beaches.

Getaria was smaller and more characteristic, with its marina. Zumaia was very built, but fascinated for the nearby cliffs.
When it was evening we stopped to dinner at Mutriku , a characteristic fishing village with a horrid skyscraper in the middle .
After a night in a parking lot, we admired the beautiful beach of Barriatua , just before Ondarroa (are all locations in the Basque Country, I swear, I'm not inventing Random names).

We then continued the holiday along the winding road over the sea. Now the coast was wiler, free of spaces where to build and ruin it. When we arrived in view of Lekeitio we stopped to admire a beautiful view.

We parked and we started walking in a forest before and on a wide green lawn then, discovering truly remarkable landscape angles, among the most beautiful in our travel itinerary in northern Spain. Lekeitio looked like a beautiful town, very built, obviously, but not ruined.

In front of the beach there was a island connected to the mainland from a sand tongue. We went to visit him, but soon the tide started to rise and hastened to go back. They could be rented surfboards and sup.

In mid-afternoon we resigned the camper and on the motorway we arrived up to Bilbao , one of the largest cities in the Basque Country, but it was surprisingly simple to get to the center and park a stone's throw from the Guggenheim Museum .

This original building, built in 1997 to restore luster to Bilbao, is one of the highest examples of modern architecture. The curves of its sheet metal walls have surprising shapes and reflect the light of the sun and the iridescent colors of the river.

Bilbao was a beautiful city, well maintained, rich , which combined history and modernity.

There were numerous restaurants that offered menus between fifteen and twenty-five euros. We chose the one that attracted more and covers outdoors, in a lively alley, feeling right on vacation, and at Bilbao more.
The morning after I drove up to Zarautz , where we rented two Surfboards.
We left the gigantic beach and drove to Pamplona. We arrived around 5 pm with the goal of witnessing the bullfighting . In fact, every evening at six, during the Week of San Firmino, the bulls who run in the morning in the Enierro are killed in the Plaza de Toros . In principle, we didn't approve the show, but we wanted to make us an idea of a person.
being a midweek evening there was a little less confusion, but to find the tickets we had to rely on boarding, spending between 20 and 35 Euro each.

For a travel itinerary in the Basque Country the bullfight is unmissable, but it was also a raw show, in which the bull was tacked in turn from the Picador , a knight with a long lance, from banderillos , which ran the encountered and put the banderillas in the neck, from the PEONES , which with drapery tired and distracted the bull, and finally from the Matador . He was obviously the center of the corridor show.

However, this was not a good Matador: I missed the final blow with the sword several times and was whistled by the public. In the end, the poor Taurus was killed by one of the Peons. It was a show for us impressive, but the audience on the Spalti drinks and ate and laughed and sang and celebrated in a beautiful collective delusion. There were also another 5 bulls, with more or less good Matador, but we preferred to concentrate on the friendly fee.
Leave bullfighting we continued the holiday in the characteristic Basque countries turning to Pamplona. The roads of the center were always celebrating .
The next day, instead, we abandoned the Iberian Basque countries and we stopped in Hendaye, France, immediately after the border .

Here we made a walk towards the wild coast east of the city. The large bay was in fact closed by a small verdant promontory from the steep walls. Continuing walk from the long beach up to the cliffs we met magnificent landscapes.

At one point we decided to climb steep traces of path up to the top of the cliffs . Here we met beaten paths and green meadows. There was a wonderful view.

We concluded our ring ride between the sea and hills and we left. We drove up to the nearby St Jean de Luz , where we found a nice campsite on the sea, we plunged in the Atlantic, which that July was particularly hot, and we walked for the characteristic center of Saint Jean de Luz .

There were numerous tourists who crowded the restaurants. We chose one based on fixed price menus. We ate seashells and snails and mussels of first and a rich fish soup of a second. After the chocolate mousse, we got up from table satisfied: a more typically French dinner was not possible.
The next morning we woke up with the prospect of driving for several kilometers. We wanted to stop at Biarritz for a pause, but due to the intense traffic we didn't find parking. Then, in the name of the craziest improvisation of the itinerary, we greeted the Basque Country, we took the motorway and went to Camargue, 570 kilometers away. After six hours of cars I easily found parking, in Saintes Maries de la Mer .
Saintes Maries de la Mer is a beautiful town on the sea, very particular with its white houses. We saw several horses among other things: among the major tourist attractions of the Camargue there are rides on the paths, between the marshes and pink flamingos.

After sleeping in a secluded place, we woke up in a beautiful swampy landscape, between stagnant water mirrors and peaceful flamingos. Wrapped for a while for that characteristic panorama of the Camargue, so we continued our journey in the ardèche ... of which we are talking here, with information, photo and travel diary on the descent by canoe of the ardece .
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