NC1 Bilbao to Santiago - Norte Traveller Reviews

Travelled from Santiago to Bilbao, across The Bay of Biscay. It was a new experience for us moving from place to place. Beautiful countryside and interesting and varied places. Spectacular scenery through Picos mountains . Wonderful food and everywhere so clean and litter free. Driving was a most relaxing experience as the roads were relatively free of traffic. People so helpful and welcoming, although many did not speak much English. We thoroughly enjoyed this holiday experience .

So easy to communicate with and always willing to meet our requests and easily accessible.

We spent 3 weeks during August 2018 following an itinerary prepared by Casas Cantabricas; we spent 2 or 3 days in small family run hotels (12 bedrooms or fewer) in the following places; Bilbao, Santillana del Mar, Pesaguero ( in Picos de Europe), Puerto de Vega, Cervo, and Santiago de Compostela for a total of 14 days plus a 7 day stay in a studio apartment at Saians near Vigo. We self drove following excellent instructions provided by Casas and stopped off at suggested places of interest on the itinerary. We loved touring the North of Spain and thought the selection of hotels was excellent. We really enjoyed the contrast between staying in a city, small towns next to the sea and in the Picos de Europe. The hotel selection was super again offering contrasts between modern and traditional. In all the hotels the service was excellent and all the hosts spoke very good English despite their apologies for not speaking good English. The car hire was provided by Europcar and their representative at Bilbao Airport was superb, very chatty and friendly and gave us good advice about trying driving on the quieter country roads in addition to driving the excellent A8 motorway. One of my highlights was the pleasure of driving on the Spanish roads, particularly our journey from Pesaguero to Puerto de Vega via the mountain pass through Raino. During the 3 weeks we enjoyed sunshine nearly every day and ate some delicious meals and enjoyed the Fiesta of Quiemada at Cervo on 18th August. This part of Spain is relatively quiet, most of the tourists are Spanish and the beaches are fantastic, though the water can be cold. We would definitely visit this part of Spain again.

Andy & Guru at Casas were fantastic in their support and advice from the moment we showed interest in booking the holiday to being there on the end of the phone in the early part of the holiday when I had an issue with my hire car (which was resolved). They listened to our personal requirements and planned a superb itinerary which when we visited the places was uncanny as the places we stayed and the hotels selected were exactly the places/hotels we would have chosen had we booked independently. The suggestion of leaving the car at the airport prior to staying in Santiago was excellent, Jose the driver was very professional and personable too. There was lots of good communication via email and telephone - I particularly liked the use of Vamoos app to provide all the holiday information including off-line maps & travelling directions so we always had this to hand. The advice of booking a first meal at Ana’s Casa du Mudo hotel meant we could relax and really enjoy the transfer journey. Their suggestions for places to visit and stop off for lunch or coffee were excellent, some delightful surprises of out of the way places we perhaps would have not discovered ourselves. We have travelled extensively much of it independently organised as, however the service we received from Casas Cantabricas was of the highest quality with excellent value for money. We would like to say congratulations and keep up the excellent work. We would definitely travel with them again. We would definitely recommend using Casas Cantabricas and have already provided friends with website details who are interested in discovering this part of Spain.

Our first experience of Northern Spain & indeed, of a fly-drive package. From initial planning & advice, through all arrangements nothing was too much trouble for Casas Caminos. We loved every accommodation & the whole holiday was trouble-free. It really was an excellent experience. We will be returning!

We were guided in our choice of route & given information on each accommodation which meant that we got exactly what we sought. As newcomers to the area, this service was invaluable. (This was a holiday which we had to cancel previously - because of a family death -when we found our tour operators incredibly compassionate & helpful - this is one of the reasons we rebooked with them.)

Northern Spain - pilgrim way with 6 great stops

Friendly, helpful and clearly experienced

Completely new part of Spain for us. We started in Bilbao and ended in Santiago and toured along the coast and explored the Picos Europas in between. Hotels were great, scenery was amazing and food was fantastic. We had a ball.

Heard about Casa Cantabricas from a friend who had done the same route a few years ago. Everything felt personal and all the bookings and directions went smoothly. The chosen hotels and stopping points were perfect and much better than we could ever have hoped to find ourselves. Would certainly use again and would happily recommend to others.

All good - from car hire to hotels. As a family travelling with 3 children it is often difficult to get accommodation without having to have 3 rooms - all arranged for us with Cash Cantabricas

Excellent - provided exactly what we asked for and were quick to help us with queries when we were travelling.

This was our first holiday without our daughter (who is now 18) and it exceeded our expectations. Everything was organised and sorted without fuss and detailed information about each stop of the tour was provided. The hotels we stayed in were lovely and gave a real mixture and taste of the different styles and regions of Northern Spain. I have already recommended this holiday and company to others and would book another tour through them again. A really great holiday.

Well organised tour and all the information we could possibly need was provided by way of an app, a book and a map. Really enjoyable holiday and I have no hesitation in recommending Casas Cantabricas.

2 nights in Bilbao for culture and city buzz (really lovely helpful staff and breakfast at the hotel). 7 nights self catering in Asturias (heavenly views) a great location for visiting coast and inland, 2 nights in Santiago - stunned by the huge cathedral and other churches (again amazing staff in gorgeous hotel). Visited a Coruna by train (very easy). We highly recommend this area for those wanting a slightly different holiday.

Leonor and his colleagues at Casas Cantabricas organised our holiday brilliantly. Every question was answered promptly, all our requests were taken into account. The car hire was painless, the directions given were impeccable. The Footsteps guide was a welcome added extra. Checking in and out of hotels was easy. All the pressure points of a holiday were taken care for us. Thank you so much for enabling us to have a truly relaxing break. We highly recommend the company.

A very interesting tour of the Basque Country, Asturias and Galicia. Great Food, Great Scenery, Lovely Hotels and welcoming people.

Casas Cantabricas proved to be a very efficient and knowledgeable holiday company who planned our route and hotels. Everything about the vacation was first class.

Casas Cantabricas arranged a stunning tour of Green Spain. They made it easy for us to get full enjoyment out of this lovely area. The tour was well paced giving us ample time to relax and enjoy the sights. The Hotels were very good and extremely interesting, fully matching our desire for older properties full of character. We would definitely use this company again and recommend anyone to do likewise.

Casas Cantrabicas proved to be very knowledgeable about the region visited. Their service was excellent, meeting all of our needs.