Basque Food & Wine: San Sebastian, Bilbao & Rioja Trip

World-class wineries and cuisine in Spain’s rich North

Embark on a deep exploration of the food and wine of the Basque Country and Rioja. Start by exploring bustling Bilbao, the Basque Country’s largest city that in a few decades has gone from industrial grit to gleaming modernity through the redevelopment of the waterfront. You’ll visit the linchpin of the city’s transformation, the Frank Gehry-designed Guggenheim Museum. Then, head south to Spain’s premier wine region, Rioja, famous for its long-lived reds. Taste wines at some of the region’s most exciting producers, explore its picturesque villages, and immerse yourself in the traditional and avant-garde sides of Rioja’s delicious cuisine. The last leg of your journey will take you to San Sebastián, the seaside jewel home to many of the Basque Country’s best restaurants. Explore the city and the Basque countryside and coast while sampling the great and varied Basque cuisine.

Trip At A Glance

7 Days / 6 Nights

Day 1 in Bilbao

Start your trip in Bilbao, the largest city in the Basque Country. Here you’ll visit the Guggenheim Museum, symbol of the city’s renaissance, before diving headlong into Basque cuisine. First, you’ll have a true Spanish lunch at Kate Zaharra, a Bilbao institution where meals can easily last hours and the finest products are served with views over the city. At night, venture out to the city’s raucous pintxos bars that serve up local specialties with glasses of Txakolí and Rioja wine.

Days 2 - 3 in Rioja

Explore the food, wine and culture of Rioja, Spain’s premier wine region. You’ll discover wineries producing classic and innovative wines and taste the best of the region’s food from traditional dishes to fine dining elegance.

Days 4 - 6 in San Sebastián

End your trip in San Sebastián, where you’ll fully immerse yourself in Basque cuisine. From gourmet shops to seaside restaurants and modern Michelin star icons, San Sebastián will satisfy your taste buds. Enjoy the waterfront, the center, and the nearby village of Getaria, where you’ll also taste local white Txakolí wine.

On the blog: Terroir Restaurants in the Rioja

Basque Food & Wine: San Sebastian, Bilbao & Rioja Trip

Day 1 - Bilbao: Welcome to the Basque Country

• Bilbao airport transfer

• Private Guggenheim Museum tour

• Lunch at Kate Zaharra Restaurant

• Pintxos bars dinner on your own

• Overnight Hotel Miró, Bilbao

Basque Country

When it comes to food, the Basque Country seems to have it all. There are scores of Michelin Star restaurants, born from the Basque response to France’s nouvelle cuisine in the 1970s. The culture of culinary innovation has spread across Spain since then, but the Basque Country is still the heart of modern Spanish food. All of that creativity had to come from somewhere, though, and here it is the richness of ingredients and recipes. The Basque countryside offers wild-caught Atlantic fish, foraged mushrooms, dry-aged beef, sheep’s milk cheese, fresh vegetables, and artisan cider and Txakolí, the local white wine. 

The quality ingredients are everywhere here, not just in the manicured dining rooms of haute cuisine restaurants. Pintxos bars (Basque tapas bars) compete to have the best and most creative inventions. Seaside restaurants serve the best grilled fish you’ll ever have, and in the hamlets of the countryside, simple recipes shine with the flavors of the hills. Food is so central to Basque life that many Basques, traditionally but no longer only men, form cooking clubs (txokos) where members use professional kitchens to cook for each other and their friends. Even economical midday menus in the cities will surprise you with the purity of flavor in their dishes. 

You can eat all the Michelin star meals you could want in the Basque Country. But trust me, you won’t want many because the food everywhere you go is so good. I say eat like the Basques do: traditional food made with great products sourced and produced in Euskadi, in bars and restaurants and cooking clubs. Then you’ll understand what all the fuss has been about.

Bilbao

The Guggenheim Museum, erected on Bilbao’s redeveloped riverfront where shipbuilding instalations once stood, is the symbol of Bilbao’s success. While San Sebastián has deep connections to France, Bilbao is Basque and proud. Impeccable 19th-century construction from its glory days as the heart of Basque shipping sit next to the glimmering hotels, apartments, and corporate headquarters that remind you that you are in the economic center of the region. You’ll find pintxos here, as in San Sebastián, but with a more local feel. From decades-old eateries overlooking the city to creative cuisine at seafood-specialized Mina and Nerua restaurants, Bilbao is the perfect place to see and feel the identity of today’s Basque Country.

Private Guggenheim Museum Tour

Visit the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao–the iconic building designed by Frank Gehry and responsible for Bilbao’s urban resurgence. Your private guide is an expert in the Guggenheim’s permanent collection and the exhibits.

Lunch at Kate Zaharra

Bilbao has a wealth of Michelin star and haute cuisine restaurants, but the most legendary spot in the city is Kate Zaharra, a truly classic Basque restaurant. Perched on a hill overlooking the city, this icon offers the most authentic interpretation of the long Spanish lunch. You’ll begin your experience in the wine cellar below the restaurant. Surrounded by bottles of the greatest wines of Spain and other countries, you’ll get to choose your wine and accompany it with hand-cut jamón ibérico, exquisite cured seafood, and other appetizers. Next, you’ll move to one of the dining rooms upstairs or the outdoor terrace. Starters include delicious seafood stews and simply prepared delicacies like goose barnacles and local clams. The main attraction at Kate Zaharra is the grill, which is used to prepare top-quality beef or wild-caught fish. You’ll find yourself relaxing as the experience progresses, with each plate bringing more joy. Once you’ve finished eating, you can move to the upstairs terrace, where the Spanish afternoon tradition of the sobremesa can continue with a glass of fine cognac or whisky and the city at your feet. Kate Zaharra is not just a restaurant, it’s an all-day gastronomic experience to remember.

See our blog: The Perfect Lunch in Spain about Kate Zaharra.

Pintxos Bars Dinner

Bilbao is still under the radar in terms of the food on offer. Once you see the mix of authentic and modern pintxos bars in the plazas and on the narrow streets of the Old Town you will know you’ve “discovered” a secret. Head to Plaza Nueva for a gourmet’s choice of pintxos bars where you order from the spread on the bars. You’ll be rubbing elbows with local Bilbao residents who love having pintxos and glasses of wine with friends.

Day 2 - Rioja’s Wine Capital: Haro

• Transfer to the Rioja wine region

• Gomez Cruzado wine tasting

• Rioja Alta winery visit & private lunch in the winery

• Roda winery visit

• Dinner at Hotel Santa María Briones

• Overnight Hotel Santa María Briones, Rioja

Rioja

Rioja feels a world apart from the nearby Basque Country. The towns and villages are dominated by ancient castles, churches and monasteries, but most of all by wineries. Vineyards are everywhere, but the wineries have always been in town in the Rioja. In honorary wine capital Haro, the Station Quarter is full of them, their famous names and tasting rooms beckoning. 

The mountains protecting Rioja to the north and the south make this region a wine sanctuary. Great wine is everywhere: at the pintxos bars of Haro and Logroño, the traditional restaurants in Laguardia and Casalarreina, and the cavernous cellars of Michelin-star restaurants. The food ranges from rustic to refined, but is consistently local, seasonal, and high-quality. 

Above all, Rioja is beautiful. Perfectly preserved medieval villages, rolling hills covered in vines whose leaves paint them in jewel tones every fall, sprawling old wineries full of ancient barrels next to psychedelic new complexes. You could come here just to look at it all, but thankfully the wine is as spectacular and diverse as the country itself.

The Wines of Rioja

There is a well-established style of classic Rioja: savory, age-worthy reds dominated by Tempranillo but nearly always with small amounts of Graciano, Mazuelo, Garnacha, or even white Viura. These wines eschew single plots, instead opting to blend vineyards and even bring specific varieties from far-flung corners of the Rioja. Old American oak is often preferred to French. Many Riojas carry age certifications instead of varieties or vineyards. Crianzas are entry-level barrel-aged wines that can be very serious and great value. Reservas must have more bottle-aging than crianzas, and often age longer in oak as well. The reserva category includes some of the greatest wines in Rioja, for more is not always better when it comes to oak. Finally, the gran reservas spend at least two years in oak, often much, much more. These are the top of the classic categories, and many producers reserve their best plots for gran reservas and only produce them in exceptional vintages. Most classic Riojas can age for years, but gran reservas are built for the long haul, and the best examples will likely outlive the winemaker and the buyer.

Many quality Rioja producers have moved away from this aging-based system or changed their methods to produce a different sort of wine. Starting in the 1990s, French oak, often new, became popular among the top winemakers in Rioja. Producers like Remírez de Ganuza, Artadi, and Contador showed that French oak can make Riojas that match or even surpass those made in the old way. Single-plot wines have risen with the fortunes of new producers, many of them varietal wines of Tempranillo. New regulations allowing subregion and village labelling have firmly split Rioja producers: some have stuck with the old ways, while others have done their best Burgundy impression, producing separate wines from each distinct plot and aiming for pure terroir expression rather than consistent blends. The good news for wine lovers is that Rioja now has more diversity of fine reds than at any time in recent memory.

No wine region in Spain stands still these days, and Rioja has its own rebels and innovators pushing the boundaries. Small producers have found plots of old vines all over the Rioja, from the foot of the mountains in the Northwest to Rioja Oriental in the far east. These often contain field blends, and some producers are even taking advantage of quality Graciano, Mazuelo, and Garnacha vineyards to make varietal wines. In garage wineries you’ll see French oak, but also massive oak foudres, cement vats and amphoras. In Rioja Alavesa producers are returning to the tradition of carbonic maceration of whole bunches, the Riojan version of Beaujolais nouveau. Clarete can even be found, a full-bodied rosé style made from a blend of red and white grapes. Innovation is all around, and should continue to bring great new wines onto the market in the years to come.

Rioja means red to many people, but white Rioja is far from an afterthought. There is a classic style of white Rioja that once had many examples but today is mostly synonymous with one name: Viña Tondonia. Stubbornly traditional producer López de Heredia ages this white wine for years in American oak and years more in bottle before release: the Gran Reserva release can be over 20 years old before it appears on shelves. This kind of white Rioja is a strong contender for the most age-worthy dry white wine in the world: bottles over 40 years old can be not only drinkable, but still feel young!

Viura, the main white Rioja grape, can produce wonderfully subtle wines when treated with care. Many wineries new and old have begun to focus on white wines as well-made examples have led the way. Some are made to be drunk young, while others follow the footsteps of Tondonia and age for years. Other grapes are appearing as well, with Garnacha Blanca, Malvasia, and recent mutation Tempranillo Blanco showing up in blends and varietal wines. One small producer makes no fewer than six different white Riojas! This is a category to watch.

Gómez Cruzado Wine Tasting

Gómez Cruzado is the most innovative producer in Haro’s Station Quarter, home to Rioja’s traditional stalwarts. It’s an old winery with new ideas, making all of its wines in a tiny building down the street from Rioja giants Rioja Alta, Muga and López de Heredia. It makes classic Riojas blending Tempranillo, Garnacha, and other grapes from the best vineyards in Rioja, but Gómez Cruzado’s cult status comes from its premium terroir-focused wines. The  white Montes Obarenes blends usual and unusual white grapes into one of the most acclaimed white Riojas on the market. Cerro Las Cuevas is sourced from old vines planted with a classic Riojan blend, but ages in large foudres for a fresher profile that showcases the vineyard. Finally, Pancrudo is one of the wines that put Rioja Garnacha on the map. This expressive, fragrant single vineyard red enchants enthusiasts and critics alike, and has become one of Rioja’s cult wines.

Rioja Alta Winery Visit & Private Lunch

La Rioja Alta represents the peak of classic Rioja wine. For more than a century, this winery has been making long-aged reds in Haro’s Station Quarter. Rioja Alta’s wines hew to the style that made Rioja great, aging Tempranillo-based red blends for years in American oak and in bottle to release wines that are ready to drink but can evolve for decades in the cellar. Even among traditional Rioja wineries, Rioja Alta is a notable specialist in Gran Reserva wines built for cellaring. The 904 and 890 Gran Reservas are among the great wines of Rioja, regularly garnering high scores from critics and filling the cellars of collectors and sommeliers around the world. After visiting the winery, head into a private dining room for a traditional Riojan lunch accompanied by Rioja Alta wines.

Roda Winery Visit

Roda lies next to the classic traditional wineries of Haro, but this is a new project making exquisite Riojas that garner consistent acclaim around the world. The winery was founded in the 1980s to make single-estate wines rather than the classic Riojan blends. Roda makes only red wines, and the intention behind the project has always remained to make the wines as long-lived in bottle as possible. French oak and years of bottle aging before release mean that opening a bottle of Roda is always exceptional. The wines are smooth yet powerful and complex, a perfect example of a different direction for top Rioja. Of particular note are Roda I, the top Reserva of the house with incredible fruit and character, and Cirsión, a unique wine made from grapes that exhibit particular characteristics, selected from within vineyards, resulting in a concentrated refined wine. Given the grapes used, Cirsión ages for under a year in oak (a short time for Riojan age-worthy wines) but is one of the Rioja’s finest wines.

Dinner at Hotel Santa María Briones

Hotel Santa María Briones offers fine dining at its Allegar Restaurant, where local star chef Juan Cuesta reimagines local dishes à la carte or in a tasting menu. For a more casual option, the wine bar in the underground wine cellar serves traditional Riojan cuisine. Good Rioja wine is a given at either, including surprising selections from small local producers and famous names.

Day 3 - New Rioja Wines

• Pujanza winery visit

• Lunch at Amelibia Restaurant

• Abel Mendoza wine tasting with the winemaker

• Visit the village of San Vicente de la Sonsierra

• Overnight Hotel Santa María Briones, Rioja

Pujanza Winery Visit

Bodegas Pujanza has a different vision of modern Rioja wines, focused on freshness and looking to express the caliber of the vineyards found at the base of the vertical slopes of the Sierra Cantabria Mountains. Founder and winemaker Carlos San Pedro comes from a multigenerational winemaking family, and at the turn of the millennium set out on his own. Since then, his wines have acquired a legendary status. 

The first wine he released, known today as Finca Valdepoleo, comes from a beautiful vineyard surrounding the winery itself and exposed to extreme temperature changes and cold winds from the mountains. The vineyard producing Pujanza Norte lies higher, facing north, fully exposed to the mountains. It’s a wine full of vibrancy and freshness atypical in Rioja reds. A single plot of old vines yields the much-acclaimed Cisma, but perhaps the most revered among lovers of Spanish wines is Pujanza Añadas Frías, a white made only in cold vintages that brings a minerality and purity to the Viura grape few would imagine it capable of. Luckily, when the vintage is not as cool, a white is still made from the same single vineyard under the name S.J. Anteportalina. Pujanza is one of the great new wineries of the Rioja offering a different take on what the region’s finest wines can express.

Lunch at Amelibia Restaurant

A beautiful little family-run restaurant in Laguardia, Amelibia serves updated, seasonal selections of Riojan cuisine. You can order à la carte, but the best option is to do the tasting menu, a selection of eight seasonal dishes which will guarantee you come away with a great experience and a perspective on the richness of products in the area. The wine list is carefully curated, featuring many small and fantastic producers from Laguardia and the wider Rioja alongside wines from around the world. The wine service is superb, so feel free to leave yourself in the hands of the warm staff when it comes to wine. The dining room has excellent views over the countryside around Laguardia. 

Abel Mendoza Wine Tasting

Husband-and-wife team Abel and Maite make the wines and do most of the winery work here. Abel comes from a family of vine growers, while Maite trained as an enologist. Together they are as close as Rioja gets to Burgundy. They care for many small plots of old vines near San Vicente de la Sonsierra. The wines are pure expressions of the different soils and characteristics of these plots. Any Abel Mendoza wine is a joy, rare as they are, but the Grano a Grano reds, one Tempranillo and one Graciano, certainly help this winery’s cult status. Mendoza also makes half a dozen white wines in tiny quantities, including varietals of uncommon white grapes such as Torrontés, Tempranillo Blanco and Malvasía.

San Vicente de la Sonsierra Visit

See the old town of San Vicente de la Sonsierra following your winery visit, which ends at the village’s hilltop castle featuring panoramic views of Rioja.

Day 4 - Basque Country Cuisine & San Sebastián

• Transfer to San Sebastián

• Gastronomic club cooking lunch

• Dinner at Rekondo Restaurant

• Overnight Villa Favorita, San Sebastián

Gastronomic Club Cooking Lunch

Your local food and wine specialist guide will pick you up at the hotel for a private lunch in San Sebastian. Go to the market to buy the ingredients for your lunch. Seafood will likely figure on the menu as it is plentiful and fresh in San Sebastian. You will walk to the Old Town for hands-on cooking at a traditional Basque cooking club, or txoko. 

The Basque tradition of good cuisine has its foundation in these gastronomical societies or txokos as they are known locally. From the mid-nineteenth century, groups of men sharing their passion for good wine and food created private clubs which adhered strictly to a few basic principles: no discussions of politics or religion and no women allowed– just devotion to good cooking. These cooking clubs are members-only rustic venues where members gather to cook, sing, drink and eat together. You will be rubbing shoulders with local members while you eat traditional Basque dishes such as Marmitako, Bacalao a la vizcaína, or Piparrada.

Dinner at Rekondo Restaurant

Rekondo is an institution in San Sebastián, a mandatory visit for food and wine lovers, equally respected for its elegant Basque cuisine as for its world-class wine cellar. You can dine on the best products from the sea and the Basque countryside, from fresh shellfish to grilled fish and meats, all prepared and presented impeccably. 

The wine cellar is what Rekondo is truly famous for. Over one hundred thousand bottles collected by owner Txomín over decades make up one of Wine Spectator’s five best cellars in the world. The finest wines of Spain are present in all their forms, from the latest bottlings of young growers to bottles with decades of aging from the country’s most famous names like Vega Sicilia, Artadi and López de Heredia. Many of the bottles in the cellar are unavailable anywhere else in the world, and are offered at reasonable prices. For lovers of wines from around the world, there’s an extensive collection of fine wines from every corner of the world, including a particularly complete Mouton Rothschild vertical. Whatever your taste, Rekondo is a wine temple worth visiting.

Day 5 - Gourmet San Sebastián

• San Sebastián gourmet tour

• Dinner at Ganbara

• Overnight Villa Favorita, San Sebastián

San Sebastián Gourmet Tour

Explore the cuisine of San Sebastían and the Basque Country through an exploration of the local and seasonal products available in the small shops of the city. Try local delicacies at some of San Sebastián’s greatest gourmet shops, tasting as you go and finishing up with a selection of artisan Basque products accompanied by local wine. Your bites will be enough for a light lunch; to continue eating your guide will recommend a pintxos bar for you to plant your feet and try some small plates.

Dinner at Ganbara

Ganbara is a San Sebastián institution that combines one of the city’s best selections of pintxos with a restaurant menu of seasonal Basque market cuisine. Family owned and operated, Ganbara is a favorite among Basque chefs for its excellent product and comfortable environment. Find a spot at the bar or grab a table and take in the delicious pintxos piled high on the bar. You can enjoy the best of the surrounding countryside and the Cantabrian Sea, from wild mushrooms and Basque txuleta steak to shrimp, shellfish, and fresh grilled fish. The cozy environment and warm service make Ganbara a place to come to again and again. Don’t miss the wine list combining classic Rioja wines with artisan wines from creative producers in Spain and beyond.

Day 6 - Seaside Getaria: Wine & Seafood

• Transfer to Getaria

• Txakoli winery visit

• Lunch at Kaia Kaipe restaurant in Getaria

• Pintxos tour dinner in San Sebastián

• Overnight Villa Favorita, San Sebastián

Txakoli Winery Visit

Txakoli is the traditional wine of the Basque coast, best known as a refreshing light white with a little sparkle but capable of much more in its best examples. Txakoli was traditionally made at home using native grapes Hondarrabi Zuri and Hondarrabi Beltza. Modern winemaking has improved the quality of Txakoli, enabling its rise across Spain and around the world, particularly in the United States. Red, rosé, and fully sparkling txakolis have joined whites across the Basque Country, but Getaria remains the heart of Txakoli production with its vineyards planted on verdant hills overlooking the Cantabrian Sea. Visiting one of these stunning wineries before a seafood lunch at one of Getaria’s world-class restaurants is an essential experience.

Lunch at Kaia Kaipe Restaurant

On the waterfront of the fishing village of Getaria lies Kaia Kaipe, legendary seafood restaurant and temple to the Basque grilling tradition. Fresh-caught specialties like sea bream and turbot are grilled to perfection before your eyes to create the pinnacle of classic Basque cuisine. You’ll find a menu stuffed with other delicacies as well; top-quality shellfish is an exceptional choice. The wine cellar contains over 40,000 bottles of over 1,000 different wines from every corner of Spain and the world. You’ll find the greatest wines of Spain here, including old vintages dating back decades, some from producers that no longer exist. Kaia Kaipe is widely considered one of the best restaurants in Spain, and for good reason.

Pintxos Tour Dinner in San Sebastián

Our guide will pick you up at the hotel in San Sebastián and take you to the Parte Vieja for a pintxos (Basque tapas) tour. Explore the historic quarter of San Sebastian followed by a pintxos tour. You will dine around at pintxos bars, sampling the small sculpted creations washed down with Txakoli or Rioja wine.

Day 7 - Departure

Transfer to the San Sebastián or Bilbao airport for departure.

See More Trips

Hotels

Bilbao Hotel - 1 night

Hotel Miro - Modern 4-star hotel across the street from the Guggenheim Museum. Rooms offer stunning views of the Guggenheim. Great service and easy access to visits and dining options in the center of Bilbao.

Rioja Hotel - 2 nights

Hotel Santa María Briones - Luxurious hotel in a beautifully restored palace in the heart of the hilltop town of Briones. Each room and public space has been furnished to highlight the historic building’s features while bringing modern comfort. The new vision of luxury in Rioja.

San Sebastián Hotel - 3 nights

Villa Favorita - The last of the townhouses that once lined San Sebastián’s La Concha beach, Villa Favorita has been restored as a stunning boutique hotel. Luxurious materials and design permeate the rooms and the public spaces, many of which have direct views of the ocean. No detail has been neglected, from the parquet floors to the tasteful furnishings. The location is unbeatable, providing direct access to the beach and the heart of the city. Don’t miss the two Michelin star Amelia restaurant located inside the hotel, one of the hottest restaurants in San Sebastián.

Trip Includes

• 6 nights hotel, double occupancy

• breakfast daily in the hotels

• expert private guides

• winery visits and tastings

• lunches while wine touring

• gastronomic club cooking lunch

• private pintxos tour

• gourmet tasting tour

• restaurant reservations and recommendations

• private deluxe transportation

• full trip planning

• in-country trip assistance and on-the-ground support

• Epicurean Ways expertise

Not Included

• extra charges in hotels (minibar, room service, etc)

• flights to/from Spain and within Spain

• tips to guides and drivers (optional but appreciated)

• travel insurance (recommended)

A note on winery visits, restaurant selections and hotels

All tours, experiences and hotels are subject to availability and will be confirmed upon booking the trip.

You will be accompanied by a driver-guide during your wine touring. Your visits and tastings will be private and with the winemaker, a family member or an expert who knows the winery and the wines well. We work with the wineries to make sure that you taste the best and most representative wines during each visit. It is sometimes possible to arrange extended tastings that include old vintages or rare wines. We have an extensive group of wineries whose owners we know and with whom we work regularly, so we can guarantee high-level visits even if a winery has to be substituted. If you have an interest in visiting a particular producer please let us know.

We include restaurant concierge service as part of your trip. Note that our restaurant suggestions are just that–suggestions. Places we love, places to go back to time after time. We recommend these places after years of experience eating in Spain and Portugal together with frequent research and input from our local partners. We aspire to guide your choices with information on the styles of cuisine and restaurants; the choice on where to eat is yours based on your preferences and desires.

We have extensive experience with hotels ranging from 5-star luxury properties to private boutique hotels. Let us know your preferences and we will tailor the hotel choices for you.

Trip Prices

Note that we can customize this trip for you. Add days in your arrival or departure city or in other locations or make changes to the experiences, winery visits, restaurants, or hotels included in the trip. Whatever it is, we’re here to work with you. Once you’re happy with the trip plan and have some idea of your dates we will calculate and send you the price.