Northern Spain Highlights

Northern Spain Highlights
Get a truly authentic feel for the unique sights, sounds and tastes of Basque country. Of course, you’ll explore Barcelona, but you’ll also hit some lesser-known jewels in the Castilian crown such as Pamplona, Cantabria and Bilbao. Extend your tour to follow the Santiago de Compostela through the Medieval architecture of Burgos and Leon.
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Day 1 Overnight Flight to Spain (Barcelona)
Day 2 Hola Barcelona
Meet your tour director and check into hotel
Details: Las Ramblas treasure hunt
Take interactive learning to another level with a Tour Director-led treasure hunt of Las Ramblas, the most famous pedestrian street of Barcelona! Complete exciting activities and solve fun clues. Each clue and every activity is built to maximize on-tour experiential learning.
Details: Tapas dinner
Tapas purportedly originated when bartenders set a small plate ("tapa") over patrons' glasses of sherry and wine to keep the flies out. The bartenders starting piling the plate with cold cuts, olives, or salad, and the bite-size snack was born. (We're unsure how they kept the flies out of the cold-cuts... maybe that's how the sandwich was invented?) Over time these working-class snacks have become more elaborate, with each region adding its own specialties and cooking techniques to create unique tastes and combinations.
Day 3 Barcelona landmarks
Details: Barcelona guided sightseeing tour
See brilliant Barcelona, a city of graceful Gothic churches, wrought-iron balconies and grand avenues filled with outdoor cafés. Throughout the city, daringly innovative buildings sit side-by-side with the medieval past. A licensed, local guide will show you some of the high points of this architectural showcase. First stop, the pointy spires of the La Sagrada Familia (Church of the Holy Family), a half-finished church complex that became the obsession of Barcelona's famously eccentric architectural genius, Antoni Gaudí. At the top of Güell Park, another of Gaudí's masterpieces, is a terraced area where you get a fantastic view of the park and Barcelona City. The vibrant colours of the tiles are breathtaking. Then step back to the past with a journey up to Montjuïc (Hill of the Jews), a fortress built atop an ancient Jewish cemetery. This was the site of numerous battles to control Barcelona, and also the location of the 1992 Olympics.
Details: Gaudí’s Sagrada Familia
This breathtaking church, said to be the master-work of architect Antoni Gaudí, has been under construction since 1882 and is not expected to be completed until 2026!
Details: Montjuïc Hill
Travel to Barcelona’s mountain of Montjuïc, the focal point of two of the city’s key international events: the World’s Fair of 1929, of which many structures still remain; and the 1992 Olympic Games. Montjuïc features the largest "green zone" in the city with miles of forests and parks.
Details: Park Güell visit
Spend time in Parc Güell, part of the UN ESCO World Heritage Site, 'Works of Antoni Gaudi'. Designed primarily by Gaudí, particularly interesting areas of the park include a mosaic pagoda, a lizard fountain spitting water, an undulating bench decorated with ceramic fragments, and an array of unique Doric columns, which are hollow and serve as part of Gaudí's drainage system.
Day 4 Barcelona--Pamplona
Travel to Pamplona via Zaragoza
Basilica of the Virgin of Pilar visit
Pamplona city walk
Day 5 Pamplona--Cantabria
Travel to Cantabria via Santillana
Santillana del Mar city walk
Colegiata de Santa Juliana
Details: Altamira Caves guided visit
Adjust your eyes to some of the most perfect paintings by prehistoric man. (So perfect that even archaeologists wondered whether early man was capable of such a feat.) With nearly one hundred pictures of signs and animals such as bison, deer, horses and bulls decorating the walls and ceilings, it’s been given the name “The Sistine Chapel of Quaternary Art.” Because body heat and breath can damage the artwork, entry to the caves is restricted to 9,000 visitors per year. But don’t worry. A replica of the cave, true to the original, is open for all.
Day 6 Cantabria
Details: Picos de Europa National Park excursion
Visit Spain's first National Park situated between the regions of Asturias, Cantabria and León, in the heart of the Cantabrian Mountains, in northern Spain. Its history goes back to 1918, when don Pedro Pidal, Marquis of Villaviciosa, promoted the law to create the Montaña de Covadonga National Park, which was named Picos de Europa National Park on 30 May 1995. This natural area was awarded the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve designation in 2002.
Day 7 Cantabria--Bilbao
Travel to Bilbao via Guernica
Guernica city walk
Visit Guggenheim Museum
Bilbao city walk
Day 8 Basque Country landmarks
San Sebastián tour director-led sightseeing
Playa de la ConchaPalacio de MiramarHotel de Londresharbor & Old Quarter
Monte Igueldo Lighthouse visit
Beach time
Details: San Sebastián tour director-led sightseeing
Though one of Spain’s most popular resorts, San Sebastián is not just beaches. With your Tour Director you’ll visit the old quarter, centered around Plaza de la Constitución (known to locals as “La Consti”). Look for the numbers on the balconies around the square – the plaza was once used for bullfighting, and those balconies were rented as private boxes for spectators. The nearby Saint Vincent church, built in the 1500s, is the city’s oldest standing monument.
Details: Chillida Leku visit
Dedicated to sculptor, Eduardo Chillida, Chillida Leku feels less like a museum and more like an artist’s sanctuary, just as Eduardo himself envisioned. Take in the warm Spanish sun as you stroll along grassy plains and through rich woodland dotted with Chillida’s enormous abstract artwork. (Feel free to touch!) Then cozy up inside the farmhouse filled with smaller works made from granite, terracotta, wood and paper.
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Day 9 End tour

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    Day 9 Start extension to Santiago de Compostela
    Travel to León via Burgos
    Burgos Cathedral visit
    Details: Burgos guided sightseeing tour
    Step into the Middle Ages in beautiful Burgos. The remains of a medieval castle watch over the town from above, and the original city walls still trail down the hillside. Prickly Gothic spires mark the town’s enormous and elaborate cathedral, which contains the tomb of the famous Spanish hero El Cid. Less-historic ducks and backpackers congregate along the river. Explore this picturesque town with a licensed local guide.
    Day 10 León--Santiago de Compostela
    León city walk
    León Cathedral visit
    Travel to Santiago de Compostela via Astorga and Ponferrada
    Day 11 Santiago de Compostela landmarks
    Details: Santiago de Compostela guided sightseeing tour
    Get a true sense of this historical pilgrimage site as you explore the narrow streets of the well-preserved old city that lead the way to the impressive cathedral. See the different façades of the cathedral, the historic plazas, including Plaza Praterias, and visit the Monastery of San Paio de Antealtares.
    Day 12 End tour
    Map of Northern Spain Highlights Educational Student Tour and Trip | Explorica
    Tour Includes:
    • Round-trip airfare
    • 7 overnight stays (10 with extension) in hotels with private bathrooms
    • Full European breakfast daily
    • Dinner daily
    • Full-time services of a professional tour director
    • Guided sightseeing tours and city walks as per itinerary
    • Visits to select attractions as per itinerary
    • Tour Diary™
    • Local Guide and Local Bus Driver tips; see note regarding other important tips
    • Note: On arrival day only dinner is provided; on departure day, only breakfast is provided
    • Note: Tour cost does not include airline-imposed baggage fees, or fees for any required passport or visa. Optional excursions, optional pre-paid Tour Director and multi-day bus driver tipping, among other individual and group customizations will be listed as separate line items in the total trip cost, if included.

    We are better able to assist you with a quote for your selected departure date and city over the phone. Please call 1.888.378.8845 to price this tour with your requested options.

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    4279.00 total fee
    Basic Options


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