Grand Tour of Northern Spain

Two weeks round the whole of northern Spain, from the Picos de Europa to the Roman gold mines of El Bierzo and back. This is the long version of a northern Spain tour, arranged as a fly-drive with the hire car included and driven at your own pace.

The first days are Asturian: the Picos de Europa, the cider country behind Oviedo, the river Sella and the pre-Romanesque churches that predate almost everything else standing in Spain. Then the western half of the region, where Cudillero and Luarca are fishing villages built into clefts in the cliffs, and inland the Somiedo national park still has brown bears in it. The Niemeyer Centre at Avilés is the surprise, a white Brazilian modernist complex dropped into an industrial estuary.

Inland is where it gets unusual. El Bierzo is a valley of Mencía vineyards with a Knights Templar castle at Ponferrada, and Las Médulas just beyond it, where the Romans brought down whole hillsides with water pressure to get at the gold and left a landscape of red pinnacles behind. The Vía de la Plata, the old Roman road north, runs through it towards León.

Fourteen nights, and a circular route with good access by both air and sea. The price is per person for two sharing, bed and breakfast, including a hire car; flights are extra, and a ferry option lets you bring your own car. Worth knowing that Caminos have not published the full day plan for the second week, so ask them for it before you book. It suits anyone who wants the north properly rather than a week of it.