This is an intimate, personal group by design, eight to fourteen people, and I lead it from start to finish, with an expert guide alongside for every tasting and visit. All the logistics and transportation are handled from the moment you land in Bilbao to the moment you depart. It's built for travelers who want to actually understand a region, its wine, its food, its history, not just pass through it, with a degree of access that simply isn't bookable online.
Built around the kind of access you can't arrange on your own.
A Different Way to Travel
A morning at the market with members of a txoko, a private Basque gastronomic society, doing their shopping before cooking and sharing the meal together in their own kitchen; dinner among the art at a private gallery in Bilbao; a private visit to a family-run farmhouse working to bring back a nearly extinct breed of Basque pig. You'll eat at Arzak, one of the finest tables in the world, and at a small-town asador that never appears on a top-ten list but serves some of the best cooking in the region. You'll taste the range of what the region makes, from a young producer redefining txakoli to Rioja estates spanning centuries-old tradition and cutting-edge technique. Along the way: historic towns, fishing villages, and mountain and vineyard landscapes.
What's Included:
Basque Country & Rioja
- Seven nights in 5-star and Michelin Key hotels, centrally located in Bilbao, San Sebastián, and Haro
- All breakfasts and lunches, plus three included dinners: a welcome dinner at a private art gallery in Bilbao, a guided pintxos tour through San Sebastián, and a celebratory closing dinner at a Michelin-starred restaurant in Haro
- Lunch at Elkano, a Michelin-starred restaurant considered one of the finest seafood tables in the world
- A free morning in San Sebastián to explore at your own pace, shop, or spend time at La Concha beach
- A guided visit to the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao
- Visits to four wine producers across the region: a young producer redefining txakoli, a small family-run Rioja bodega, a historic traditional Rioja estate, and one working at the technological edge of winemaking
- A private visit to a family-run farmhouse working to revive a nearly extinct breed of Basque pig
- A tasting at a traditional maker of Idiazabal cheese
- A morning market visit and lunch at a members-only gastronomic society in San Sebastián
- Private, comfortable transportation for the group throughout the trip, plus airport transfers
- An expert local guide for every visit and tasting, with me hosting the group from start to finish
International flights. Dinner at Arzak is available as an optional add-on.
Not included:
You land and settle in, tour the Guggenheim Museum, and end the day with a welcome dinner among the art at a private gallery.
Bilbao — 1 night:
A morning market visit and a hands-on txoko cooking experience, a guided pintxos tour through the old town, a day trip to a family farmhouse for an Idiazabal cheese tasting, and some of the finest tables in the region, from Arzak to a small asador no guidebook will point you to.
San Sebastián — 3 nights:
The pace shifts to wine country: visits to producers spanning centuries-old tradition and the technological edge of the region, a stop in the medieval hilltop village of Laguardia, and a celebratory closing dinner at a Michelin-starred table.
Haro, Rioja — 3 nights:
Based on double occupancy. Solo travelers can be paired with another solo traveler in a twin room; a private single room would incur a higher supplement and can be discussed case by case.
€7,350 per person
The Investment
A €150 deposit reserves your spot. It's non-refundable, except in the rare case the trip itself doesn't go ahead, in which case it's returned in full. The remaining balance is due in two payments: 50% six months before departure, and the final balance three months before departure.
