A 9-day gastronomic tour of northern Spain - March through November days

Iberian Traveler has arranged a special luxury wine and gastronomic program that will take you from Bilbao to the Rioja and Navarra before returning to Basque country to continue your adventures.

This unique gastronomic tour will provide you with an opportunity to experience the various methods of producing some of Spain's most interesting and outstanding wines, as well as enjoying some of northern Spain's most exciting regional cuisine.

Our 9-day private tour begins with your arrival in Bilbao and a transfer to your hotel in the Rioja. In the Rioja you will be able to visit La Bodega El Fabuslista in Laguardia, one f the oldest wineries in Spain, Bodegas Ysios, a modern winery designed by architect , artist and engineer Santiago Calatrava, Viña Real, in the village of Laserna, designed by the noted French architect Philippe Mazieresi, Bodegas Remelluri, the winery of Fernández Gómez, Bodega Agricola in Labastida and Bodega de Marques de Riscal in Elciego. Lunch will be at Restaurant Amelibia in Laguardia on the first day and Hector Oribe in the hamlet of Paganos on the second.

On the third day you travel a short distance north to Pamplona in the Kingdom of Navarra, the land of "Sancho Garces", Sancho the Great, one of the first kings of Spain. You will visit the Bodega Otazu, a beautiful estate along the Arga River with its 19th century French-style wine cellar, the Palace, the ancestral home dating back to the middle ages, a 17th century hermitage and Romanesque church of St. Esteban. This is the northernmost winery producing red wine. You will also visit Señorio de Sarria Estate, where wine has been cultivated since the middle ages. Enjoy a pintxos tour of the old city, including a stop at the famous Café Bar Gaucho in the Plaza del Castillo.

Following your time in Navarra, you head next to San Sebastian-Donostia where you will be able to visit La Brecha market, with stalls devoted to the bounty of the sea and the land, have a private pintxos tour in the old city, enjoy lunch at the highly acclaimed Kokocha, with chef Daniel Lopez.

On you eight day you head to Bilbao with a stop in Gernika to visit the Peace Museum and the historic "Tree of Guernica", the Basque symbol for heritage, law and freedom. The village, site of the first Nazi saturation bombing, inspired Picasso's controversial masterpiece of the same name. From Gernika. After lunch, you continue on to Bilbao, where on your final day you will visit the Guggenheim Museum.