Seven days between the table,
and the vines.
Seven days in Spanish for eight to twelve people: three nights in San Sebastián and three in La Rioja, one week in spring, with a host and a Spanish-speaking guide from start to finish.
Per person, sharing a double room. Single supplement on enquiry. International flights are not included.
Eight to twelve places.
Spring in Donostia is the city before the summer crowds, and in La Rioja it is the vines in leaf and the cellars quiet enough to sit down in.
The week opens in San Sebastián: pintxos on your feet through the Parte Vieja, a private market morning and a hands-on session in a professional kitchen in the city with a local chef and the host, the funicular up Monte Igueldo for the view over La Concha, and a day along the coast to Txomin Etxaniz, a family txakoli winery in Getaria, with dinner at Rekondo, a San Sebastián restaurant since 1964, with a cellar of more than 100,000 bottles.
Then La Rioja: Bodegas Muga in the Barrio de la Estación at Haro, roast lamb at Terete, a day in the Vivanco vineyards at Briones with the team that works them and lunch among the vines, Laguardia and the cellars dug under it, and the last dinner at El Portal de Echaurren in Ezcaray. One hotel in San Sebastián, one in La Rioja, and a Spanish-speaking guide with the group from the first evening to the last morning.
San Sebastián
pintxos, kitchen & the coast
Arrive at your own pace. The first evening, five bars through the Parte Vieja; on Tuesday, a private market morning and a hands-on session in a professional kitchen with a local chef, then the funicular up Monte Igueldo for the view over La Concha and the evening to yourself; on Wednesday, the coast to Getaria for txakoli at Txomin Etxaniz, and dinner at Rekondo.
Base — one hotel in San Sebastián, three nights
Haro
the cellars & the vines
South to Haro: Bodegas Muga in the Barrio de la Estación, roast lamb from the wood oven at Terete, and on to Ezcaray. The next day is the heart of the week — the Vivanco vineyards at Briones with the team that works them, lunch among the vines, and the museum of wine in the afternoon.
Base — one hotel in La Rioja, three nights
Laguardia
the cellars under the town
Laguardia, walled and on its hill, and a family of growers in the cellars dug beneath it. The afternoon is free, and the last dinner is at El Portal de Echaurren, in Ezcaray. On Sunday, a farewell breakfast and the transfer out.
Base — checkout Sunday after breakfast, then the transfer out
Monday 24 to Sunday 30 May 2027, tentative until the host signs. Spring is Donostia before the summer crowds, and La Rioja with the vines in leaf.
The group is eight to twelve travellers. Eight is the number the week needs to run; twelve is the most a pintxo bar takes comfortably, the most the kitchen has bench space for, and the most that sits at one table among the vines.
One hotel in San Sebastián, one in La Rioja: the suitcase moves once, on the Thursday. A Spanish-speaking guide travels with the group the whole way, and transfers cover both ends.
A place is held with a deposit, and the terms in full reach you in writing before any money is taken. The journey is confirmed no later than one hundred and fifty days before it begins, once eight travellers have booked. If it does not run, every deposit is returned whole. Do not buy flights until it is confirmed.
Tell us who is travelling, and we will write back.
Price on enquiry, per person sharing a double room, with a single supplement on enquiry and international flights extra. We answer within two working days, by email or by telephone, and the week is confirmed one hundred and fifty days before it begins.