Getting Around: What Nobody Tells You About Driving Northern Spain

A car is not optional on this route. It is the route. The places this guide takes you to do not have bus connections, do not appear on rail maps, and in several cases do not have roads wide enough to pass another vehicle without one of you reversing to a wider section. That is not a complaint. It is the whole point.

Here is what you need to know before you pick up the keys.

Renting a Car

Pick up your rental in A Coruña and drop it in Bilbao. One way rentals between Spanish cities are straightforward with all major rental companies and the price difference is usually modest. Book in advance — particularly in summer when Galicia and Asturias fill up with Spanish domestic travelers who had the same idea.

A standard hatchback is sufficient for the entire route. You do not need a 4x4. You do not need a van. You need something small enough to fit down a village street without removing the wing mirrors and with a boot large enough for a week of bags and a wet jacket.

Automatic or manual is a personal preference call, but be aware that the mountain roads and the cliff switchbacks reward a driver who is comfortable with a gear change on a steep incline. If manual makes you nervous, book automatic early — the stock is smaller and runs out faster.

The Roads

The A-8 motorway runs the length of this route from Galicia to the Basque Country and it is fast, well maintained, and largely free of traffic outside of August weekends. It is also the least interesting road on the map.

Use it for covering distance between regions. For everything else, take the coastal roads.

The N-634 and its various local variants run parallel to the motorway along the coast and through the villages. These are the roads the route is actually built on. They are slower, narrower, and occasionally confusing in the way that roads without clear signage become confusing when you have been driving for three hours. They are also where the views are, where the unexpected stops happen, and where the trip becomes a road trip rather than a transfer between locations.

A few specific things to be prepared for. Single lane roads with passing places are normal in Galicia and Asturias — the etiquette is the same as anywhere: whoever is closest to a passing place reverses, the other driver waves, everyone moves on. Village streets in places like Cudillero and Elantxobe are genuinely tight. Go slow, fold the mirrors if it looks close, and accept that parking will sometimes mean walking further than you planned.

Tolls

The motorway through the Basque Country carries tolls. The rest of the route is largely toll-free. Carry a card — most toll booths accept contactless payment and the ones that do not have coin machines. Do not rely on cash exclusively but do not leave home without any either.

Parking

Parking at popular spots requires planning at three specific locations on this route. Gaztelugatxe requires an advance reservation through the Basque Government system in peak season. Playa de las Catedrales operates a permit system between June and September. Cabo Ortegal has a small parking area that fills early on weekends.

For everything else, parking is either free or managed by a simple pay and display system. City parking in Bilbao, Gijón, and A Coruña is the usual urban challenge — use a car park rather than hunting for street spots and factor in the cost.

Navigation

Google Maps works well for this route with one important caveat — download the offline maps for Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria, and the Basque Country before you leave home. Signal on the Galician coast and in the Asturian interior is inconsistent in the way that means it disappears precisely when you need it most. An offline map does not need to ask for permission.

The guide map has all route locations pinned. Run it alongside your navigation app rather than instead of it — the pins tell you where to go, the navigation app tells you how to get there.