The excitement for this part of Spain was great. Surf on almost every beach, travelsom chilled people dedicating their life to art and living, this is how I pictured the place to be, judging from the Basque people I had met. After a week I was already exhausted of hunting for parking and good food, the vibe feels quite unwelcoming; capitalism is strong and cell phone reception scarce. It might be the time of year, lots of Spanish people take holidays in September after the International main season has gone, but there seems to be no space in this country. Not for walking on the sidewalks, not for parking the car and not in the lineup and no one seems to enjoy the buzz too much. For two weeks I drove up and down the coast between San Sebastian and Laredo getting to know small towns, holyday destinations and big cities as well as small bays and beaches.
For Road tripping it on a small budged like I did Basque country was much worse to find a place to sleep than e.g. Portugal which I expected to be quite difficult due to their regulations, but Basque is really on top of making sure people don’t feel free to sleep in nice spots.
San Sebatian / Zarauz
My first Stop was San Sebastian, where there were good waves but due to that a crazy amount of people. I spend the night on a residential parking in the east corner and am still hoping I don’t get fined for that (as up to now, January 2024 it seems to be all good). I also met some other campers here and we used the city vibe to go dancing till sunrise, when we headed back home from the little bar, the first surfers were getting into the water. Unfortunately, there was loads of rain and the next day I moved on to Zarauz. Here it was sheer impossible to get rid of the car comfortably, the parking lots have a time limit and since it was the weekend the town was crazy busy. Nevertheless, it is a nice town with its small shops, cafés and tons of surf schools.I stayed one night in the neighbouring Getaria and found a slightly better parking in the easter part of Zarauz for the second night so I could spend some time working on my laptop in Tidore Food and Bar Itur Ondo as well as going surfing for a bit. After I headed west towards Meñakoz, there was supposed to be a big swell hitting and I wanted to go see that.
Solepana
In Sopelana the big beach Parking was fine, really busy during the day but calm at night. There are 24h open toilettes that can be clean or absolutely minging, depending what people have been using it during the day and night. The parking meter asks for your license plate for the ticket as it is custom in Basque Country and there are usually limits on how long you can stay ranging from 2 hours in Zarautz to 24 hrs on the Sopelana main parkings. Due to this the pressure of moving your car around is too hight and the places where parking in actually more possible are way off from anywhere.
Sopelana has its main break triangular in front of the point between the two beaches, the right here runs clean but during low tide the rocks come out too much to be surfed. Regardless of the tide there are several smaller peaks in Playa Sopelana and Arietta Hondartza, over the sandy bottom they run left or right and many surf schools and beginners fill the water.
When I drove one day from Sopelana to Barrika to find less crowded waves, I was surprised by a raging thunderstorm on the way back. It had been raining heavily ever once in a while over the last week but this one started to scare me. I was driving on the country roads on the cliffs and up there I found myself right in the middle of the Storm, thunder and lightning constantly crashed down all around me and the rain was so heavy I could barley see the hazard lights of the car in front. Three of us creeped along the roads together in the slowest possible manner but then I missed a turn in Urduliz and almost sank the car in a ditch of the road that by now was overflowing with a strong river. Exhausted and a little scared I stopped in a residential area and found a parking space that was tilted enough so it would not drown the car and there was enough space on the road to keep to water flowing on a low level, I decided to keep driving in the morning.
Meñakoz
Only ten minutes’ drive from Sopelana there is Meñakoz a small rocky bay with its access down the cliff. There is a right that can get really big, it breaks quite far out in on the point where the water is still deep enough not having to manoeuvre around too many of the rocks that reach in thin straight lines up to surface. I came there to appreciate what advanced surfers can do and dream of future possibilities but knew that my skills are not yet fine enough to enjoy a spot like this, especially on my own. The beach down in the bay is made of out small round pebbles and bigger flat rocks and is popular with people enjoying nudity. It is a lovely secluded little place and has a stunning view form the cliffs above but sadly “spending the night” on the parking, where the entrance to the bay cuts down to the ocean, is prohibited and apparently the police often check.
Baiko
Another presently calm place is Baiko. It seems to be a town full of private holiday residences from elderly couples and families all over Spain. International tourists are not too much, and all needed facilities can be easily found. The big parking lot close on the main road alone the beach has an extra dedicated space for motorhomes, it is paid but not heavily limited and has decent public washrooms. Supermarkets, Cafés, laundromat, and surf shop a located on the same road and the wide sandy beach stretches out along the coast of the whole village. The main beach is supposed to have good peaks all over and on low days like when I got there, there is still two peaks on the east of the beach behind the little river working. I spend some time looking at the small surf and few beginners in the water and was about to make my peace with just a swim, when I saw a surfer getting on a wave behind the Mongolohatz formation in the corner of my eye. With only four other local and tourist surfers I enjoyed a beautiful sunset session on the little points, there are few bigger rocks between and with the hight tide a very chill surf.
Bilbao
One day I headed to Bilbao to do some shopping. I was still low on cloths from losing everything in Rome and there are several second-hand shops in Abando. Also, I wanted to find some Macrame cords for my jewellery making ambitions and was successful in the same area. So, I did not see too much of the city, but the centre seems nice, and the west side of the river is inviting for walking and chilling.
La Arena / Playa Dicido
Trying my luck for waves before heading to cold Ireland I visited la Arena and Playa Dicido, no waves here eighter. But La Arena has a nice big parking lot in front of the beach, public bathrooms on the beach during the day and a nice vibe. Playa Dicido is really nice, a little secluded beach with the town quite a bit away. There is a parking lot in the front and one a bit further after the hight restriction. I wanted to spend the night here but when I was lying in bed having my evening smoke a guy pulled up right next to me in the otherwise empty space. No worries about a friendly chat amongst campers but he gave off an uncomfortable vibe and after I ended the conversation telling him I wanted to be by myself and closed my doors he proceeded to knock at my window and talking to me through the door in such a manner that I did not feel save to sleep here and headed back to la arena for my last night in Spain meeting many pilgrims while having my car cooked breakfast on the promenade.
