Vitoria and the Rioja Wine Region

Our guide Stephan did a great job presenting the tour in two languages. Both destinations were very interesting and the scenery was great.

We chose this tour as a way of exploring the area beyond Bilbao where we were staying. Booking was easy and a pickup location was arranged by the tour company phoning us promptly after booking. The transportation was in a small bus, clean comfortable and the guide, Stephan was very informative and spoke to the tour group in English, Catalan, and Spanish. He organised the tour well giving each language group attention and time. En-route to Vitoria-Gasteiz, he told us about the Basque heritage, culture and language, as well as pointing out landmarks. The tour of Vitoria-Gasteiz was informative and allowed time for us to explore ourselves. The visit to LaGuardia was next with information about the history and culture. The tour of the wine caves was interesting, though don’t expect it to be a large scale industrial tour with multiple tastings, more a small family business with old-fashioned practices. Again there was ample time allowed to eat lunch and explore the walled town. A key point to note is that most of the shops closed promptly at 2.30pm, leaving only bars and restaurants for food. Return to Bilbao by around 17.00hrs.

The trip included a stop in Vitoria. The city was very interesting with the stories told about the churches, the festive annual celebration and the walking about in the narrow, old streets. Next stop was Laguardia where we learned the history of the city and visited a winery. There was a nice intro given by the winery person, which followed by going deep into the ancient cellar and tasting the Rioja wine. Our tour guide Stefan did an excellent job telling about Vitoria, Laguardia and Rioja wine in the area.

Amazing tour of southern Basque country. Wonderful sights and really worth the day. Out tour guide Stefan was knowledgeable, friendly, and clearly passionate about his job and the area. Wish were back there!

Our guide was great!! The tour was interesting but not much different than similar tours in other countries.

tHe only negative was that the guide spoke in Spanish 70 percent and English only 30 percent.We felt like second class citizens.

Excellent trip as an introduction to the Basque Country. Pedro, our guide was very good, informative and helpful.

A very interesting tour. Our guide was friendly and knowledgeable.

Our guide, Pedro, was excellent, very knowledgeable of the region and history. The tour of the winery was interesting and unique! We had a great time!