A Week in the Mountains of Northern Spain

February 24, 2024- March 2, 2024

The mountains in northern Spain are some of the most beautiful mountains I’ve ever seen, and driving through the winding roads down deep in the valleys of those mountains only made them so much more magnificent. My roommates and I spent our spring break roadtripping the north of Spain with no itinerary just a rental car and the three of us, and I couldn't have loved this trip more.

During my trip to Spain we found ourselves spending time at both the coast and the mountains since Spain both! In this post I am specifically going to be talking about the time I spent in the mountains of northern Spain, but you can read more details regarding the beaches and coastal towns we went to in my other post, “A Week on the Coast of Northern Spain”.

Northern Spain has some of the most beautiful cascading mountains at every turn. Just minutes way from the coast you can hike up a mountain and get a beautiful view of rivers, valleys, seasides, and woods down below. One of the greatest pleasures I had during this trip was the fact that we had a rental car. I could not recommend renting a car for the north of Spain because there are so many off-the-beaten-path trails and sights to see that we would have never experienced because they are much harder to access without direct transit.

I would also recommend using the app All Trails to find surrounding hikes. There were multiple accounts when we had a few hours to spare, so we would search up hikes near us and there were plenty of hikes with a wide range of difficulty levels to choose from!

My favorite hike was in Cabrales, Spain. Despite the hail, rain and stormy weather, I absolutely loved this hike. It was very challenging and had a steep incline throughout its entirety of about 3 hours, but I have never accomplished a hike such as this one before in my life, so I am sure the satisfaction of completing it is adding to my bias. We did many hikes in other areas of Spain including Castrilliòn, Ponga, Noja, Ibarrangelu, Hondarribia, and Ribadesella. All of these places have their own perks about them and it really just depends on what kind of nature you are going for. For example, Ibarrangelu and Hondarribia are hikes that also have a forest to walk through, while Cabrales and Ribadesella were very grassy and you could see the view around you at any point during the hike.

From this point forward, whenever people ask me where some of the most beautiful nature I’ve seen is, I’m going to recall my road trip through the mountains of northern Spain. Even if you are not interested in hiking through these magnificent mountains, at least allow yourself to take the time to drive through the mountains. Driving with nowhere to be, listening to music on the car speakers, and the feeling of being so small in comparison to some of the most amazing wonders of the world is incomparable to anything else I’ve ever experienced. And I am so thankful that I am lucky enough to be in a position where I can experience and travel these places, and I hope if you ever find yourself wanting to experience the wonderful nature and outdoors of northern Spain, you don’t pass up on the opportunity!

Check you my YouTube video to see more about my whole week in Spain!