Rev up your engines for a road trip through hidden Spain

Distance: 101km

Start in the enchanting Belle Époque resort of San Sebastián, where emerald mountains frame the golden crescent of La Concha beach; take the funicular up Monte Igueldo for the spectacular views, and visit the Museo of San Telmo, to discover Basque culture, depicted in Josep Sert’s 11 enormous canvases on Basque history.

Fishing village of Getaria

Head west to Zarautz, now a beach resort, but in the Middle Ages the shipbuilding centre that built Magellan’s Vitoria, the first ship to circumnavigate the globe. The charming old fishing village of Getaria, next west, produced the man who captained it after Magellan’s death: Juan Sebastián Elcano, whose tomb is in Getaria’s fascinating off-kilter church. Further west, just before Zumaia, stop at the Museo Zuloaga, in the home of the great Basque painter, with his own works and others by El Greco and Goya, then sleep in Bilbao.

Distance: 124km

Book early tickets for Frank Gehry’s unmissable titanium-clad Bilbao Guggenheim, the building itself is as impressive as any of the contemporary art on display. Nearby, visit Bilbao’s new Itsasmuseum, dedicated to the Basques’ fabulous seafaring past.

Continuing further west you’ll cross into Cantabria’s Costa Esmeralda, where lush green hills and cliffs wrap around sandy beaches. Stop for lunch at the fishing port Castro Urdiales, and visit its castle and enormous 13^th-century church of Santa María de la Asunción on their rocky promontory. Next up is Santander, which was a favourite of the Spanish royal family, who would summer in the ornate Palacio de la Magdalena; once you see the broad sands and pleasant parks, you'll quickly understand why they wanted to spend time here. Don't miss the medieval cathedral, a rare survivor of the fire that burned Old Santander in 1941. Continue to charming medieval Santillana del Mar, which Jean-Paul Sartre understandably labelled ‘the most beautiful village in Spain.’

Distance: 129km

Santillana is famous for the Altamira Caves, a masterpiece of Paleolithic art 18,500BC. Access is limited, but don’t miss the accurate replica in the museum.

Heading west, pretty Comillas had a Marquis who hired Modernista architect Joan Martorell to built his fantastical neo-Gothic Sobrellano Palace. A year later Antoni Gaudí began the colourful El Capricho nearby: both are open for visits.

As you continue to San Vicente de la Barquera, the Picos de Europa offer a spectacular backdrop to the coast. Next up is Asturias and the Costa Verde; at Ribadesella, visit the Tito Bustillo Cave (22,000BC) with its Paleolithic paintings of horses and reindeer. But even these are new compared to the fossils of dinosaurs at the superb Jurassic Museum of Asturias further west in Colunga. Overnight in Villaviciosa, Spain’s apple capital, and be sure to try the cider!

Distance: 241km

In the morning, head to Gijón, the metropolis of Asturias, and visit its Roman baths and the Evaristo Valle museum with its romantic gardens.

After you've spent some time strolling the manicured gardens, get back in your car and drive to Asturias’s elegant capital Oviedo to admire its remarkable 9^th-century survivals: the Visigothic relics in the Cathedral's Camara Santa and three striking pre-Romanesque churches, now World Heritage sites.

In Avilés, next along the coast, don’t miss the beautiful Plaza de España and Centro Cultural Internacional (2011), designed by Oscar Niemeyer, architect of Brasilia. Carry on west to Cudillero, a port so pretty it’s been compared to Portofino and Luarca. Don't miss the spectacular views from its cemetery.

Move onto Galicia, where the granite-etched rías (estuaries) become ever more breathtaking as you head west. Visit the mighty Basilica de San Martin de Mondoñedo near Foz, and spend the night in the delightful little walled town of Viveiro.

Distance: 156km

Carry on west, overlooking the spectacular Rías Altas coast: have a look at the lobster port O Barqueiro, then take the corniche road to the towering cliffs and church of San Andrés de Teixido, where legend says if you don’t go while alive, you’ll go when you’re dead, reincarnated as a lizard.  Cedeira is another lovely spot to stretch your legs before continuing to salty Ferrol which boasts one of the world’s most sheltered ports.

Stop for photo ops at medieval Pontedeume with its landmark bridge, and at elegant Betanzos, where time seemingly froze in the 18^th century.

Lively A Coruña is next, nicknamed ‘Crystal City’ for its unforgettable sea-facing wall of glassed-in balconies; be sure to visit its 2^nd century AD Torre de Hercules, the oldest working lighthouse in the world.

Then make a beeline to Santiago de Compostela, the end of the Europe’s greatest pilgrimage.

Distance 250km

Start in Don Quixote country: Castilla La Mancha is Spain’s largest wine region, producing the wines so beloved by Cervantes’s knight errant. From Madrid, drive south to Alcázar de San Juan, where you can learn all about it at the Centro de Interpretación del Vino, and check which bodegas are open along La Mancha’s Wine Road. Stop in a bar for a glass with a tapas of duelos y quebrantos (scrambled eggs with chorizo)— a classic Manchego dish, mentioned by Cervantes. Four windmills spin above town; one is open for visits on weekends.

La Mancha’s high plateau also produces Spain’s finest red saffron: it takes 200 flowers to make a single gram of the finest. Head west to visit the Saffron Museum in Madridejos--and if it’s late October, the saffron fiesta in nearby Consuegra--then head to Toledo.

Distance: 260km

Toledo, famous for its cathedral, mosques, synagogues and El Greco, is also one of Spain’s culinary capitals. Some say it even invented marzipan, inspired by Arabic pastries; the EU has granted Marzipan de Toledo DO statues (protected designation of origin). Look for it in the city’s pastry shops or in Toledo’s superb San Agustín market—with five floors of delights to taste and buy.

Spain’s favourite cheese, Manchego, is made with sheep’s milk in Toledo and Cuenca provinces. Pop into the Museo del Queso Manchego by the cathedral, which includes cheese tastings. For lunch seek out Toledo’s classic dishes: venado, venison stew with mushrooms or pears or carcamusas, slow cooked pork, white wine and vegetables.

Next head west into Extremadura and spend the night in the pretty hill town of Montánchez, located in the Dehesa pastures of cork oaks and evergreen oaks.

Distance: 257km

The Dehesa produces exquisite Jamón Ibérico: as you drive around look for the herds of free-range black pigs. Montánchez is also in the DO Ribera del Guadiana wine region, complete with a wine road to explore.

Head north to the striking city of Cáceres, a World Heritage site and another gastronomic hub, so be sure to try the restaurants and specialist gastronomy shops around its beautiful Plaza Mayor. Keep an eye peeled for Extremadura’s delicacies: Gata-Hurdes olive oil, Villauercas-Ibores honey, La Vera paprika and two spreadable sheep cheeses, Torta del Casar and Ibores made with the milk of goats grazed on wild herbs.

Then drive north to Guijuelo, which produces some 60% of Spain’s jamón iberico. Afterwards aim for the splendid university city of Salamanca, a World Heritage site: try its hornazo, a pastry stuffed with pork loin, chorizo, and hard-boiled egg.

Distance 230km

From Salamanca, drive northeast to Medina del Campo, the heart of the DO Rueda region on the left bank of the Duero River, where Verdejo grapes yield dry aromatic white wines. Several bodegas along the Rueda wine road welcome visit (but best to book in advance).  

Next head to Valladolid for its fabulous Estación Gourmet Market to graze your way through a plethora of local goodies.

Then head east, onto the wine roads of DO Ribera del Duero, one of Spain’s most prestigious red wines. The wonderfully scenic 115km Ruta del Vino winds around the Duero with bodegas to visit and the  enormous Peñafiel Castle, one of Spain’s most beautiful, now housing the Museum-Foundation of the Wines of Valladolid.

Next drive east to Aranda de Duero, a town built over a labyrinth of ancient wine cellars; the tourist office organises visits.

Distance: 215km

The next stop on this tasty road trip is Segovia, famous for its 170-arch Roman aqueduct, cathedral and fairy tale Alcázar but also for its restaurants. People drive up from Madrid on weekends to lunch on their suckling pig and milk-fed lamb (cordero lechal) roasted in wood burning ovens with potatoes. Start lunch with sopa castellana, a soup made garlic, bread, egg and ham, and finish with ponche segoviano, a sinful dessert made with cake, custard and marzipan.

Next drive southwest to Ávila, a World Heritage site enclosed in its mighty walls. Visit its pastelerías (pastry shops) for yemas de Santa Teresa, sweets named after its most famous saint, made with egg yolks in a syrup of lemon and cinnamon, and take home a bag of dried Judías de El Barco de Ávila— the Queen of Beans, famous for their thin skins, flavour and creamy texture.

From Ávila, it’s just over an hour to Madrid where you can lose yourself in the capital's culinary delights.

Distance 91km

From Navarra’s capital Pamplona, drive just over a half hour southeast to Lumbier where the limestone gorge, Foz de Lumbier at once immerses you in Spain’s dramatic nature. Walk or cycle the easy mile long trail along the river Irati and look up: lammergeirs and griffon vultures flock here to breed and nest in the sheer rock faces.

From Lumbier you can visit the Mirador of Foz de Arbaiun Gorge, the spectacular 6km ‘Queen of Gorges’ along the Rio Salazar, another popular nesting ground for enormous birds of prey.

Next head north into the remote Salazar valley to picturesque mountain village of Ochagavía, where you’ll find information on hiking and biking trails through the Irati Forest, Europe’s second largest and best preserved beech and fir forest, covering 170 sq km; in autumn the colours are out of this world.

Distance: 172km

Next head east via the Roncal valley to Ansó, a picturesque stone village and crossroad for a scenic drive up the beautiful Valle de Zuriza into the Parque Natural de los Valles Occidentales, framed by the jagged pinnacles of the Sierra de Alano.

Backtrack to Ansó for the short drive to charming old village of Hecho in the next valley, then turn 8km south, for the Megalithic Information Centre. There are some 100 prehistoric stones circles and alignments in the area, including some around the Selva de Oza woodland.

Carry on east to the old mountain village of Torla-Ordesa, the base for exploring Ordesa National Park, created in 1918. Dominated by the 3,355m limestone mass of Monte Perdido, the third highest in the Pyrenees, it’s one of the world’s oldest national parks, a World Heritage Site and a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.

Distance: 106km

Early in the morning catch the shuttle bus (no private cars are allowed) from Torla to Pradera to make one of Spain’s most beautiful walks, along the river Arazas and its waterfalls, culminating in the breathtaking 100m Cola de Caballo (Horse Tail) Waterfall.

Next, take the narrow mountain road (HU-631) west via Nerín for a walk around idyllic Cañón de Añisclo, a canyon of pure turquoise water (if you’re nervous about driving, the N-260 is a non-scary alternative). Both lead to lovely town of Ainsa.

From here, head up to Benasque and Posets-Maladeta Natural Park around the highest peak in the Pyrenees, 3,404m Aneto, streaked with permanent glaciers. Cruise up the A-139 to Llanos del Hospital near the French border to find endless places to hike, photograph or just admire the scenery. Spend the night back in Benasque.

Distance 180km

Next east waits Catalonia’s Aigüestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici National Park, filled with winding streams and lakes. It encompasses the Vall de Boí; turn up the L-500 to Erill la Vall to pick up information on visits to its nine remarkably frescoed Romanesque churches.

Then backtrack a bit on the N-230 to drive north to Vielha and the beautiful villages in the Vall d’Aran. This valley was only linked by road to the rest of Spain in 1932; in fact, it was so remote that the locals speak a form of Occitain.

Follow the Vall d’Aran east to Espot, one of Aigüestortes’ headquarters. From here you can take a 4x4 taxi to the Maurici Lake, an unforgettable sight basking under the twin peaks of the Els Encantats (enchanted mountains), or beyond to the Refugi Amitges, with its sublime views. Then drive south to sleep in Sort.

Distance: 174km

From Sort, head out on a beautiful morning drive on the N260 via La Seu d’Urgell, skirting the Parc Natural del Cadí-Moixeró, where the foothills meet the Pyrenees. Stop at the medieval village of Bagà to find the information centre on the park, its wildlife and its trails.

Next drive east to La Pobla de Lillet to visit the curious hillside Jardins Artigas, perhaps the great Antoni Gaudí’s least known work. Be sure to stop at the next town to the east, Ripoll, to see the Romanesque portal of the Monestir de Santa Maria.

Then carry on to Olot for another surprise: La Garrotxa Volcanic Zone Natural Park, with its 40 extinct forest-covered volcanic cones, including Olot’s Montsacopa Volcano; walk up (ideally at sunset) for the amazing views over the landscapes that inspired a 19^th-century school of painters.

From here it’s just a 90 minute drive to Barcelona!