The second rise works differently. What we manage to do is bring together everything they have seen so far: the experiences, the people who represent the place, the landscapes. They can understand all of it completely.
The first climb is discovery. The second comes with knowledge. They already know where they are and they know the surroundings. So everything in these last experiences they enjoy completely, because they see it from a place of knowing, not only of discovering. They arrive with what they learned and lived in that first stretch.
There are a few experiences through local heroes and large meals that surprise without overdoing it. Then we end quietly, a small calm stretch before going home.
An Australian couple wrote to us from Sydney. They wanted to walk stretches of the Camino del Norte and the Picos de Europa, eat slowly and sleep in places with character. For the three ways we travel, see Our Process.
They wrote that they wanted to create hubs from which to explore, and they said: “We like the freedom to decide on a good weather day to explore beaches and coastal villages from a hub and on a rainy day to go to a bigger town and visit some cultural landmarks or a cheesemaker or something like that.” — an Australian traveler
They also wrote: “local producers and farm to plate or other slow travel food experiences coupled with walks/hikes is our thing.” That one sentence tells you most of what to build.
They arrived with a plan of five bases of four nights each, walking out and back along the Camino from every base. We suggested always walking forwards, so the journey keeps moving and no stretch repeats. They agreed. The five bases became four hubs, one for each region: Bizkaia, Cantabria, Asturias and Galicia. They chose to start in San Sebastián on their own.
In the end, we adapt completely to our client.
We design a second route for the same day. One of them does not like heights. So on the day one walks the Cares Gorge in the Picos de Europa, the other has a quiet day in the village of Bulnes, on flat paths with no edges, and they meet again for dinner. On the other days we check each stretch for edges before they walk it.
The couple also said private guides were a low priority. So the visits are self-guided, with a prepared route, a GPS track and pick-up markers that let any stage be shortened.
Everything to do with our journeys is wellness. You are in places away from the crowds, quiet places, places with clean air. The food is kilometer zero. The products and the meals are very healthy.
It is the combination of physical activity, which creates those endorphins and that sense of well-being, and then rest and a great meal. That combination is what makes these journeys so unique. In this itinerary, a morning of walking is followed by a long lunch, and a long day on the coast by a pool and a spa. Three days have nothing planned at all.
In Getaria, the couple will spend a morning with Manuela and Claudio, mother and son, the last traditional fishing family of the village. In Zumaia, Naiara, a Basque geologist, will read the coastal cliff with them. In Bulnes, Pilar, who works the funicular, will welcome them into a house her family restored. In the Cabrales valleys, a cheesemaker will open a cave where the wheels cure inside the mountain. In Cudillero, Ángeles, a fisherman’s daughter who once ran her own cannery, will walk them through the village.
They already work with us. We know they open doors, because they have done it for our other clients. They are people we trust completely. They represent the territory, with big projects and their own work apart from this.
The relationship we have with them is one of friendship above all. That is why we have their trust. Our travelers get to be with people who open up their stories, their hearts and themselves. That is what makes being with them so important.
Nothing. One person from our team is assigned to the couple, with a 24-hour line from the first day to the last. Tracks, transfers, tables and tickets are ours to arrange.
I ask for it at the start, because it sets the level of the stays and the experiences. Each version of the itinerary gets closer to it. This couple was clear about where they wanted the money to go: places to sleep, landscape and villages, rather than private guides. So the budget moves there.
Because we adapt completely to the client. The pace, the number of hubs, the empty days and the people all change with who is traveling. The first step is always a conversation, and everything else is built around the person who is listening.
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Written by Oliver Blázquez, CEO of Northern Spain Travel.
Published November 10, 2026 · Updated November 10, 2026
Every group is different, with its own dynamics and rhythm.
We begin by understanding group size, interests and travel goals then design a journey that
feels seamless, social and deeply personal.
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