Personally guided by founder Elias Gonzalez, who lives where he takes you
The best steak restaurant in the world, according to the 2026 World's 101 Best Steak Restaurants list, is La Cúpula de El Capricho, in a small village in León province. José Gordón lets his oxen live close to two decades and ages the beef for up to 180 days. Getting a table there takes knowing José. I've called him a friend for years.
That's Northern Spain in one meal. It's the green half of the country most tourists never see: the Basque coast, the vineyards of Rioja and Ribera del Duero, the mountains of Asturias and the last miles of the Camino de Santiago. It's also where I was born and lived all my life.
You've done Paris and Rome, probably Tuscany too. You've done the coach, the name tag and the 7 a.m. luggage call. This is the other way to travel: a private, chauffeured trip for you and the friends you choose, four to eight people. You set the pace. You sleep in hotels we pick one by one, from five-star city hotels to Paradores, historic hotels set in old castles, palaces and monasteries. Every lunch and dinner is à la carte, with good wine included, never the cheapest bottle on the list. And I plan every day of it myself. I'm the one in the front seat, telling you which bar in León still pours a free tapa with every glass.
One person, from your first email to your last dinner
I'm Elías González, and from your first email until you're home again, you deal with me. I design your itinerary and choose every hotel, restaurant and winery on it.
I started Eat Northern Spain in 2011, after a career as an industrial engineer (which explains the spreadsheets) and a lifetime as a Spaniard (which explains the lunches). The idea came to me on a safari in Kenya, where one local guide turned a good holiday into the trip of our lives. I came home wanting to do that for the north of Spain.
On the road, you travel with me or with Ana Rodríguez, my right hand for the past eight years. Ana is a licensed official guide, a wine expert and our Camino specialist, and she lives in Galicia, where every Camino ends. Between the two of us, we guide every single trip. We never hire outside guides, so you'll know your guide by name before you land.
We run about a dozen tours a year, on purpose. Any more and I'd stop remembering your name, your wine and how you like your steak.
We also deal with every hotel, restaurant and winery directly. No middlemen, and no commissions from the places we take you. If we take you somewhere, it's because I'd take my own family there. That's why I like to say this isn't really a tour. It's an open door to my home.
Alan Duncan took his third trip with us in October 2025. The Kauffmans came back in 2025, three years after their first. Nobody books a third trip with a stranger.
Private tour or luxury group tour? An honest comparison
The big tour brands are very good at what they do. What they do is put you on a coach with a group of strangers, often 15 to 20 of them or more. If that suits you, wonderful. If you're still reading, it probably doesn't. Here's the difference.
PRIVATE TOUR WITH EAT NORTHERN SPAIN | LUXURY GROUP TOUR | |
|---|---|---|
Who's traveling | You and the people you chose | Strangers, often 12 to 20 or more |
Dates | Yours | Fixed departure dates |
Pace | Decided each morning, by you | Set by the group schedule |
Hotels | 5-star historic landmarks handpicked by Elias | 4 and 5-star business hotels |
Meals | À la carte, good wine included | Some included at hotel restaurants, set menus and group dinners |
Guide | Elias or Ana on every trip, never an outside guide | One tour director and local guides |
Price per person | Higher | Lower |
That last row deserves a straight answer. Private costs more because the driver, the guide and the vehicle cost the same whether there are two of you or six. A couple traveling alone pays roughly double per person what they'd pay sharing the trip with another couple. Most of our guests solve that the pleasant way: they bring friends.
And once you compare like with like, the gap gets smaller. Jean Grim, from Virginia, put it this way: "When we compared the costs of Eat Northern Spain with upscale coach tours, our decision to go with a personalized tour was an easy one."
Why Northern Spain, and not only Madrid, Seville and Barcelona
The south of Spain gets the postcards. Up here we get the rain. It's exactly why the north is green, why the cattle graze outdoors and why, in my completely biased opinion, the food is the best in Spain.
In one week up here you can eat pintxos, the Basque take on tapas, standing at the bar in San Sebastian, a city with one of the highest counts of Michelin stars per person on earth. You can drink Rioja in the cellar where it was made, pour Asturian cider from over your head (badly, at first) and finish with Albariño and seafood on the Galician coast. In between come Romanesque churches, stone villages and the Camino de Santiago. If you've seen The Way, with Martin Sheen, you've already seen the roads I grew up on. (if you haven't yet, I totally recommend it: go and find it online and watch it on a cold evening).
What you won't see much of is tour buses.
We can also add a few days in Madrid or Barcelona at the start or the end.
Our private tours of Northern Spain
Every itinerary below is a starting point. Pick the one closest to the trip in your head and we'll reshape it with you: longer, shorter, slower, more wine, fewer cathedrals. Click on each image for the full itinerary.
Bilbao to Santiago de Compostela, along the coast and through the mountains
Two weeks along the green coast, with time to linger. The fish market and pintxos bars of San Sebastian, an Idiazábal cheese maker up in the Pyrenees, the rolling hills of Rioja wine country, the Guggenheim in Bilbao, the lakes of Covadonga and Bulnes, a mountain village you can only reach on foot or by funicular. You start at the María Cristina in San Sebastian and end at the Parador de los Reyes Católicos in Santiago, which has been taking in pilgrims since 1499.
14 Days Camino de Santiago Luxury Tour
Bilbao to Santiago de Compostela, following the French Way
The Camino without the bunk beds. You walk guided stretches of the French Way, from a few miles every other day up to 15 miles a day, and the van is waiting when you've had enough. Every night ends in a hotel we know well, including the 15th-century royal palace of Olite, now a Parador. Burgos cathedral and the tomb of El Cid, the stained glass of León, lunch at El Capricho, a private boat on the Miño below the monasteries of Ribeira Sacra and, at the end, the Pilgrim's Mass in Santiago.
Madrid to Bilbao, through Ribera del Duero, León, Asturias and the Basque Country
Our most complete tasting of the north. A private 4x4 through the vineyards of Abadía Retuerta, Ibérico ham carved by hand in front of you, and lunch with José Gordón at El Capricho, whose La Cúpula tops the 2026 world steak list. Then two nights at Palacio de Luces on the Asturian coast, cider bars in Cangas de Onís and the pintxos of San Sebastian.
Madrid to Bilbao in one week
The best of the north if you only have a week. Roast suckling lamb in Ribera del Duero, Rioja's great wineries, pintxos and a cider house in San Sebastian, and one morning you won't find on any other tour we run: hunting black truffles in Soria with trained dogs.
Madrid to Santiago de Compostela, five wine regions in eight days
Five official wine regions (D.O.s) in one trip: Rioja, Ribera del Duero, Bierzo, Ribeira Sacra and Rías Baixas. Tastings at Viña Tondonia, Pago de Carraovejas and Norman Foster's Bodega Portia, a picnic among the vines, a private boat on the river Sil below vineyards terraced into the canyon walls, and Albariño by the sea to close.
Madrid to Santiago de Compostela, the final stretch of the Camino
The Camino in one week. Burgos, León, a long lunch at El Capricho, the monasteries of Ribeira Sacra and, on the last day, the walk into the Plaza del Obradoiro for the Pilgrim's Mass, with the botafumeiro, the cathedral's giant incense burner, swinging if luck is on your side.
What's included in every private tour
What our guests say
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"As a self-admitted "planner", it was a pleasure to relax and enjoy the experiences without a worry in the world"
Jeff McKinney & friends
San Diego, CA, USA
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"Ana was more than a guide, she became a friend"
David & Erin Weeks
Watkinsville, GA, USA
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"We know that when we do this again, we will pick up where we left off and Elias will treat us like family!"
Dawson family
Virginia Beach, VA, USA
If you haven’t done so yet, why not pour a cup of coffee and take a few minutes to read more stories from our guests after experiencing an Eat Northern Spain tour.
How booking works (and why it takes a little longer)
There's no "book now" button on this page. I know that's unusual, and I know it asks a little more of you. It's on purpose. A private trip can't come off a shelf, and I'd rather spend an hour on the phone with you than put you on the wrong tour.
- Tell me what you have in mind. Who's coming, roughly when, and what you love to do, eat and drink. Two lines is plenty.
- I write back myself, usually within 24 hours. Not a sales team, not an automated sequence. Me. The reply comes from elias@eatnorthernspain.com, and I'm the one who wrote it.
- We shape the trip together.
- A deposit holds your dates. The balance is due 90 days before you travel.
Most of our guests start planning nine to twelve months ahead, because the best rooms in the small hotels and Paradores go first.
If sending a deposit to a small company in Spain makes you a little nervous, good. You should ask hard questions of anyone you send money to, so here are our answers.
We're a licensed Spanish travel agency (license AV-303-AS), members of ASTA, the American Society of Travel Advisors, Elias is a Verified Travel Advisor by the American Society of Travel Advisors, something that can't be bought, and we are in business since 2011.
If you cancel 30 days or more before your trip, we refund your deposit within 24 hours. And in 2020, when the world closed, we refunded our guests in full. One group from Australia wrote afterwards: "Elias was amazing and refunded us in full no questions asked, so we pledged to ourselves that post covid we would book the tour again" And they did. Mick Ferro and his friends came in 2024 to experience the trip the pandemic ruined.
Extend your tour of Spain to Portugal and experience the culinary + cultural jewels of both
Like the idea of ticking off two countries for the price of one on your trip to Europe? Simply choose one of our combined tours. While we’re from Spain, we know Portugal just as well having travelled extensively through our sibling country. The culture and cuisine have their own soul and are not to be missed. Portugal is easily accessible by car and you won’t even need to go through passport control.
Cruise down the beautiful Douro river (which starts in Northern Spain and ends in Porto) at your own pace in a private, luxury boat. Meander through the stunning backroads of the Douro Valley in your chauffeured vehicle. Enjoy private wine tastings and show-cookings of the finest Spanish & Portuguese food. Climb the cathedral towers to see the illuminated monuments of a UNESCO World Heritage city. Sleep in a 16th century palace in the historic center of Porto. The possibilities are endless.
Explore the tours, pick one you love, request a personal quote, and I'll be in touch to tailor it to you. Click on each image for the full itinerary.
Pick the tour that intrigues you the most and request a personal quote
Frequently asked questions
Can just the two of us travel on a private tour?
Yes, and couples do. The driver, guide and vehicle cost the same for two people as for four, so as a couple you'll pay roughly double per person. That's why most of our guests bring another couple or a few good friends. It's more economical, and in my experience dinner is a lot more fun.
How far in advance should we book?
Nine to twelve months is ideal, especially for May, June, September and October. The hotels we love are small, and their best rooms go first. If your dates are closer, write anyway. We can often still make it work.
When is the best time to visit Northern Spain?
Spring (April, May and June) and Fall (September, October and early November): mild weather, green hills and, in the fall, the grape harvest in Rioja. July and August are lovely on the coast but busier. Winter is quiet and made for long lunches, though some mountain roads and small restaurants close.
How much does a private luxury tour of Spain cost?
It depends on how many of you there are, how many days you travel, the hotels and the season. A private tour costs more per person than a small group tour, and the price per person drops as your group grows. Tell me your dates and group size and I'll send you a detailed, all-inclusive proposal. No obligation, and no surprises later.
Is it safe to pay a deposit to a small company in Spain?
It's exactly the right question. Cancel 30 days or more before your trip and your deposit comes back within 24 hours. When nobody could travel in 2020, we refunded our guests in full. We're a licensed Spanish travel agency (AV-303-AS) and members of ASTA. And before you pay a cent, you'll have talked to me, so you'll know exactly who you're trusting.
How fit do I need to be for the Camino de Santiago tours?
Less than you think. The walking is guided and flexible: some guests walk a few miles every other day, others up to 15 miles a day. The van is never far away, and you set the pace, not a group. If you have a specific mobility concern, tell me before we plan and we'll look at it together, honestly.
Are international flights included?
No. You book your own flights, and we'll tell you the best airports and arrival times for your itinerary. Most tours start and end in Madrid or Bilbao and we meet you at arrivals.
Can you add Madrid, Barcelona or Portugal to a Northern Spain tour?
Yes. Any tour can start or end with a few days in Madrid or Barcelona, or carry on into Portugal.
Can you handle food allergies and dietary needs?
Yes. Every meal is à la carte, not a set menu, so allergies, vegetarian diets or plain dislikes are easy. Tell us once and we'll brief every restaurant ahead of time.
