Full-Day Private Cultural and Gastronomic Adventure in Rioja
Overview
Villages and wines. Wines and villages. It’s all about visiting some and drinking the others. There’s a bit of everything: medieval villages enclosed behind walls, young and daring wines, the longest river in Spain and a typical Riojan meal consisting of four dishes and designed to be paired with a local wine. You can’t go wrong with a plan like this.
Inclusions
- Private experienced guide and driver
- Private group
- Hotel pick up and drop off
- Three wineries (guided visit with tasting in one of them, and 2 more tasting in two other wineries)
- Lunch - Traditional Riojan lunch with local wine
- Olive oil tasting
- All transportation costs (petrol, parking and toll)
What to expect
Itinerary
This is a typical itinerary for this product
Stop At: Haro, Haro, La Rioja
The Barrio de la Estación de Haro is known for the many wineries that were built here, close to the railroad tracks in order to transport wine barrels more easily. Here we’ll visit a wonderful 100-year old winery where we’ll taste a selection of its best wines, from the most classic to the most young and daring, aligned with the latest and most revolutionary trends. Wine is not the only magical liquid that’s produced in these lands. As Rioja is also one of the northernmost points in Spain where the country's liquid gold (olive oil) is produced, we’ll do a tasting of a delicious extra virgin olive oil (here we call it AOVE, the acronym for aceite de oliva virgen extra in Spanish).
Duration: 1 hour 30 minutes
Stop At: Laguardia, Laguardia, Province of Alava, Basque Country
Rioja is not only wine, wine and wine, but also a territory extraordinarily rich in historical heritage. We’ll see medieval towns such as Laguardia, with baroque churches (full of gold, virgins and cherubs, inherited from the Spanish Counter-Reformation) alongside the latest “cathedrals “ of wine, such as the Marqués de Riscal wineries by Frank O. Gehry (which uses the same titanium as the Guggenheim Bilbao museum), and the Bodegas Ysios by Santiago Calatrava.
Duration: 30 minutes
Stop At: Labastida, Labastida, Province of Alava, Basque Country
In La Rioja, lunchtime (and gastronomy, of course) is a sacred thing. For this reason, we’ll go to a restaurant that specializes in traditional Riojan cuisine, a delicious menu and, check this out, more excelent local wine!
Duration: 1 hour 30 minutes
This is a typical itinerary for this product
Stop At: Haro, Haro, La Rioja
The Barrio de la Estación de Haro is known for the many wineries that were built here, close to the railroad tracks in order to transport wine barrels more easily. Here we’ll visit a wonderful 100-year old winery where we’ll taste a selection of its best wines, from the most classic to the most young and daring, aligned with the latest and most revolutionary trends. Wine is not the only magical liquid that’s produced in these lands. As Rioja is also one of the northernmost points in Spain where the country's liquid gold (olive oil) is produced, we’ll do a tasting of a delicious extra virgin olive oil (here we call it AOVE, the acronym for aceite de oliva virgen extra in Spanish).
Duration: 1 hour 30 minutes
Stop At: Laguardia, Laguardia, Province of Alava, Basque Country
Rioja is not only wine, wine and wine, but also a territory extraordinarily rich in historical heritage. We’ll see medieval towns such as Laguardia, with baroque churches (full of gold, virgins and cherubs, inherited from the Spanish Counter-Reformation) alongside the latest “cathedrals “ of wine, such as the Marqués de Riscal wineries by Frank O. Gehry (which uses the same titanium as the Guggenheim Bilbao museum), and the Bodegas Ysios by Santiago Calatrava.
Duration: 30 minutes
Stop At: Labastida, Labastida, Province of Alava, Basque Country
In La Rioja, lunchtime (and gastronomy, of course) is a sacred thing. For this reason, we’ll go to a restaurant that specializes in traditional Riojan cuisine, a delicious menu and, check this out, more excelent local wine!
Duration: 1 hour 30 minutes
Additional information
- Wheelchair accessibility is extra paid - contact for details
- Wheelchair accessible
- Stroller accessible
- Near public transportation
- Infant seats available
- Transportation is wheelchair accessible
- Surfaces are wheelchair accessible
- Most travelers can participate
- Please advise any specific dietary requirements at time of booking
- Our vehicles and offices are cleaned and disinfected in accordance with the cleaning and disinfection protocol certified by the Institute for Spanish Tourism Quality (ICTE). We also use an ozone air purification treatment in our vehicles before every tour.
- This is a private tour/activity. Only your group will participate
- Confirmation will be received at time of booking
Ticket delivery
You can present either a paper or an electronic voucher for this activity.
Cancellation
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours in advance of the start time of the experience.
Nick A
May 2018
Ernes gave us everything we could ask for and more during our tour. There was plenty of information, food, and of course wine! The variety and quality amongst the wines was fantastic. He picked us up right on time and right outside our door. I cannot recommend him highly enough!
Ernes gave us everything we could ask for and more during our tour. There was plenty of information, food, and of course wine! The variety and quality amongst the wines was fantastic. He picked us up right on time and right outside our door. I cannot recommend him highly enough!Larry S
May 2018
We were a group of 5 friends who love food and wine, and were touring throughout all regions of Spain. Hands down Ernes (agency owner) was the best guide we had for all our tours in Spain. He took us to 3 very unique and different wineries, as well as a wonderful lunch of local cuisine with mor...
We were a group of 5 friends who love food and wine, and were touring throughout all regions of Spain. Hands down Ernes (agency owner) was the best guide we had for all our tours in Spain. He took us to 3 very unique and different wineries, as well as a wonderful lunch of local cuisine with more good wine. He had a great sense for our group and what we would enjoy. The 3 wineries all had great tasting room staff, whom he had obviously had long-term relationships with, which made our experience in each one very enjoyable. Probably the biggest bonus of having Ernes as a guide was his fantastic insight into Basque and Spanish history and culture. We spent our whole drive to and from Rioja learning more than we could imagine, but also sharing stories of both our countries. He truly made this a day to remember. His company does many different variety of tours, and had we known sooner we definitely would have booked another tour with him. If you are ever in the Basque country, definitely hook up with Ernes and IKUSNAHI!Robert M
May 2018
When you only have a short time to visit an area sometimes it makes sense to utilize a guide to enhance your experience. With this wine tour advantages include a (sober) driver who knows the routes, the people, and history of the region. Our guide, Mikel, was great. He had an agenda for the day, ...
When you only have a short time to visit an area sometimes it makes sense to utilize a guide to enhance your experience. With this wine tour advantages include a (sober) driver who knows the routes, the people, and history of the region. Our guide, Mikel, was great. He had an agenda for the day, but let us operate at our own pace as we paused to take in things that interested us. The 3 wineries we visited each had their own individuality and we were hosted by knowledgable and passionate people at each stop. The tour was nicely broken up with a stop at a historic village. A tasty and filling lunch (with more wine) was provided. Our group had 5 people from ages 21 to 55. The "wine knowledge" of our group varied widely, yet each person learned a lot. A great day with Mikel!Eva S
May 2018
We are a group of 8 friends that do regular visits to different wine regions. We have rented a van and arrangemang our own tour before but found it a bit difficult to find info in Rioja and decided to try this tour. We wanted a privat personal experience with preferable smaller wineries and Erne...
We are a group of 8 friends that do regular visits to different wine regions. We have rented a van and arrangemang our own tour before but found it a bit difficult to find info in Rioja and decided to try this tour. We wanted a privat personal experience with preferable smaller wineries and Ernes did disappoint us. We started in Bilbao 9 in the morning and headed towards the town of Haro where we visited three wineries. We spent most of the morning there, nothing was rushed we took everything at our own pace. One more winery and lunch at a small local restaurant with more wine. Arter lunch we went to see (no tasting here) two wineries with very special architechture. The last stop of this wounderful day was to visit a medieval walled city. We came back to the hotel around 7, very tired and with lots of nice experiences.dawnhurst26
May 2018
From the moment we booked to the moment we arrived back at our hotel, the experience of this tour was high quality, and first class. Ernes was an informative, entertaining and charming host, and gave us the most memorable tour and experience throughout the event. His knowledge of the region,...
From the moment we booked to the moment we arrived back at our hotel, the experience of this tour was high quality, and first class. Ernes was an informative, entertaining and charming host, and gave us the most memorable tour and experience throughout the event. His knowledge of the region, the wine and quality of customer service was perfect. Vehicle quality was executive and high. Would not hesitate to take a further tour in the future and recommend to all of our friends and colleagues.SamanthaD8483
May 2018
My husband and I spent three days in San Sebastian on first Europe journey as decided this was the perfect time to explore Rioja since we were so close to the region. We enjoy Spanish wines in the US, so of course we wanted to try them first hand. We appreciated our drivers flexibility in schedul...
My husband and I spent three days in San Sebastian on first Europe journey as decided this was the perfect time to explore Rioja since we were so close to the region. We enjoy Spanish wines in the US, so of course we wanted to try them first hand. We appreciated our drivers flexibility in schedule as we had delayed flights and had to push our tour a day. There were no issues with the rescheduling. Mikel picked us up from our airBNB near the beach, and we enjoyed the beautiful drive in the country side. We learned so much about Spanish history, and also Mikels family. We wanted to come to another country to learn about the culture and truly found this with Mikel. We stopped at several wineries from large production and infamous architecture to the smaller boutique wineries with smaller production (which we enjoyed more). We stopped in several small villages to sight see, and then for an authentic Basque lunch (I ate more croquettes than I should have!). He also would take photos of us whenever we asked, or he would offer, with no hesitation. We were appreciative to have Mikel for our journey and would have loved to have him help us with our Pinxto experience (he does those too!). Highly recommend this tour! - Samantha & Eric, Nevada, USA