The Best of Basque
The Best of Basque
5
City Tours • Sightseeing Tours • Private Tours • Food Tours • Wine Tours & Tastings
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8:00 AM - 10:00 PM
Monday
8:00 AM - 10:00 PM
Tuesday
8:00 AM - 10:00 PM
Wednesday
8:00 AM - 10:00 PM
Thursday
8:00 AM - 10:00 PM
Friday
8:00 AM - 10:00 PM
Saturday
8:00 AM - 10:00 PM
Sunday
8:00 AM - 10:00 PM
About
THE BEST OF BASQUE is a boutique, family-run tour company located in the Basque Country, Spain. We are a Basque-American team who specialize in custom PRIVATE DAY TOURS, and multi-day tour packages. Specifically, we offer food, wine, sightseeing and cultural experiences in the Basque Country & La Rioja wine country. A tour of Basque Country is a journey into the undiscovered. Naturally beautiful, and culturally rich, this region of northern Spain and southwest France offers a taste of Europe unlike any other.
Bilbao, Basque Country, Spain

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Tours and Tickets by The Best of Basque
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(92 reviews)
(15 reviews)
(7 reviews)
Detailed Reviews: Reviews order informed by descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as cleanliness, atmosphere, general tips and location information.
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5.0
754 reviews
Excellent
747
Very good
7
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Pearsandchocolate
Vancouver, Canada13 contributions
Oct 2022
Our time with Zack and Irene was the highlight of our eight day stay in the Basque area. We booked four days touring including a transfer between San Sebastian and Bilbao, Pintxo tastings in both cities, a day in La Rioja and the Bizkaia Coast, Countryside and Gernika tour. Their passion for the Basque area and people was infectious. We saw, learned and were exposed to so much more than we could have done on our own thanks to their extensive local knowledge. They were able to weave some of our specific interests throughout the tours. Rather than going to one of the frequented restaurants for grilled fish we went to a place where we were the only tourists. Zack took care of the ordering. I was not surprised to see the table of locals next to us receiving exactly the same lunch order. It was a most memorable meal. Our San Sebastian and Pintxo tour with Irene was fun, generous and informative. Zach suggested changes to the schedule to accommodate illness as well as taking care of some restaurant reservations and helping to sort out transport as we were not staying in a hotel. I highly recommend The Best of Basque if you are seeing a personal, professional as well as an enriched authentic experience.
Written November 12, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Darlene, Thank you for taking the time to post such a nice review for us. It was a true pleasure to show you all around the Basque Country. A memorable week for Irene and I, and we wish you all the best! Take care, Zach and Irene
Written November 13, 2022
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

edwardtan888
Ipoh, Malaysia5 contributions
Dec 2019 • Family
A wonderful tour mapped out and conducted by a couple ,Zach and Irene. They have a wide selection of the must visit itineraries of Basque , pending individual interests . If we were to have more time , we would love to spend more days in Basque to join all the ranges of itineraries . As a region known for its wonderful gastronomy, food and beverage is definitely a main item offered on Zach and Irene s list. The Pintxos tour will take you to most bars and tapas known only by the locals . Zach and Irene will go beyond their call of duty to ensure such pintxos bar crawling will satisfy your food and drinks desire in the old town area of Bilbao. Fine dining restaurants are aplenty ,recommendations and reservations can be arranged easily with their help .
Remember to have a free day for shopping at the “ Fifth Avenue “ of Bilbao.
Kudos to Zach and Irene . Cheers
Written January 11, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Edward, Thank you so much for the kind words, and so happy you enjoyed your tours with us. Your review is greatly appreciated. We would be so grateful to see you back in the Basque Country in the future! Thanks again! Zach and Irene
Written March 18, 2020
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

Sage
2 contributions
Apr 2020
I chose Best of Basque because of its positive traveller reviews and interesting itineraries. From start to finish, all my dealings with Best of Basque have been first rate. Zach was always available providing timely responses to email queries and very useful practical information on tours, local hotels and sights. Travel plans for 2020 have been severely disrupted but during this turbulent period, Best of Basque has shown itself to be a highly reliable and reputable company happily adapting to our changed plans. It is great to see such fantastic customer service.
Written April 28, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Wow! So nice to see this today... Thank you so much for the review. We hope to see you in the future. Take care, Zach
Written May 1, 2020
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

Pamela C
1 contribution
Jun 2022
We have taken two private tours with The Best of Basque on separate visits to San Sebastian. The first one was with Zach north to the French Basque area and the second with Irene to Getaria (both including other stops along the way). We enjoyed the first one (in 2019) so much, that we made a point of booking the second (in 2022) with them early so they would not be already booked.

In our travels around Europe and beyond, we have had only a handful of guides who we would definitely recommend. Zach and Irene are very professional, knowledgeable, good drivers, flexible, timely, and fun to have as guides. We would wholeheartedly recommend their services to anyone traveling to the Basque country. Next time we return and planning to travel around the area, they will be one of the first calls we make.
Written July 24, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Suzanne L
London, UK9 contributions
Dec 2021
Zach and Irene created a fantastic bespoke tour for us from Bilbao to St Seb. We visited the incredible Gaintza winery on the way and then enjoyed a fabulous tasting menu at Bodegon Alejandro followed by a walking tour of the city. It rained all day but we had a great time and learned a lot about the Basque Country. Highly recommended!
Written December 27, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Suzanne, Thank you so very much for taking the time to post a review for us. It was a nice day even with the rain, and we are so pleased that you enjoyed the tour. Thanks again and Irene and I wish you all the best. Take care. Zach
Written December 28, 2021
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

Ann H
10 contributions
Nov 2021 • Family
My husband, daughter, and I spent a perfect day with Zach touring the Basque coastline. We flew into the Bilbao airport and Zach was waiting for us with his car at the airport. (I appreciated the fact that he responded promptly to all of our pre-arrival questions.) We spent a lovely day driving from Bilbao to San Sebastian, going there via the highway, and returning via the beautiful winding coastal road. It was relaxing to leave the driving to Zach and to have him make decisions about the best use of our time. Zach is an American ex-pat who is married to a native of Basque. He was really knowledgeable about the local history and culture and gave us a deep appreciation for the Basque people. We stopped in a small fishing village for lunch and had one of the most memorable meals ever: eating on a patio overlooking the harbor where fishing boats were docked, eating freshly caught fish grilled on a big cast iron charcoal grill right there on the patio. Going forward, it will be a meal that we use as a measuring stick for all future fish meals. At the end of the day, Zach took us right to our hotel in Bilbao. Zach's personality was perfectly suited to our needs: he was extremely knowledgeable yet never bored us with endless facts, able to answer all questions, able to stick to a schedule yet also flexible and willing to adjust to our priorities. Although we didn't meet his wife, Irene, we now follow her on Instagram and wow! the two of them have traveled to SO many interesting and adventurous places. We hope to be repeat customers!
Written December 20, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Ann & family, You are so kind for taking the time to post such a nice review for us! It is very much appreciated. It was a fantastic day with you three, and I am so very pleased that you all enjoyed the day so much. Thanks again. Irene and I hope to see you in the Basque Country again. All the best and take care. Zach and Irene
Written December 21, 2021
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

Ashley Cogswell
Manchester-by-the-Sea, MA4 contributions
Mar 2023 • Friends
I cannot say enough wonderful things about Zach, Irene and Jani! Just hire them. You won’t worry about a thing!

I first reached out to Zach and Irene a couple of months before our visit to Basque Country. I was planning my own 40th Birthday trip (I’m particular okaaaayyy 😆) for 12 girlfriends and I had a list of things I wanted to do, places I wanted to visit, and foods I wanted to eat. And of course, drink all the wine.

I was struggling to figure out how to coordinate it all, how to get 12 girls from point A to B to C, and how to fit it all in. Zach responded promptly to my initial email, and I didn’t have a care in the world after that!

He sent me several options of what we could do, and worked with me over the next couple of weeks on refining the itinerary, and making it exactly what I wanted.

I’m not an “easy to please” person when it comes to quality. I have expectations that can be hard to meet on occasion. I cannot rave enough about the quality of the places that Irene, Zach and Jani brought us too. The food was of the highest quality. The wine was incredible. Our transportation was always clean and new. Zach’s patience herding cats (and waiting on all of us to go to the bathroom at every stop) was unmatched. It all exceeded my expectations.

AND they were absolutely lovely, charming, funny, enthusiastic and easy to be around.

I don’t want to spoil all the wonderful places you will go, but we did two separate Pintxos tours (one in San Sebastián and one in Bilbao), a day tour to a local txakoli winery and lunch in gorgeous Getaria (not to be missed!), the VIP Rioja tour, and the hike of Gaztelugatxe and lunch in Bakio.

We wouldn’t have had as amazing of a trip without them, no doubt! Thank you sooooo much Zach, Irene and Jani! We miss you all already!
Written March 28, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Ashley! Thank you so much for such a nice review. It was a pleasure to meet you and all your lovely friends. We are so happy that we got to share your birthday with you, as it was so much fun to be with such lively, kind and fun group! Thank you for sharing it with us, and we are so happy that you enjoyed it as much as we did. Eskerrik asko!!! Zach, Irene and Janire
Written April 3, 2023
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

HULLBORNANDBRED
Kingston Upon Hull3 contributions
Jul 2020 • Family
We booked this tour for the first night of a five day trip to Bilbao and we were not disappointed. It was an excellent start to our holiday and gave us a real
Insight into Basque culture, food and drink. Irene was our guide for the night and did a brilliant job. We sampled some amazing food that we would not have known to order ourselves - all washed down down with some delicious wines. All in all a really enjoyable evening that we would thoroughly recommend. One tip would be to turn up hungry as the food just doesn’t stop coming!
Written July 19, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thank you so much for the review HULLBORNANDBRED! It was my great pleasure to show you my city and of course the great pintxos and wine! Thanks again and take care, Irene
Written July 22, 2020
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

margaretsuen09
Seattle, WA1 contribution
Oct 2021
We had the best time touring the Basque country with Zack and Irene. They went above and beyond their call to accommodate our travel needs. They both are very personable and passionate about their service which made our tour pleasant and enjoyable. We have already passed on their company information to our friends and we highly recommend them.
Written October 22, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Margaret and Raymond, Thank you so very much for taking the time to post a review for us. It was such a pleasure to spend time with you both, and thanks for treating us like family. We really appreciate it and so glad you enjoyed your tours. All the best. Zach and Irene
Written October 24, 2021
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

Constance
Hyannis, MA13 contributions
Jun 2022 • Friends
Four of us were staying in San Sebastián then Bilbao. We booked a multi day tour that included trips from both cities. All of our trips were so much fun and we learned so much about the entire region. They were so helpful with the pre-planning with suggestions for lodging and restaurants. My friends and I highly recommend Zach & Irene’s company, The Best of Basque.
Written June 2, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Constance, Thank you so very much for a fantastic week together! It was such a pleasure to get to know you all. Thank you for the kind review, we greatly appreciate it. Take care ladies! Zach and Irene
Written June 3, 2022
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

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