Private transfer from Bilbao Airport to Pamplona / Iruña

Pamplona fills up every July for San Fermín (6-14 July), when the encierro runs each morning along Calle Estafeta into the Plaza de Toros and Hemingway fans crowd Café Iruña on the Plaza del Castillo. Outside the festival it is a walkable Navarrese capital: the Casco Viejo, the Catedral de Santa María la Real, and the star-shaped Ciudadela with its green ramparts. It's also a key waypoint on the Camino de Santiago, so pilgrims arrive year-round after crossing the Pyrenees from Roncesvalles. Others come for the Universidad de Navarra, its teaching hospital, or as a base for the Bardenas Reales badlands and the wineries of the Navarra and nearby Rioja regions.

Bilbao Airport sits at Loiu, north of the city. The route skirts Bilbao and joins the AP-68 motorway heading south-east, climbing away from the coast towards the Álava plain and Vitoria-Gasteiz, then follows the A-1 corridor eastward towards Navarra before dropping into Pamplona on the A-10/A-15. It's motorway or fast dual carriageway almost the whole way, roughly 155 km and about an hour and three-quarters with normal traffic. The terrain is inland and rolling rather than coastal: you leave the green Basque hills, cross open farmland and cereal country, and see the Pyrenean foothills ahead as you near Pamplona. The final approach into the Casco Viejo means narrow one-way streets, so hotels near the old town are best reached by a driver who knows the access points.

During San Fermín the Casco Viejo is closed to traffic and streets around Plaza del Castillo and the bull-run route are barricaded, so agree a realistic drop-off point (often the edge of the old town near the Ciudadela or Plaza del Castillo) and expect a short walk with luggage. Book well ahead for those July dates, as demand across the region peaks. If your plans include the Bardenas Reales or a Camino stage, tell the driver so intermediate stops can be arranged. Bilbao Airport is compact with a single main terminal, which makes meeting your driver straightforward. In winter, the inland stretch near Álava can be colder and foggier than the coast, so allow a little extra time in poor visibility.