17th September 2024
TR Tours - The Grand Pyrenean Tour
Our Spanish travel partner Classics on the Road has launched a new tour for the 17 to 24 September 2024. This tour is dedicated to TR Register Car Club members. The tour starts and finishes in Pamplona, so make your own way there by either driving through France or take the Brittany Ferries route from Portsmouth to Bilbao. Here’s what Classics on the Road have to say about this spectacular tour:
The Pyrenees extend for more than 400 kilometres, acting as a natural border between Spain and the rest of Europe. Nature, history, culture and gastronomy will all be blended to create some of the most astonishing itineraries we ever have driven.
This great mix, together with great hotels and exclusive visits and activities will make this Pyrenean Grand Tour one you will always remember. The tour includes 7 nights in carefully selected hotels with dinner (wine & water included) every night and a guided visit to the Loarre Castle. You will also receive a welcome pack including rally plates, a very detailed road book with tulip notes and lots of information about the places you will drive through, recommendations for lunch, visits, stops and tips to make the most out of this grand tour.
Day 1 – those arriving on the ferry to Bilbao will take a scenic drive to Pamplona, where the stay will be at the Castillo de Gorraiz Hotel, where a welcome dinner will take place and participants will receive a tour briefing and the tour´s welcome packs and road books.
Day 2 – visit the Irati Natural Park which is the second biggest beech and fir tree forest in Europe. It extends over three valleys and we know an amazing road that will take you from side to side of the park and finish with the beautiful mountain pass of Larrau.
Day 3 - another unforgettable drive will take travellers to the northern side of the Pyrenees, and most of the itinerary will be across the mind-blowing scenery of this protected French National Park, including some challenging roads! The destination today is the small village of Gèdre, where the tour will stop for the night at the Breche de Roland Hotel, a family run hotel where the owner will prepare a nice dinner for the group.
Day 4 - today the Road Book will take you back to Spain through some of the most challenging roads of the Tour de France bicycle race. The famous Col du Tourmalet and the Col d’Aspin will be on the route before crossing the border through the Bielsa Tunnel and arriving to the small village of Bierge, where the stay for the next 3 nights will be at the Hosteria de Guara, a small family run hotel.
Day 5 - north from our hotel, millions of years of erosion have carved deep gorges and canyons in a natural park called Guara, creating a unique and beautiful scenery. Today’s proposed route will cross this natural park before entering the narrow Añisclo Canyon which is is as close as you can get to the Ordesa National Park by car. The road will leave you speechless, with a 300 feet natural wall on your left and the Bellos River on you right, Añisclo is one of the most beautiful roads we have ever driven.
Day 6 - Loarre fortress is considered the most outstanding Romanesque castle in all of Spain. Its irregular floor plan and impressive double walls, adorned with cylindrical towers, are silent witnesses of centuries of history and architectural evolution. In its history, it has been both a royal residence and an Augustinian convent. Surrounded by landscapes that have witnessed epic battles and journeys of conquerors over the centuries, The roads to reach the Castle and to return to the hotel will also be spectacular.
Day 7 - a great drive will take travellers back to Pamplona stopping to enjoy the sights of Los Mallos de Riglos, enormous reddish conglomerate rocks, formed when eroded material washed down from the slopes of the Pyrenees and became cemented together by limestone. You can also visit the Monastery of San Juan de la Peña, partially excavated under a rock. In Pamplona, a farewell dinner will take place at the hotel.
Day 8 - the tour will finish after breakfast to allow those going back to the UK to catch the Ferry from Bilbao. Alternatively take a leisurely drive back through France.
If you have not booked an overseas tour yet for 2024, then this could be the one for you. Classics on the Road have an excellent reputation with our members for their selection of hotels, driving routes and places to visit. This is all based on their local knowledge. They research and test drive every route to ensure that you will experience the best of the Pyrenees.
There are limited spaces, so be quick if you want one of them to be yours! Please click here: https://sites.google.com/view/... for more details and to book your place. Alternatively you can call Stewart Cusden on +34 619 722 185.