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If you're already in Logroño, Rioja wine country starts at the edge of town. Laguardia is about twenty minutes away by car, Haro under an hour. From Bilbao it's roughly an hour and a quarter to the vineyards, and from Pamplona about an hour to Logroño.
That's why these trips are shorter and, at their best, more personal than the long days out of San Sebastián. Below are seven, from a €50 coach trip to a €295 day with a winery owner. The one thing to check on almost all of them is how many wines you'll actually taste.
| Tour | From | Wineries | Lunch | Rating | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rioja Wine Route with a Winery Owner | Logroño, Laguardia, Haro | 3 + his own | At his winery | ★ 5.0 (60) | €295 |
| La Rioja Wines & Laguardia | Logroño, Pamplona | 2* | In Laguardia* | ★ 5.0 (52) | from €90* |
| La Rioja Wines & Laguardia | Bilbao | 2* | In Laguardia* | ★ 5.0 (136) | from €90* |
| Marqués de Riscal & Ysios with Lunch | Bilbao | 2 | 3 courses | ★ 5.0 (33) | €269 |
| Vineyards & Traditional Winery | Bilbao | 2 | Not included | ★ 4.9 (38) | €75 |
| Rioja Winery & Vitoria-Gasteiz | Bilbao | 1 | Not included | ★ 4.7 (87) | €70 |
| Haro, Laguardia & Two Wineries | Bilbao | 2, 3 wines in all | Not included | ★ 4.4 (219) | €50 |
Prices, ratings, review counts, itineraries, inclusions and cancellation terms come from each linked listing and its recent and lowest-rated reviews, checked 7 November 2026. Prices are per person. All seven can be cancelled free up to 24 hours ahead. *The "from €90" price on the two Laguardia tours is the lowest across their options and group sizes, and is probably the cheaper "bilingual group" option, which drops the second winery, the lunch and the hotel pickup. One guest this year paid £212 a head for the full day.
The short answer:If you're staying in Logroño, Laguardia or Haro and can spend €295, book the Rioja Wine Route with a winery owner: eight people at most, three tastings, and a long lunch with his family at a winery built in 1881. On a smaller budget, book the La Rioja Wines & Laguardia tour from Logroño or Bilbao, and pick the small-group option, not the bilingual one. From Bilbao on €75, book the Vineyards & Traditional Winery tour.
Logroño, Bilbao or Pamplona: where to start
Logroño is the best base. It's the capital of La Rioja, Laguardia is about 18 kilometers away, and Haro about 50. The tours here are the shortest, around six or seven hours, so you're back in time to eat on Calle Laurel (more on that below).
Bilbao is about an hour from Haro on the AP-68, and a bit more to Laguardia, so the day trips run eight or nine hours. Most meet near the Guggenheim. Two of the cheaper ones also add a stop that has little to do with wine, Vitoria-Gasteiz or a viewpoint over Marqués de Riscal.
Pamplona is about an hour from Logroño on the toll-free A-12. One thing to watch: Viator files some Rioja tours under Pamplona even though they pick up in Logroño and the villages, not in Pamplona. The winery owner tour below is one of them. If you're staying in Pamplona, the Laguardia tour on GetYourGuide is the one with a real Pamplona departure.
If you're coming from San Sebastián instead, I've compared six Rioja day trips from San Sebastián, along with hotels in the wine villages.
What to check before you pay
Which option you've picked on the Laguardia tours. The same company runs the Logroño, Bilbao and Pamplona versions. Each one has a cheaper "bilingual group" option, and the itinerary notes in brackets say what it drops: the second winery, the lunch and the hotel pickup. In return you get a 15-minute photo stop outside Marqués de Riscal. On the Logroño version that option also needs at least four adults to run. The "from €90" price is the lowest across options and group sizes, and one reviewer this year paid £212 a head for the full day. Check the option and the total before you pay.
How many wines are in the "tasting". The €50 coach trip from Bilbao pours three wines across the whole day, one at the first winery and two at the second, and the operator itself describes it as a sightseeing tour. That's fine if you want Haro and Laguardia with a little wine. It isn't a wine day.
The seven tours
Details come from each tour's listing, linked under each one, and from the recent and lowest-rated reviews, read on 7 November 2026.
1. Rioja Wine Route with a Winery Owner, €295
5.0 stars, 60 reviews, 6 to 7 hours, max 8 people, pickup in Logroño, Laguardia, Elciego or Haro.
It shares the best record on the page with #4, and it's the most personal. Your guide is José, who owns La Bodega del Tesoro in Cuzcurrita de Río Tirón, a winery from 1881 that he has restored. The morning goes on the landscape and the rules behind Rioja labels, with tastings at three other wineries in Rioja Alta or Rioja Alavesa. Then you go back to his winery for a visit, a tasting and a long traditional lunch. Reviewers describe five courses and his family at the table, and that lunch is what they remember.
Pickups start around 9:45 in Logroño, 10:15 in the Laguardia and Elciego area, and 10:30 near Haro, so agree yours when you book. Every review that's actually about this tour gives five stars. The only two one-star reviews were clearly posted to the wrong business, one of them about a campsite. Wines beyond the selected tastings are extra. People book it about six weeks ahead, on average.
2. La Rioja Wines & Laguardia from Logroño (or Pamplona), from €90
5.0 stars, 52 reviews on Viator, 6 hours, starts 9:45, max 30 on Viator.
On the small-group option, you're collected from your hotel in Logroño or anywhere in La Rioja, or you meet at the bus station. You visit two small or medium wineries with a tasting at each, then get a guided walk round Laguardia and a lunch of Riojan dishes with a glass of wine. Reviewers single out passionate winery hosts and the lunch; the guides they name include Eduardo, Iker and Josu. Vegetarian and gluten-free are possible if you say so when you book; it isn't recommended for vegans.
The bilingual option is a much thinner day, so read the section above before you pay. The one low review, from May this year, came from a guest who paid £212 a head and found the day muddled. This tour doesn't go inside Marqués de Riscal, which disappointed one guest in October. Viator calls it a small group but allows up to 30. The same company sells it on GetYourGuide with a Pamplona departure and small groups of up to eight, starting at 10:15.
Check the Logroño tour Check the Pamplona departure
3. La Rioja Wines & Laguardia from Bilbao, from €90
5.0 stars, 136 reviews, 8 hours, max 15 people, hotel pickup in Bilbao or meet at the Guggenheim's Puppy.
The Bilbao version of the tour above, and the most-reviewed small-group trip from Bilbao. Two wineries with tastings (the overview says three wines in all), then lunch and a guided walk in Laguardia. The hotel pickup and small van make it easy, and the guides, Asier most often, cover Basque history as well as wine. One wished for more time in Laguardia. The bilingual option drops the same things here: the second winery, the lunch and the pickup.
The only low review is from 2024: cruise passengers whose start time was moved an hour earlier the night before, and who were left behind. If you're arriving by ship, tell the company and keep your phone on.
4. Marqués de Riscal & Ysios with Lunch, from Bilbao, €269
5.0 stars, 33 reviews, 8.5 hours, max 8 people, adults only, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
The architecture day, and unlike the cheaper tours, it goes inside. At Marqués de Riscal, the winery with the Frank Gehry building, there's a full guided visit and a tasting of three wines with cheese and cured meats. At Ysios, Santiago Calatrava's wave-roofed winery, you taste two of its premium wines. After a short walk in Laguardia comes a three-course lunch with wine. That's five wines plus lunch, with eight people at most.
It meets at a bakery in central Bilbao, not your hotel, and the listing warns there's a similarly named one nearby. Once, the driver moved the pickup spot. There are no low reviews, but most of the 33 are on Tripadvisor rather than Viator. People book it about nine weeks ahead, the longest lead time here, so it fills up.
5. Vineyards & Traditional Winery from Bilbao, €75
4.9 stars, 38 reviews, 9 hours, minivan or bus, lunch not included.
The best value from Bilbao. Two wineries, each with a tasting and something to eat. Reviewers name the first as Finca La Emperatriz, out among the vines; the second is a traditional cave cellar, and the listing places it under Laguardia's streets. There's a guided walk in Laguardia and two hours free there for lunch, which you pay for yourself. Reviewers like walking the vineyard and the cave cellar. The guide they name most is Igor.
It runs in Spanish and English together, and it meets at the Meliá Bilbao rather than your hotel. Of the two low reviews, one says the outdoor tasting in the listing photo never happened; the operator replied that rain moved it indoors. It isn't for children under four.
6. Rioja Winery & Vitoria-Gasteiz from Bilbao, €70
4.7 stars, 87 reviews, 9 hours, about 3.5 hours of driving, lunch not included.
From the same company as #5, and half a wine day. You get a walk round Laguardia and a tasting in a cellar under the village, which reviewers name as Viña Sperí, then free time for lunch. In the afternoon you head to Vitoria-Gasteiz, the Basque capital, for a guided walk and a tasting of Basque sweets. The number of wines isn't stated.
Reviewers like the small group and the cave cellar. The complaints, none of them since May 2025, are about too much time in the van and short town visits. If wine is the point, pay the extra €5 for #5.
7. Haro, Laguardia & Two Wineries from Bilbao, €50
4.4 stars, 219 reviews, 9 hours, coach, lunch not included.
The cheapest day, and a good sightseeing trip. It visits CVNE, one of the century-old wineries by the station in Haro, then a walk in Haro and in Laguardia, where you visit a small traditional cellar that reviewers name as El Fabulista. On the way back you stop in Elciego to see Marqués de Riscal from outside.
It has 27 reviews of three stars or less, and the commonest complaint is three wines all day, one at CVNE and two at El Fabulista, sometimes just the basic white. The tour runs in English and Spanish at once, and this year's low reviews also mention a guide arriving late. If you want Haro and Laguardia for €50, it does that. If you want to taste Rioja, book #5.
Quick decision
- The best day, staying in La Rioja: #1, the winery owner, €295.
- On a budget from Logroño or Pamplona: #2, the small-group option.
- From Bilbao, the full day with lunch: #3, the small-group option.
- You want to go inside the famous buildings: #4, Riscal and Ysios.
- From Bilbao on €75: #5.
- Sightseeing first, wine second: #7.
Get the free Spain food guide
Six pages to keep on your phone: how tapas and pintxos work, the phrases that get you served, and what to eat in Madrid, Barcelona and San Sebastián.
Calle Laurel, the night before
If you base yourself in Logroño, eat on Calle Laurel. It's a narrow street of about 200 meters in the old town, packed with pincho bars, and most of them are known for one or two things. The tradition is to have the specialty and a glass of Rioja, then move next door. It gets going late in the evening.
The most famous is Bar Soriano, around the corner on the Travesía de Laurel, which is known for one pincho: grilled mushrooms topped with a prawn. Bar Ángel does mushrooms too. Other bars are known for grilled pig's ear or patatas bravas. Calle San Juan nearby is quieter and more local.
Haro and the station wineries
If you have a car and a spare day, Haro has something no tour above covers properly. Next to the town's railway station sits a cluster of century-old wineries, set up there from the late 1800s on to ship wine by train: López de Heredia (1877), CVNE (1879), Gómez Cruzado (1886), La Rioja Alta (1890) and Bodegas Bilbaínas (1901), joined later by Muga and Roda. They're a short walk apart, so you can book two or three visits and walk between them. López de Heredia is the hardest to get into, so email it well ahead.
When to go
Harvest, from late summer into autumn, is the most interesting time and the busiest, and some wineries limit visits while they're bringing grapes in. Late spring is easier: green vines and long evenings. Winter is quiet and the cellars are just as good, though the vines are bare. For how Rioja's zones, grapes and aging labels work, see what Rioja actually is in the San Sebastián guide.
More wine in Spain: Rioja from San Sebastián, Ribera del Duero from Madrid, Penedès from Barcelona, and how Rioja and Ribera del Duero compare. For the food, see San Sebastián and how pintxos work.