Guipuzkoa tourist information - Guipuzcoa culture, art and beaches - Basque Country

			Spain guide < Home
		Spain provinces villages
	Spain Andalucia enterteinments
Spain Andalucia culture

Car hire Malaga Spain < Home

Contact us

English / Español / François

Basque Country Information: GUIPUZKOA Information - Guipuzkoa Tourism

Gipuzkoa has always nurtured its traditional roots without renouncing-its position at the vangt;tard of technological, business and artistic progress. One of its best expressions is the Museo Chillida-Leku, where a restored 16th century farmhouse surrounded by trees houses the collection that Chillida has been putting together for years.

Tourist beaches and sanctuaries such as those of Loiola and Arantzazu. Towns with a wealth of monuments and industrial cities. Farmhouses set against green mountains and refined cultural activities. Gipuzkoa is a widely varying province in which each different region has its own personality. It is the smallest of the Basque provinces and the one in which the Basque language is spoken by most people. Standing between the sea, the mountains and the border with France, Gipuzkoa offers new discoveries with every valley. Bidasoa, Oiartzun, Urumea, Oria, Urola, Deba. All six are small rivers running almost parallel to one another through the province of Gipuzkoa from the Aizkorri and Aralar ranges into the sea at the Bay of Biscay. These six rivers form valleys separated from one another by mountains, thus contributing to the fact that each region constitutes a microcosmos with its own peculiar characteristics. The coastal towns, with their arrantzale (fishing) tradition, are pretty well used to the influx of tourists who come to enjoy their long, clean beaches. Zarautz, Donostia and Hondarribia are the principal centres of this leisurely seaside Gipuzkoa. This said, visitors wishing to find out more about Basque culture will have to head inland, where the inhabitants of the evergreen valleys still live more or less the same lifestyle as they have done for centuries, a lifestyle based on the farmhouse (baserria) as a unit of agricultural and livestock production. Some of these farmhouses, in addition to their traditional activities, now offer accommodation, or agroturismo. This is the best way to discover areas that don't receive many tourists and are not highly developed, but which nevertheless offer heaps of attractions.

This area's topographic conditions led large parts of the province to live for centuries in virtual isolation and with only the very occasional outside contact. Romanization in Gipuzkoa was late in arriving and only had a superficial effect on its eastern extreme, leaving remains in Irun (the Roman necropolis of Santa Elena hermitage), Hondarribia and Oiartzun. But Gipuzkoa, to which neither the Celts nor the Muslims arrived, did have a certain amount of communication with the exterior in the Middle Ages thanks to the two alternative Roads to Santiago, one along the coast and another via the interior although contacts were limited to the areas near these roads. Definitively annexed to Castile in the 8th century, the Castilian kings founded in Gipuzkoa numerous municipalities from which to control the ways of communication and the borders with the Kingdom of Navarre. These municipalities, which went on to further expand in later centuries, contain the highest concentration of artistic and architectural heritage. Ever since the Middle Ages, the inhabitants of Gipuzkoa have devoted themselves to agriculture, coastal fishing (then including whales) and ironwork to which they would, in time, add trade. During the 19th century industrial revolution, while Bizkaia tended to work at heavy industry, Gipuzkoa preferred to specialise in the light industry sectors, such as paper or machine tools. Industrial concerns established themselves fairly evenly throughout the province, thus contributing to a balanced distribution of the population. But despite the fact that Donostia-San Sebastian and its area have important demographic weight, the capital of Gipuzkoa still has the lowest population ratios in the Basque Country. This decentralisation means that each region has, to a greater or lesser extent, its own monuments, industrial areas and natural spaces, not to mention an excellent selection of leisure activities, and gastronomy, thanks to the unforgettable fact that this is a land of great chefs. These are just some of the characteristics of today's Gipuzkoa, rich in attractions and economic diversification.

ROUND AND ABOUT THE COAST

Gipuzkoa begins to the east with the BidasoaTxingudi region, the border position of which has marked an unsettled past still recalled today at the local festive military parades. HONDARRIBIA was built as a fortified town standing atop a hill from where it dominated the Bidasoa estuary and the border with France. Despite the number of battles to have taken place before its walls, its old town' is still in good condition and contains a number of singular buildings presided over by the castle of Carlos V, now a national parador. As well as discovering the local beach, a visit has just got to be made to the fisherman's neighbourhood of La Marina to see the houses with their colourful flower-filled balconies, not to mention the whole row of bars and terraces on the street below.

The now busy shopping area of IRUN was the place chosen for settlement by the Romans due to its strategic situation, as explained in the museum at the hermitage of Santa Elena. Between Irun and Donostia-San Sebastian is a highly populated area, a corridor running from the coastal hill of Jaizkibel to the Aiako Harria (Peñas de Aia), and the nature reserve corresponding to the village of OIARTZUN. ERRENTERIA has particularly suffered from industrial deterioration, although it nevertheless has an interesting old quarter. Less affected is Pasai Donibane, the prettiest of the three parts of PASAIA, the biggest port in Gipuzkoa. Pasai Donibane consists of one long, picturesque street running round the bay and lined with typical fishermen's houses, small mansions and stately homes. Following the river Urumea inland will bring us to ASTIGARRA, the cider capital, and to HERNANI, one of the most history-packed towns in Gipuzkoa. This township is home of the Museo ChillidaLeku, the open-air museum dedicated to the work of sculptor Eduardo Chillida, standing in a 12hectare garden containing over 40 large sculptures.

The Museum's restored 16th century farmhouse offers a selection of smaller-sized works. Heading along the coast from Donostia-San Sebastian will bring us to ORIO, with its beach and its old quarter, where the houses are built so close to one another that they form a real wall. The entrance into Pagoeta Park, a splendid natural area in which we will find the Agorregi forge and mill, is accessed from the Orio-Zarautz road. Elegant ZARAUTZ beach is the longest in Gipuzkoa and a real surfers' paradise. Zarautz has a wealth of architecturally interesting buildings such as the Torre Luzea or Palacio de Narros. This second most important tourist spot, only surpassed by Donostia-San Sebastian, becomes a busy cultural and festive venue during the summer months.

Zarautz marks the beginning of the most spectacular stretch of the N-634, or the "coast road", which closely follows the sea until reaching the village of Zumaia. Half way between the two is GETARIA, balanced on a narrow strip of land heading out towards the sea and culminating in Mount San Ant6n, popularly known as the "mouse of Getaria". This village is the birthplace of famous people such as the navigator Juan Sebastian Elkano or the fashion designer Crist6bal Balenciaga. In addition to tasting txakoli and grilled fish, we should also visit the church of San Salvador, one of the best examples of Gothic architecture to be found in the Basque Country. ZUMAIA has two beaches: Itzurun and Santiago, and a fabulous old quarter with the remains of its medieval layout. After having walked around its steep streets, take a pleasurable stroll along the long maritime promenade accompanying the river Urola on its last stretch before flowing into the sea. Before reaching Zumaia, the Urola, born on the border between Gipuzkoa and Alava, runs through a valley packed with interesting places including Zestoa, Azpeitia and Azkoitia. Well before the medicinal properties of its waters were known, ZESTOA was already inhabited by important families, such as the residents of the Gothic Palacio de Lili, now a listed building, not to mention the Town Hall, likewise listed. But Zestoa is famous for its spa centre, a well-known place of rest and thermal cures.

AZPEITIA, with its Museo Vasco del Ferrocarril, and AZKOITIA, with its parish church of Santa Marfa la Real, have plenty of attractions in themselves. Both stand at the same distance on either side of the grandiose Loiola Sanctuary, built next to the tower-house where Saint Ignatius of Loiola, founder of the Society of Jesus, was born. Although construction of this building began in the 17th century, the expulsion of Jesuits from Spain meant that the work wasn't finished until the late 19th century. Surrounded by rambling gardens and a large square, the basilica of Loiola was designed by one of Bernini's disciples. The most outstanding elements are its Baroque facade and its 55-metre dome. Back on the coast, DEBA still has the flavour of traditional summer resorts, with a carefully tended boulevard and pretty villas. This village was in fact built by the inhabitants of the neighbouring ITZIAR, located on a hill standing somewhat inland where we can visit the sanctuary of the same name. Oeba leads us into the Lastur valley with its very definite rural atmosphere.

Hidden away in MUTRIKU, the last village on the coast of Gipuzkoa, is the house where Admiral Txurruka was born. This township is home of one of the least developed and most charming beaches, Saturraran.