Finding the best things to do in the Basque Country (Euskadi)
Your Basque Country adventures come in all shapes and sizes. There are just so many options for anyone planning a trip to this region that it can, honestly, be quite overwhelming. I know it has been for me and I’m a professional traveller and travel planner who loves nothing more than planning the next adventure.
I decided to write this article to share my favourite activities & adventures in the region with you. Most of them are things I’ve already done and absolutely loved. Some (which will be clearly marked), I haven’t yet managed to do but they’re firmly on a list for my next visits to this stunning region.
Why is the Basque Country so special?
(AKA: why is Cassie so obsessed?)
✅ The Basque Country, thanks to its geography, remains something of a secluded and special place. It has a fascinating (if tragic at times) history and its language couldn’t be more different from Spanish
✅ It’s beautifully lush & green and there are mountains everywhere – trust me, the exclamations of joy never stop as you explore
✅ It’s a coastal region and the coastline will blow your mind
✅ The cuisine focuses on seafood and fresh ingredients and is generally considered to be the best cuisine in Spain, and one of the best in the whole world
✅ This region comes in strong on everything art & culture – we can find art spanning millennia – from neolithic cave paintings, through Roman art to its thriving modern art scene that includes numerous high profile festivals
➕ The main cities of San Sebastián & Bilbao both receive a large number of tourists every year but once you leave these cities, you won’t find crowds of tourists, making this a truly special place for your adventuring
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Before we go any further, we need to stop for a quick note on languages – if you don’t want to read it, you can skip straight down to the next section
What’s in a name?
Quite a lot, actually, particularly in this region of Spain. You aren’t just visiting another part of Spain when you visit the Basque Country. You’re in a deeply complicated place that actually spans the border between Spain & France, where some people still wish for independence, and many more see themselves as a distinct people, where culture, history & language are embedded into everything.
In the local language, the region is called Euskal Herria or Euskadi (although these are technically slightly different things)
🇪🇸 País Vasco 🇫🇷 Pays Basque 🇬🇧 Basque Country
What languages are spoken in the Basque Country?
Euskara (called Basque in 🇬🇧 and Vasca in 🇪🇸)
Castellano / Spanish
And, many people, especially in the bigger cities and tourist spots also speak great English
So let’s now, look at some of the incredible things there are to do in the Basque Country and how you might get around the region.
Transport options in the Basque Country
🚘 Book a rental car and explore according to your own desires and rhythms (always my personal preference)
→ Read the full MexicoCassie guide to driving around Spain
🚊 Use the train service (Euskotren) that links Bilbao & San Sebastián and villages between them as well as the Basque Y that links the 3 main cities (Bilbao, San Sebastián & Vitoria)
🚌 There are buses linking the 3 big cities of the Basque Country as well as smaller villages.
👣 And of course, there are some incredible tours and day trips on offer. I generally use Viator & GetYourGuide to find my tour options, although in this region, you may also have to wait to book some tours or classes when you’re in town.
Explore the Basque coast
For me, I think that there’s maybe nowhere on Earth as beautiful as the Basque Coast. Huge statement, I know, but I stand by it. I’ve been brought to tears by the beauty of our planet many times in my life but here, it’s as if time stands still to ensure you really have time to appreciate the rugged beauty of these beaches.
Whether you’re into active coastal adventures or prefer to take things a little more gently, you won’t find any shortage of joy along the Bay of Biscay’s coast. From arduous hikes (my favourite) and surfing to cliff top picnics & lazy beach days, you’ll surely find your pace and your place.
Beaches to visit along the Basque coast
Let’s take a quick look at some of the great beaches you can visit in the Basque Country – pretty much all of these beaches are linked to towns/villages where you can find hotels should you wish to base yourself in a small beach town. I’ve been to most of the beaches on this list.
Hondarribia – this beach is a delight to enjoy while gazing into France. Very calm, great for kids. Nearby Irún has a wonderful museum.
San Sebastián-Donostia – this popular tourist town is home to 3 beaches, all sandy and beautiful, one that’s great for surfing- Zurriola.
🏄🏾♀️ Find surfing options when in town but book calmer boat tour options in advance
Zarautz – at 2.5 km long, this is the longest beach in all of Eusakdi. This beach is good for anyone wanting to learn to surf.
🏄🏾♀️ Find surfing classes when you’re in town
Zumaia – a small beach that is good for water sports. Here you’ll also see people paddle boarding along the river into town.
Deba – I visited at the end of a long hike when there wasn’t good weather. The waves were pretty big but I’ve others say this is a good beach for water fun.
Mutriku – despite this being one of the best beaches in the region, I haven’t actually been here but the reviews I’ve read make it sound wonderful. There are two natural pools that remain full even at low tide, one is nicely shallow, making it perfect for the kids.
🏨 Check out your hotel options now
Mundaka – this is Spain’s surfing capital and here you’ll find a left-hand sandbank that can cause a roll of up to 200m when conditions are perfect (which apparently is not all that often, up to 70 times in a year). Definitely not a place for non-experts to surf but could be good if you enjoy watching people surf.
Plentzia – this gorgeous bay of a beach is one of the calmest and most popular places to swim and enjoy the beach in all of the Basque Country (there’s also a nudist beach nearby 😉).
Soplana – officially there are three beaches in the Soplana area, which are great for both surfing and swimming.
🏄🏾♀️ Book surfing class options when you’re in town
🍑 And on Playa Salvaje every year they even hold a 5km naked run – Trofeo Patxi Ros!
➕ of course, if you’re checking out the beaches, why not explore the villages they’re attached to at the same time. Honestly, you could stick a pin in the map to find your perfect Basque coastal village. My favourites are Hondarribia, Getaria, Zumaia & Plentzia.
What else is there to do along the coast?
Whale watching
I tried to book a whale watching boat tour for my family this summer but failed as there are very few boats heading out and I left it too late. I understand that there are actually more boat tours from the French Basque Country than the Spanish so if you miss out on the Spanish side, try looking over the border.
If you do manage to book yourself a tour you could see: sperm whales, porpoises, orcas, and more between April and October every year.
See the Flysche
The Basque Geoparkea is a 13km long section of coast where you can gaze in wonder at landscape formed 60 million years ago. This area was declared a UNESCO Global Geopark in 2015.
While the park is only officially 13km long, there is a 54km viewing trail between Zumaia and Mutriku and one of the best viewing spots is the Algorri lookout (marked on Google Maps). At low tide here you can see a thin layer of black rock that was created at the time of the Chixculub Meteorite (look, a Mexico link 😉) some 65 million years ago. It’s apparently one of the most important places in the world to study the extinction of dinosaurs.
You can hike, drive or even take a boat trip to see the flysch.
→ Book a flysch boat tour from Zumaia
Visit San Juan de Gaztelugatxe
Also known to many around the world as Dragonstone thanks to its Game of Thrones appearance, this gorgeous coastal spot is one of my favourite places to visit, but be warned, there is a lot of walking to be done here so it’s not for everyone.
Essentially, you walk a cliff-side trail down to the narrow stone bridge/stairway you can see in the photo above. Then you walk up the 241 steps to the small church on the rocky island.
⭐️ There is a nice view point about half way down from the carpark if you don’t think you can make it all the way up the steps.
⭐️ It’s free to walk here BUT at busy times you are required to have pre-booked and to show your ticket when you arrive. I went on a weekday during off-season and we didn’t need tickets but you should always check this for yourself. → Reserve your ticket here
→ Check out tour options from both Bilbao & San Sebastián
→ Read the full MexicoCassie guides to taking day trips from Bilbao & San Sebastián
Coastal Hikes
Camino del Norte – The famous Camino del Norte runs along this coast, whether you decide to walk the whole 865 km (540 miles) of this route from Irún to Santiago de Compostela, or you pick a small section of it (which is all I’ve done so far), I just know you’ll have a wonderful time. While the Camino route does eventually head inland, the coastal trails do not stop. The opportunities for day hikes, or a quick stroll along the beach, never end.
Ruta del Flysch – I hiked from San Sebastián to Deba and while I’m not necessarily recommending you take a multi-day hike (I am, I really am), this is honestly one of my favourite hikes I’ve ever done, particularly the section between Zumaia and Deba where my brother and I left the official Camino del Norte trail and instead took the longer, slightly harder but infinitely more rewarding Ruta del Flysch. This is a coastal trail through the Basque Coast Geopark that runs between Zumaia and Mutriku.
Other hikes – I’ve also hiked between Sopela and Plentzia along the cliff tops through heather covered fields, where I turned into the world’s most boring person as the only words out of my mouth were ‘wow’, ‘look, it’s just so gorgeous’, and ‘I think I might cry’ because the views were just so overwhelmingly beautiful.
Explore inland
The majority of people visiting the Basque Country will visit the towns and coastal region but in my opinion, while these are truly phenomenal, if you don’t go inland at least a little, you’re missing out. The inland areas have so much more to offer than most people realise.
This is where my heart really begins to sing. I know I still have so much exploring to do in the interior of the Basque Country’s but the places I have been to will never leave me. This part of Spain is so green, so verdant that it just demands your attention. You’ll find castles, mills, ancient cave art, waterfalls, lakes, mountains, hills and of course, country restaurants serving up incredible food.
🚘 Of course, the easiest way to explore outside of the towns is to rent a car and drive yourself.
Natural Parks in the Basque Country
In this tiny part of the world there are nine natural parks (protected areas). Crazy right? I’ve been to a couple, and driven through a couple more but I am pretty sure that a lifetime of hiking and meandering in this region would never be enough for me.
Urkiola Natural Park – (photo above) I recently spent a day hiking here from a base in Urkiola (where there’s an excellent visitors’ centre and plenty of space to park safely). From Urkiola you can take a good long hike (like I did), or you can have a delightful short walk to a mirador with incredible views over the park and the mountains (I did this too).
Aralar Natural Park – next on my list to visit is Aralar, with its megalithic monuments, cider and Idiazabl cheese. This region is great for climbing and hiking as it’s home to one of the highest peaks in the Basque Country, Txindoki.
Gorbea Natural Park – great for horse riding enthusiasts. Don’t miss the Gujuli waterfall (over 100m), somewhere I had planned to get to this summer but failed to find time for 😭.
Aizkorri-Aratz Natural Park – home to the Basque Country’s highest peak, Aitxuri (1,551m), as well as megalithic monuments. This park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Izki Natural Park – here you’ll find the largest European reserve of black oak trees, which I’d absolutely love to see.
The other parks are Valderejo Natural Park, Armañón Natural Park & Aiako Harria Natural Park
Arte rupestre (paleolithic cave art)
There are 17 cave art sites in the Basque region including the famous and extremely historically important Ekain Cave.
Getting boozy in the vineyards & cider houses
Txakoli
🍾 You may, or may not, have heard of txakoli (chak-oli), a lightly sparkling white wine from the Basque region. It’s good to drink in bars with a pinxto or two and it can also be fun to visit vineyards and taste the wines in situ. There are three regions of the Basque Country that make txokoli – Álba, Gupuzkoa & Biscay.
In Bakio, a place with a long tradition of growing vines and producing Txakoli thanks to its microclimate and location on the coast, you’ll find the Txakolingunea, the Txakoli museum, which is apparently very interesting.
I haven’t visited a vineyard although I did have a tour set up at one point. It was oddly diverted to another activity in which I had no interest so I took myself and my friends off to drink txakoli in Gataria instead (happy photo above). So yes, I recommend visiting a vineyard but haven’t had the opportunity myself yet.
La Rioja is also not far away and is considered to be part of the Basque Country if you’re more interested in non-sparkling wine tours.
→ Check out some awesome txakoli tour options from both Bilbao & San Sebastián
Cider
🍺 I have to begin by admitting that I do not like cider one bit, not even Basque cider but people who do like it tell me it’s very good.
What I do enjoy, though, is a trip to a cider house in the Basque Country. No one forced me to drink cider, it’s fun to watch it come out of the giant barrels and the food (part of the tradition) is excellent and never ending.
A visit to a cider house means sitting at long tables digging into huge meals that include delicious salt cod omelettes, fried cod with peppers, steak, cheese & walnuts as well as the giant barrels of cider.
→ I recommend booking cider house tours directly with the cider houses to get the best deals.
Explore the cities
Phew, ok, let’s take a break from nature and head into town. Two cities are particularly famous in this region: San Sebastián-Donostia & Bilbao. The capital of Euskadi, Vitoria-Gasteiz, is also well worth at least a day of your attention, as are some of the smaller towns.
Vitoria-Gasteiz
Let’s go nuts and start with the capital city rather than its two more popular sibling cities. Inland, and far less visited than either San Sebastián-Donostia or Bilbao, Vitoria-Gasteiz has a lot going for it. It’s not a small city but its casco viejo, where most visitors will wind up, is very small and can be visited in a day.
Nature – Vitoria is famously a ‘green capital’ – there are parks all over, over 170 km of cycle paths & it’s apparently a refuge for globally threatened species. Even the city sign here is ‘green’.
History – don’t miss the Archaeological Museum or the Memorial Museum for the Victims of Terrorism (I have mixed feelings about it and some of the information it didn’t include but overall, it’s a very important place to visit).
🏨 Why not consider spending a few nights in Vitoria-Gasteiz
→ Read the full MexicoCassie guide to exploring Vitoria-Gasteiz
Bilbao
Primarily famous for the incredible Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao feels like a fresh and exciting city to explore. Wander by the river, along the impressive Gran Vía, through the small Casco Viejo, grab a drink on the gorgeous Plaza Grande, visit a museum or two and definitely, definitely, stop for pintxos whenever the mood takes. And don’t forget to take the funicular up the hill to the mirador for marvellous views over the city
→ Read the full MexicoCassie guide to exploring Bilbao
→ Read the full MexicoCassie guide to Bilbao with kids
🏨 Find your perfect hotel in Bilbao (there are also specific recommendations in the MexicoCassie guide if you’re interested)
San Sebastián-Donostia
Few cities are as picturesque as San-Sebastián-Donostia; I can’t imagine anyone heading to Euskadi and not choosing to spend at least a day or two in this gorgeous place. With its 3 stunning beaches, fabulous old town architecture, Basque cheesecake and numerous Michelin rated restaurants, everyone wants a piece of this gorgeous place, and rightly so.
At the very least you’ll want to stroll along the muelle of La Concha Beach, eat your own weight in pinxtos and Basque cheesecake and maybe visit the excellent San Telmo Museum
→ Read the full MexicoCassie guide to exploring San Sebastián & the full guide to exploring San Sebastián with kids
🏨 Consider spending a few days exploring this part of the Basque Country with a base in San Sebastian – find your perfect hotel here or use the MexicoCassie guide for hotel recommendations
⭐️ If you’re interested in learning about the local food scene, then I highly recommend taking a tour with Devour Tours (they’ll fill you full of excellent pintxos, alcohol and information as you explore San Sebastián).
Other, smaller towns and villages, are also great to explore when you’re in Euskadi. These include the following two in particular, as well as the beach towns mentioned above.
Guernica/Gurnika – made forever infamous by the devastation it suffered at the hands of Franco and the Nazis during the Spanish Civil War and Picasso’s painting memorialising it. While you might not think this sounds like a cheery place to visit, it’s a lovely small town with a replica of Picasso’s haunting work to see, a good Peace Museum, and of course, the Assembly House and its iconic tree (which was an important part of Basque political life)
👣 It’s possible to find tours of the smaller Basque coastal towns that include Gurnika, Getaria & more
Laguardia – a small walled town famous for the nearby pre-Roman Celtiberian settlement of La Hoya as well as its modern wine industry, most notably, producing Rioja wines (Denominación de Origen Calificada Rioja).
👣 There are tours that include Laguardia (generally along with La Rioja & Vitoria)
📚 🇪🇸 Read more of MexicoCassie’s Spain guides
→ MexicoCassie guide to whether Spain is safe for tourists
→ MexicoCassie guide to driving in Spain
→ MexicoCassie guide to driving in southern Spain
Sevilla
⭐️ What is Sevilla famous for? | ⭐️ How many days do you need in Seville? | ⭐️ Everything about the Seville airport bus
⭐️ 1 day in Seville | ⭐️ 3 days in Seville | ⭐️ 5 days in Seville | ⭐️ How to visit Seville in the summer | ⭐️ How to visit the Alcazar
⭐️ Best beaches from Seville | ⭐️ Day trips from Seville | ⭐️ Seville with kids | ⭐️ Seville with teenagers | ⭐️ How to see flamenco in Seville
Málaga
⭐️ 3 days in Málaga | ⭐️ 1 day in Málaga | ⭐️ Day trips from Málaga | ⭐️ 1 day in Ronda | ⭐️ 1 day in Ronda with kids | ⭐️ What to do in Antequera | ⭐️ Exploring Málaga with kids
Córdoba
⭐️ What to do in Córdoba | ⭐️ Planning your Córdoba day trip from Seville | ⭐️ Day trips from Córdoba | ⭐️ Exploring Córdoba with kids | ⭐️ 1 day in Córdoba | ⭐️ Zuheros, the most beautiful village in Córdoba
Cádiz
⭐️ What to do in Cádiz province | ⭐️ How to spend 1 day in Cádiz city | ⭐️ What to do in Cádiz with kids | ⭐️ Exploring Tarifa | ⭐️ How to get to Tangier from Tarifa | ⭐️ Exploring Gibraltar
Huelva
⭐️ Is Huelva worth visiting? (YES) | ⭐️ What to see in the gorgeous Aracena
Granada
⭐️ Planning your Granada city break | ⭐️ Granada with kids | ⭐️ 2 days in Granada | ⭐️ How to explore Guadix and its cave houses
Almería
⭐️ Things to do in Almería City | ⭐️ What to do in Almería with kids | ⭐️ Is Almería worth visiting? | ⭐️ Figuring out the Almería beaches
Valencia
⭐️ 1 day in Valencia | ⭐️ 2 days in Valencia | ⭐️ Museums in Valencia ⭐️ Day trips from Valencia | ⭐️ Valencia with kids
Madrid & Central Spain
⭐️ Why should you visit Madrid | ⭐️ Segovia, a perfect day trip from Madrid | ⭐️ Spending 5 awesome days in Madrid | ⭐️ 3-day Madrid itinerary | ⭐️ How to visit Medina del Campo
Basque Country
⭐️ What to do in the Basque Country | ⭐️ Excellent things to do in San Sebastián | ⭐️ Is San Sebastián worth visiting? | ⭐️ How many days do you need in San Sebastián? | ⭐️ Day trips from San Sebastián | ⭐️ San Sebastián with kids | ⭐️ Is Bilbao worth visiting? | Planning and taking day trips from Bilbao | Why Vitoria-Gasteiz is worth visiting?
La Gomera (Canary Island)
⭐️ Hiking on La Gomera | ⭐️ La Gomera with kids | ⭐️ Take a day trip to La Gomera
Extremadura
⭐️ Everything you need to explore Monfragüe | ⭐️ What to do in Mérida | ⭐️ What to do in Cáceres
Cataluña
⭐️ Road trip around Girona Province | ⭐️ Spending 1 day in Girona
