The Basque Coast, End to End
From the French border to the river at Bilbao: the fishing villages, surf beaches and cliffs of Gipuzkoa and Bizkaia, in roughly the order you would drive them.
- Cities & Villages11
- Sights & Nature7
- Food & Drink1
Basque Country
- Trip Anchor1
- Overnight2
- Worth a Detour4
- Quick Stop4
- Recommended4
- Optional4
- Spain's Best Small Towns · 5 shared places
- Northern Spain in Two Weeks · 3 shared places
- Working Ports: The Fishing Coast · 3 shared places
- Spain's Best Food Cities · 2 shared places
The Basque coast is barely 150 kilometres long and almost every village on it is worth an hour, which is the argument for doing part of it properly rather than all of it badly. The trap is treating San Sebastián and Bilbao as the whole region: the best of it sits in between, at Getaria, Zumaia, Mundaka and on the steps up to Gaztelugatxe. The eastern half works by train; the western half wants a car.
19 places
Urdaibai Estuary
A tidal estuary of marshes and sandbanks, with the best surf beach on the coast at its mouth.
Flysch de Zumaia
Cliffs of vertically tilted rock between Zumaia and Deba, with a coastal path along the top.
Mundaka
A harbour village at the mouth of the Urdaibai estuary, with a wave surfers travel for.
Lekeitio
The best-looking harbour on the Bizkaian coast, with a basilica whose roof is a ship's hull.
San Juan de Gaztelugatxe
A chapel on a rock reached by a stone bridge and 241 steps, above the most dramatic stretch of the Basque coast.
Zarautz
A surf town with two kilometres of sand, twenty minutes from San Sebastián at half the price.
Pasai Donibane
One street, houses touching overhead, and a small ferry from the other side of the bay.
Zumaia
A small port where the cliffs expose sixty million years of rock in vertical stripes.
Bermeo
The Basque Country's most serious fishing port, with working boats in the harbour and almost no visitors.
Elantxobe
A village clinging to a cliff, with one square, one harbour and no room for a car.
Deba
The western end of the flysch coast: a stone old town, a good beach, and a Camino stage.
San Sebastián
The ultimate culinary pilgrimage destination featuring world-class pintxos and pristine beaches
Txakoli de Getaria
Refreshing, slightly effervescent Basque white wine from Getaria, traditionally poured from a height
Hondarribia
A fortified Basque fishing village with an old walled town and a strong pintxos scene.
Getaria
A tiny fishing village renowned for grilled turbot and traditional Txakoli wine with a view
Monte Igueldo
A hilltop viewpoint with the classic curved-bay view of San Sebastián, reached by a vintage funicular.
La Concha
A perfect crescent of golden sand in the heart of San Sebastián.
Playa de Laida
A tidal beach within the Urdaibai Biosphere Reserve near Mundaka in the Basque Country.
Playa de Zarautz
A long sandy beach in the surf town of Zarautz on the Basque coast.
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