The Basque Country Travel Guide

The Basque Country (El Pais Vasco in Castilian) is nothing if not seductive, nothing if not intriguing. Visitors come in droves to see the Guggenheim Bilbao Museum, only to discover there’s so much more: bold Bilbao city itself, beautiful Belle Epoque San Sebastián, the two joined by a coastline of long, sandy strands, rocky promontories, and great surfing. Then, they venture farther and uncover the heart and soul of Basque identity at Gernika-Lumo (Guernica in Castilian), feast their eyes on the gently rolling vineyards of Rioja Alavesa, and everywhere gorge themselves on the creatively crafted Basque cuisine, considered by many to be the finest in all of Spain.

The Basques are possibly the oldest traceable ethnic group in Europe. Their language, Euskera (also spelled Euskara), predates other Romance languages, its origins lost in obscurity. One theory holds that Basques are descended from the original Iberians, who inhabited Spain before the arrival of the Celts some 3,500 years ago.

The region calls itself Euskadi, which in the strictest sense refers to the Basque Autonomous Community, with three provinces: Guipúzcoa (whose beautiful beachfront capital is San Sebastián), Bizkaia (with its capital the rejuvenated industrial city of Bilbao), and inland Álava, which contains the wine-growing region of Rioja Alavesa. In the minds of Basque nationalists, Euskadi also includes northern Navarra and three former French provinces.

The Spanish Basque provinces occupy the eastern part of the Cantabrian Mountains between the Pyrenees and the valley of the Río Nervión. They were largely independent until the 19th century, when they were finally brought to heel by Madrid, though the central government continued to recognize their ancient rights and privileges—that is, until 1876, when the region rebelled over succession to the Spanish throne and subsequently lost its special status.

During the Spanish Civil War (1936–39), the Basques were on the losing Republican side; Franco’s subsequent oppression (including a ban on the Basque language) led to deep-seated resentment against Madrid. Between 1968 and 2011 the Basque separatist movement, ETA (Euskadi ta Askatasuna, or Basque Nation and Liberty), and the French organization Enbata (Ocean Wind) engaged in guerrilla activity, mainly killings and kidnappings, fighting for a united Basque state. ETA declared a ceasefire in 2011, and in 2017 began to decommission its weapons; in 2018 it announced the intention to disband.

Basque nationalists now express their fierce sense of identity through the ballot box, and although you will still see nationalist graffiti and banners, the region’s relative economic strength has eroded the appeal of separatism. The Basques are pragmatists, and compared to the rest of Spain, life is pretty good in Euskadi. Now eager to bolster their economy through tourism, the people welcome visitors keen to discover their unique, profound culture. And for those visitors, the deeper they dig, the more cultural treasures they will find.