Starting point Orozko Museum

With this day plan, we’ll visit the municipalities at the foot of the Gorbeia and Urkiola Natural Parks.

We’ll begin at the Orozko Ethnographic Museum. We recommend exploring this space in an 18th-century manor house, ideal for families, friends or enjoying on your own. By walking through its three floors, you’ll learn about the history of the Orozko Valley, its palaces and manor houses, churches and hermitages, and the importance of its rivers as a source of energy. It’s worth highlighting an exhibition whose proposal offers a rereading of the presence of women in history and in the historical discourse, especially in activities associated with the tasks assigned to them and their invisibility in terms of historical relevance. On the ground floor, you’ll find the Gorbeia tourist office, where you can take the opportunity to pick up information for the rest of the day.

The next stop is Areatza, whose historic centre is classified as a Cultural Asset in the Monumental Complex category, and with the help of a QR code you can follow a self-guided route through its narrow cobbled streets. You can also visit its interpretation centre located in the same town hall square. We leave Areatza and within a few kilometres we arrive in Zeanuri. We can stroll among farmhouses and head to the Saldropo wetland to enjoy the woodland and beech forests and take a short walk.

We continue our route and arrive in Otxandio. Otxandio is one of the most characteristic towns in our area. The Basque language survives in the streets, among young and old alike, as they go out for pintxos (Basque tapas) and potes (drinks) around town. Come and join in this culinary tradition, which is undoubtedly a hallmark of the Basque Country.

We’ll finish the day in Dima, which stretches along both sides of the Indusi Valley, a tributary of the Arratia, extending south to Mount Goikogana. From the mountains of the Urkiola Natural Park, which you can access from Dima, known as “the little Basque Switzerland”, you can see all the summits of the neighbouring Gorbeia Natural Park. If you’ve still got time, you can’t miss its mythological route to the Baltzola caves.