Camping in Biscay: Bilbao, Urdaibai and the Atlantic coast
Biscay brings together in its territory the most striking contrast in the Basque Country: an industrial metropolis reinvented as a first-rate cultural and gastronomic landmark, alongside a coast and rural interior of outstanding natural beauty. Bilbao is the great city of northern Spain and its transformation from the 1990s to today is one of the most frequently cited cases of urban regeneration in the world. The Guggenheim Museum, the work of Frank Gehry, triggered that process and remains the symbol of the new city, but travellers who stay beyond the museum discover the Ribera market, the old town of the Siete Calles, the Nervión estuary with its historic bridges and a lively city atmosphere where pintxos and neighbourhood life coexist with cutting-edge architecture.
The Biscay coast stretches from Zierbena, at the mouth of the Nervión, to Ondarroa on the border with Gipuzkoa. Sopelana, Plentzia and Bakio are beaches open to the Atlantic with regular surf that attracts surfers all year round. Bakio also produces the Biscay txakoli, a local white wine that is poured from a height in the bars of the coast. The Ogoño cliffs, at the eastern end of the Urdaibai Biosphere Reserve, rise two hundred metres above the sea and are a spectacle accessible from the village of Elantxobe, one of the most photogenic on the Basque coast.
Urdaibai is the most important natural area in Biscay. Declared a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, it protects an estuary of marshes, riverside woods, dunes and beaches such as Laga and Laida that are among the most beautiful on the Cantabrian coast. Mundaka, at the mouth of the estuary, is home to one of the most famous left-hand waves in the world, a landmark on the professional surfing circuit. The painted forest of Oma, the work of the artist Agustín Ibarrola, is another of the district's unusual attractions: a pine forest whose trunks have been painted to create optical figures as you walk among them. Bermeo, the largest fishing port on the Basque coast, has a fishermen's museum and an authentic seafaring life far removed from postcard tourism.
The Biscay interior is a succession of green valleys with farmhouses, Romanesque churches and a landscape that has not changed much in centuries. The Gorbea Natural Park, shared with Álava, offers the most demanding mountain routes in the province, with impressive beech woods and the Gorbea waterfall as a finale. The Durangaldea district and the Arratia valley are perfect for mountain biking, hiking and rural getaways. Gernika, with the tree that symbolises Basque liberties and the Peace Museum, is a must-stop for anyone wanting to understand the recent history of the Basque Country. Biscay's cuisine has a personality of its own: cod in pil-pil sauce and a la vizcaína, hake in green sauce with clams and baby squid in their ink are emblematic dishes that can be enjoyed in the restaurants around the province's campsites.
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