5 ways to experience authentic Basque culture

Basque Country is a region that spans the westernmost Pyrenees in adjacent parts of northern Spain and southwestern France. But the oldest and most traditional Basque lands don’t lie in the official ‘Basque Country’. They lie in the Pyrenean foothills of northern Navarre. This was the first – and only – ever Basque Kingdom and it is here where Basque traditions and culture is strongest.

Head to the Bidosoa and Baztan Valleys where you’ll find rural communities and villages like Ituren and Zubieta where farmers graze small herds of cows and sheep, the land is dotted with Bronze Age burial mounds, and locals celebrate some of the oldest festivals in Europe.

Some of the best home-cooked Basque cuisine can be found during communal Basque feasts in the village squares. Lambs are roasted on spits, pepper stews bubble in huge hot pots, and local dry cider and wines flow freely.

Basque ‘talos’ – a traditional chapatti-styled corn bread served with spicy sausage, ‘txistorra’, and local cheeses – are also popular with the farming population. They are often prepared at 16^th century watermills in the Baztan valley so make sure you try one when you visit.

80% of land in Basque territory is communal, allowing total freedom to roam. The medieval landscape is criss-crossed by age-old shepherding routes and smuggling trails and dissected by fast-flowing rivers. In the Basque borderland valleys of the Baztan and Bidasoa rivers, you’ll be following in the footsteps of Basque smugglers, witches, shepherds and Allied pilots shot down during the Second World War.