Arantzazu: Art, Trails and Karst Landscapes

The Santuario de Arantzazu is one of the most significant manifestations of contemporary Basque art.

Culture and Trails

The Ruta de los Tres Templos follows the GR-120 between Loiola and Arantzazu and passes by the Ermita de la Antigua. The Camino Ignaciano Arantzazu-Araia stage begins at the Santuario de Arantzazu and climbs through dense beech forests to Urbia. The Sendero accesible de Arantzazu connects the Santuario de Arantzazu with the shepherding school at Caserío Gomiztegi and is universally accessible to people of all ages and with any functional limitation.

The PR-GI 3004 Caminos del contrabando trail connects parts of the Arantzazu and Araotz districts and passes through Jaturabe. The Senda de Urbia PR-GI 3006 hiking trail passes prehistoric burial mounds.

Accordingly, both the connection between Loiola and Arantzazu and the trails through Arantzazu, Araotz, Jaturabe and Urbia are among the named route references in this area. The different routes pass religious, scenic and historical sites, without conflating their respective names and courses.

Landscape

In Aizkorri-Aratz Nature Park, the Arantzazu gorge is one of the park’s well-known karst landscapes. A trail from the Arantzazu car park leads to the Iritegi spring, where water emerges from inside the rocks.

Several mountain trails lead from Arantzazu to the pastures of Urbia and from there to the impressive limestone ridge of Aizkorri, an exceptional natural landscape in Aizkorri-Aratz Nature Park.

The landscape features mentioned therefore include the gorge, the spring, dense beech forests, the pastures of Urbia and the limestone ridge of Aizkorri. Aizkorri-Aratz Nature Park provides the shared spatial setting for the karst landscape and the exceptional natural landscape on the ridge.

Environmental Education

The Parketxe de Arantzazu presents the most important features and elements of the surrounding area through permanent exhibitions and educational spaces. Interactive media equipped with new technologies are also used for interpretation. The elements presented include karst formations, pollarded willows and grazing areas.

The Parketxe de Arantzazu organises activities for all target groups. These activities present the local flora and fauna as well as the landscapes, and make visible traces of human life from prehistory to the present day. The Parketxe de Arantzazu is located in the Gandiaga Topagunea building of the Santuario de Arantzazu.

Environmental education therefore covers both the forms of the landscape and the plant and animal life, as well as traces of human use. Permanent exhibitions, educational spaces and interactive media together form the Parketxe’s offering in the Gandiaga Topagunea building.

Shepherding Life and Visits

The Majada de Duru shepherds’ pasture, with its huts and flocks, is suitable as a stop for observing the everyday life of shepherding at close range.

At Caserío Gomiztegi, guided visits with tastings of dairy products can take place by prior request. If you plan such a guided tour with a tasting, the prior request must be taken into account. The dairy products include Idiazabal cheese and blue cheese.

Guided visits to the Santuario de Arantzazu can be reserved.

The cultural and rural impressions therefore include the Santuario, the prehistoric burial mounds, the Majada de Duru shepherds’ pasture and Caserío Gomiztegi. Guided visits to the Caserío require a prior request.

For the overarching travel overview: Oñati.