Discover Berceo: Holiday Apartments, Monasteries and Hiking Trails

Culture

Berceo is the birthplace of Gonzalo de Berceo, who was born around 1195 and is considered the first named poet known to have written in Castilian.

San Millán was born in Berceo in 473 and died in 574 at Suso Monastery.

The monasteries of Suso and Yuso in San Millán de la Cogolla were declared a World Heritage Site in 1997. They are associated with the earliest written records of the Spanish language.

Casa Grande in Berceo is a three-storey manor house built of rubble masonry and dressed stone, with two coats of arms. The Lavadero in Berceo has been restored and is still in use.

The church building has a three-storey tower. Inside the building is a Gothic image under the invocation of Nuestra Señora de Barrio Espeso. It was built at the end of the 19th century at the expense of Don Domingo Peña Villarejo and consecrated on 16 September 1886.

When comparing holiday apartments in Berceo, travel dates, room category and the cancellation policies of the respective offers may provide additional points of comparison.

Nature

Berceo has 118 hectares of woodland with beech, oak, holm oak and pine trees, as well as individual yews, holly trees, junipers, poplars and crabapple trees.

Riverside vegetation with poplars, willows, ash trees and hazel grows along the banks of the Cárdenas River.

In the mountains around Berceo, you can hear the characteristic rutting calls of deer in October.

Deer, roe deer, wild boar, foxes, squirrels and other animal species are among those found in Berceo.

At the entrance to the village on the LR-205 road is Parque Gonzalo de Berceo, offering shady places with tables and a fountain.

Other places: Entrena, Villarroya, Bobadilla, Clavijo, Jalón De Cameros, Grávalos, Villalba De Rioja and Villalobar De Rioja.

Paths and Connections

In Berceo, visitors can hike or take long walks in the mountains, along the banks of the Cárdenas River and in other parts of the municipality.

The Ruta de Gonzalo de Berceo begins at Plaza del Ayuntamiento in Berceo, follows the Camino de Los Llanos to Suso and continues to Yuso, returning to Berceo along the Cárdenas River via the Camino de Santa María.

The Ruta Tres Fuentes is a circular route in the area around Berceo; it leads from Fuente del Crucero to Cerrolombo Mountain, with Fuente de los Frailes, and returns to the starting point via Fuente de la Cereceda.

The Ruta de la Cueva del Santo leads upstream from Berceo to the Campos de Urre, which are just under twelve kilometres away. From there, a path leads to Ermita del Santo, the place where San Millán lived in seclusion for forty years.

The branch route of the Camino de Santiago to San Millán runs along the LR-205 through Cárdenas, Badarán and Berceo.

Berceo is connected to Nájera via the LR-205, to Santo Domingo de la Calzada via the LR-206 and to the Najerilla Valley via the LR-331.

The Los Monasterios mountain-bike route is 36 km long, has a medium level of difficulty and offers scenic, rural, cultural and monumental interest. After visiting the monasteries of Suso and Yuso, it continues towards Berceo.

Festivals and Traditions

The most important festivals in Berceo include Nuestra Señora del Rosario on the first Sunday in October and La Octava on the second Sunday in October. The processions are accompanied by dancers; there is also a rosary traditionally sung through the streets.

The Romería del Santo is a pilgrimage tradition in Berceo that has existed for 400 years and currently takes place on the Saturday before 14 June. Only men climb to the area around the cave where San Millán lived to pray and spend the day.

Since 1996, the Festival del Pachurro has taken place on the Sunday after 14 August; participants are offered a pincho consisting of a slice of bread with a fried quail egg, peppers and chorizo.

For the higher-level travel overview: La Rioja.