Portugalete Live Cam

The Basque Country offers a wide range of accommodation, which is characterised by its variety and by an excellent quality-price ratio. You will be able to choose the establishments which best suit your tastes and needs, from modern and functional city hotels to hotels in historic buildings, with tradition and a long history.

There are small, cosy hotels with charm in the heart of historic parts of the cities and towns or in beauty spots. The Basque Country also has a type of accommodation called agroturismo (agricultural tourism), which consists of establishments in a rural setting, in which the client deals closely and directly with the owners, who are usually involved in agriculture and livestock.

Campsites, hostels and tourist cabins are other types of accommodation which complete the range on offer in the Basque Country.

The Basque Country is in the north of Spain right at the centre of the Atlantic axis and is a compulsory crossing point for north-south traffic. It is the natural exit point from the north of Spain to the Mediterranean, via the Ebro axis. Similarly, it has direct access to main national and international markets. Madrid, Barcelona, Zaragoza, Bordeaux and Toulouse are all within a 500-km. radius.

The Basque Country has an extensive road network, comprised of both national and international routes. The main N-1 national road links Madrid to France, the A-68 motorway links Bilbao to Barcelona (as part of the E-804 European itinerary) and the A-8 links Bilbao to Behobia (as part of the E-70 European itinerary). Other international routes include the E-80 Lison-Pau and the E-05 Glasgow-Algeciras.

The train network is based around the Madrid-Irun axis. The three main Basque cities have airports nearby: Bilbao (Sondika airport), Vitoria-Gasteiz (Foronda airport) and San Sebastian (Hondarribia airport). Bilbao and Pasajes ports are respectively the main trading and fishing ports on the Atlantic coast.

The diversity of the Basque Country allows the visitor to choose from a comprehensive and varied range of leisure activities. All the Tourist Offices have extensive information on active tourist programmes. You can walk, hike or do other activities such as water sports, climbing, canoeing, horse-riding, driving four-wheel drive vehicles, or if you want a bird's eye view of the cities and their surroundings, you can even take a ride in a small plane from Hondarribia and Vitoria-Gasteiz.

The Basque Country has a wide range of cultural and artistic expression. To enter into it is to get to know the character and history of the Basques.

As well as its unique countryside, mankind has left its mark though a rich cultural heritage which spans from the archaeological remains of Santimamiñe to the Guggenheim Museum. It is a rich heritage, strewn with churches, monasteries, chapels, palaces and manor houses, both in the towns and in the three Basque capitals, which have unique and outstanding examples of architecture from different historical and artistic periods.

Excellent representative examples of both the civil and religious heritage can be found in the unique old towns of Vitoria-Gasteiz and Hondarribia, in the stately buildings of Zarautz and Donostia-San Sebastián and in Bilbao, where, as well as the Old Town, the Guggenheim Museum adds an avant-garde note to the city.

The Basque Country has a wide range of museums and exhibitions, which are worth visiting in order to complete a unique and rich cultural panorama.