La Rioja is the smallest autonomous community on mainland Spain, in the north of the country along the Ebro valley, between Navarre, the Basque Country and Castile and León. Its name comes from the Oja river, a tributary of the Ebro, and it is known worldwide for its wine: the Rioja appellation, which also covers parts of Navarre and the Basque Country (Rioja Alavesa), was the first in Spain to be granted Denominación de Origen Calificada status.
Wine
Vineyards cover the Ebro valley and surrounding hills, divided into Rioja Alta, Rioja Alavesa and Rioja Oriental. The main grape is tempranillo, often blended with garnacha, graciano and mazuelo, for reds classified by ageing as joven, crianza, reserva and gran reserva. Many wineries, from Haro's century-old bodegas to cellars designed by great architects, offer tours and tastings. In Haro, on 29 June, the Batalla del Vino sees thousands of people drench each other in red wine (see Spanish wines).
The towns
The capital, Logroño, on the Way of St James, is famous for Calle Laurel, a street packed with pintxo bars, and for the San Mateo grape harvest festival in September; its Baroque co-cathedral holds a painting attributed to Michelangelo. Nájera, former capital of the kingdom of Navarre, keeps the monastery of Santa María la Real with its royal pantheon. Calahorra, founded by the Romans, is the vegetable capital, and Arnedo the centre of shoemaking. Santo Domingo de la Calzada is famous for the legend of the miraculous rooster and hen, which still live in a cage inside the cathedral. San Asensio is a wine village known for its festivals.
The cradle of Castilian
In the San Millán valley are the monasteries of Suso and Yuso, a UNESCO site: here, in the tenth or eleventh century, a monk wrote glosses in a Latin codex, the Glosas Emilianenses, considered among the earliest written records of Castilian and Basque. That is why La Rioja is called the "cradle of the Spanish language" (see the Spanish language). Gonzalo de Berceo, the first known poet in Castilian, also lived here, and numerous dinosaur footprints have been found at Enciso.
Getting there
Logroño has a small airport and is about an hour and a half from Bilbao, an hour from Pamplona and four hours from Madrid. It lies on the French Way of St James. Below you will find a map of our guides and the municipalities.
Destinations on the map
Guides to the community
Arnedo
A hard-working town among red sandstone cliffs full of caves, famous across Spain for its shoes.
Calahorra
One of the peninsula's oldest towns, vegetable capital of the Ebro valley and birthplace of the great rhetorician Quintilian.
Haro
An elegant town surrounded by vineyards, with the world's greatest concentration of century-old wineries and a battle fought with wine…
Logroño
A small, cheerful city on the Ebro, where wine flows in the bars of Calle Laurel and pilgrims cross the stone bridge towards Santiago.
Nájera
Below red cliffs, a monastery guards the tombs of Navarre's medieval kings: Nájera is a stage steeped in history on the Way of St James.
San Asensio
A small winegrowing village in the Rioja Alta, famous for its clarete wine and a wine battle that turns its streets pink every summer.