The Chartered Community of Navarre is an autonomous community in northern Spain, between France, the Basque Country, La Rioja and Aragon. In a relatively small area it holds very different landscapes: the green valleys and forests of the Pyrenees in the north, hills and vineyards in the centre, the Ebro plain and the Bardenas Reales desert in the south. It is one of Spain's richest regions, with one of the best qualities of life.
An ancient kingdom
The kingdom of Navarre was born in the ninth century around Pamplona and was for centuries one of the peninsula's Christian kingdoms, until in 1512 the part south of the Pyrenees was conquered by Ferdinand the Catholic and joined to Castile, while keeping its institutions and fueros, traditional privileges. Navarre is still a "chartered community": it collects its own taxes and has wide autonomy (see administrative divisions). In the north Basque (Euskera) is also spoken, co-official in part of the territory.
Pamplona and San Fermín
The capital, Pamplona (Iruña), is an elegant green city with walls and a sixteenth-century citadel, a Gothic cathedral and lively central squares. It is known worldwide for the San Fermín festival, from 6 to 14 July, with the encierros, the dawn runs of bulls through the streets of the centre, made famous by Ernest Hemingway in The Sun Also Rises.
What to see
- Olite, with the royal palace of the kings of Navarre, a fairy-tale Gothic castle with towers and battlements.
- The Bardenas Reales, a desert of clay and gypsum shaped by erosion, with formations such as Castildetierra, a biosphere reserve and a film and TV set.
- Roncesvalles, at the foot of the Pyrenees, where legend says the paladin Roland died in 778 and where the Spanish stretch of the French Way of St James begins, crossing Navarre through Pamplona, Puente la Reina, with its Romanesque bridge, and Estella.
- Irati forest, one of Europe's largest beech forests, spectacular in autumn, and the Pyrenean valleys of Baztán, Roncal and Salazar.
- Tudela in the south, with its cathedral and rich huerta, and the monastery of Leyre.
Flavours
Navarre is famous for its vegetables: white asparagus and Lodosa piquillo peppers, Tudela artichokes, pochas (fresh beans). Cheeses include Roncal and Idiazábal; the rosé and red wines of the DO Navarra are highly regarded, as is patxaran, a sloe liqueur.
Getting there
Pamplona has a small airport and is about an hour from Bilbao and San Sebastián and three hours from Madrid. Below you will find a map of our guides and the municipalities.