Goierri

Villages

Shepherding has always had great economic and social significance in Idiazabal throughout history, so it is not uncommon to run into herds calmly grazing and shepherds. The village has a Cheese Tasting and Interpretation Centre, where you can get information about the cheese-making process, take a tutored tasting, or visit a quesería -artisanal cheese fatory-.

Idiazabal has some very special houses and palaces built by ‘indianos’ -Spaniards returned from ‘the Americas’-, as well as stately homes from 17th and 18th centuries. It has a botanical garden -Txomenane-, with a collection of coniferous trees from the 1920’s and 36 species of trees from several continents, planted by Altolaguirre family. In the heart of the village you will find The Church of San Miguel with a beautiful doorway built in the transition to the Romanesque-Gothic, one of the best conserved examples in the Basque Country.

Megalithic monuments also have a significant presence in Idiazabal. Burial mounds and tombs from Neolithic and the Bronze Age are dotted around Atxurbi, Napalatza, Unanabi, Etxegarate, Bidarte, and Zorroztarri.