The Hidden Treasures of Green Spain
From the Basque Country to Galicia
Picos de Europa, Asturias, Spain
Northern Spain, also known as ‘Green Spain’, is a region that boasts a culture and history largely distinct from the rest of the country.
Positioned along the Bay of Biscay and Atlantic coast, this remarkable region extends from the French border westwards, and comprises the autonomous communities of Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria and the Basque Country.
With its oceanic climate and lush greenery, it can feel like a country apart. Unlike much of central and southern Spain, the region was less shaped by centuries of Islamic rule, while its connections with pilgrimage routes and the wider medieval world brought strong northern European influences – exemplified by its fine and remarkably well-preserved Pre-Romanesque, Romanesque and Gothic art and architecture.
Green Spain offers a refreshing alternative to Spain’s better-known destinations and is characterised by a fascinating tapestry of regional cultures, languages, environments and traditions. Travelling west from the Basque Country through Asturias and Galicia reveals landscapes ranging from the rugged peaks of the Picos de Europa to the deeply indented Atlantic coastline, alongside some of the country’s most important archaeological, artistic and architectural sites.
We’ve narrowed it down to eight highlights:
1. Bilbao and the Guggenheim
At the eastern edge of Green Spain, Bilbao offers a compelling introduction to the distinctive culture of the Basque Country.
For centuries an industrial and maritime centre on the Nervión River, Bilbao underwent a remarkable transformation in the closing decades of the 20th century. Its most famous symbol is Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim Museum, which opened in 1997 on a former industrial wharf. Clad in titanium, glass and limestone, its great curving forms changed perceptions of what a contemporary museum could be and helped reshape the city around it.
The architecture is only part of the attraction. Inside is an important collection of modern and contemporary art, while the nearby Bilbao Fine Arts Museum ranges from medieval and Spanish Golden Age painting to significant works by Basque artists.
Beyond the museums, the city’s older identity survives in the Casco Viejo, with its medieval street plan, traditional bars and churches clustered around the original heart of Bilbao.
2. San Sebastián: Art, Coast & Pintxos
Further east along the Basque coast, San Sebastián curves around the elegant sweep of La Concha Bay, where mountains, beaches and Belle Époque architecture frame one of northern Spain’s most distinctive cities.
The city developed into a fashionable royal resort during the 19th century, but its Basque identity remains strong. Its Parte Vieja is particularly renowned for pintxos – small, carefully prepared dishes traditionally enjoyed from bar to bar – often accompanied by a glass of the lightly sparkling local Txakoli wine.
At the western end of the waterfront is one of the Basque Country’s most celebrated works of modern art: Eduardo Chillida’s Peine del Viento, or Comb of the Wind. Three monumental steel sculptures are anchored directly into the rocks, where waves, wind and weather become part of the work itself.
Together, La Concha, the historic centre and Chillida’s sculpture capture something characteristic of Green Spain: an unusually close relationship between city, culture and dramatic coastal landscape.
3. Picos de Europa
Within Green Spain lies one of the country’s most striking mountain landscapes – the majestic Picos de Europa, or “Peaks of Europe”.
Rising abruptly above the green valleys of Asturias and Cantabria, the limestone massif forms the heart of the Picos de Europa National Park. Glacial valleys, forests and high mountain pastures surround the Lakes of Covadonga, whose still waters lie beneath the rugged peaks.
The mountains also occupy an important place in the historical imagination of Asturias. The nearby Parish of Covadonga is traditionally associated with the early Christian resistance led by the Asturian ruler Pelayo, and later came to be regarded as a symbolic starting point of the centuries-long Christian expansion southwards across the Iberian Peninsula.
Other notable sites include Cangas de Onís and the Sanctuary of Covadonga. The former was closely associated with the early Asturian kingdom, while the latter remains an important Marian pilgrimage site in a spectacular mountain setting.
4. The Castros of Galicia
Across north-western Spain are the remains of ancient fortified settlements known as castros, particularly characteristic of Galicia and Asturias.
Usually occupying defensible hilltops and surrounded by walls and ditches, these settlements emerged during the Iron Age and continued to develop after the Roman conquest of north-western Iberia. Their circular and rectangular stone houses, workshops and defensive structures offer an important insight into societies that occupied the region before and during Roman rule.
One of the finest examples is the Castro de Viladonga, in the province of Lugo. Excavations here have revealed a substantial Gallaeco-Roman settlement occupying the crown of a hill overlooking the surrounding Galician countryside.
The surviving walls enclose the foundations of houses, workshops, streets and communal spaces, while the excellent on-site museum displays ceramics, jewellery, tools, coins and other objects recovered during excavations. Together they offer an unusually vivid picture of daily life in north-western Iberia nearly two thousand years ago.
5. Oviedo and the Kingdom of Asturias
During the early Middle Ages, the small Kingdom of Asturias emerged as an important Christian polity in northern Iberia, and in the 9th century developed an innovative architectural tradition that would influence later medieval religious architecture.
Oviedo became its capital under King Alfonso II and subsequently developed as both a royal and ecclesiastical centre. In the hills surrounding the city, the Asturian kings commissioned a remarkable group of buildings that survive as some of the finest examples of Pre-Romanesque architecture in Europe.
Now recognised as UNESCO World-Heritage Sites, the most notable include Santa María del Naranco – originally constructed as part of the palace complex of King Ramiro I and later converted into a church – and nearby San Miguel de Lillo, built as a royal chapel. In addition, San Julián de los Prados, or Santullano, preserves an exceptional series of early medieval wall paintings.
Oviedo’s artistic story extends well beyond the Middle Ages. Its Museum of Fine Arts brings together Spanish painting from the Renaissance onwards, including works associated with El Greco, Goya and Sorolla.
Today, the city is also known for its traditional cider houses, or sidrerías. Here Asturian cider is poured from high above the glass in a distinctive technique known as escanciar, aerating the cider immediately before it is drunk.
6. The Roman Walls of Lugo
The Roman Walls of Lugo are an exceptional legacy of late Roman engineering and one of the most complete ancient defensive systems to survive anywhere in Europe.
Constructed in the later 3rd century to protect the Roman city of Lucus Augusti, the walls form an unbroken circuit of more than two kilometres around Lugo’s historic centre. Towers project from the fortifications at regular intervals, while ten gates now provide access between the old city and the neighbourhoods beyond.
Recognised as a UNESCO World-Heritage Site, the walls are regarded as the finest surviving example of late Roman military fortifications in the Western Roman Empire.
Remarkably, visitors today can walk the entire circuit along the broad pathway at the top of the walls, gaining changing views across Lugo’s historic centre and the surrounding Galician landscape.
7. Coastline, Seafood & Wine
Food and wine are another memorable part of the distinctive landscapes of northern Spain, from the Atlantic inlets of Galicia to the vineyards of the Basque interior.
Galicia’s coastline is deeply indented by rías – long tidal inlets where fresh and saltwater meet and marine life thrives. Among the best known are the Rías Baixas, whose sheltered waters support an important seafood industry. Mussels are cultivated on floating platforms known as bateas, while fishing ports and coastal towns serve everything from oysters and clams to octopus, scallops and Atlantic fish.
The surrounding valleys are also the heartland of Albariño, the aromatic white grape for which Galicia has become internationally renowned. Historic estates such as Pazo de Rubianes combine ornamental gardens and extensive vineyards, while nearby Cambados has long been associated with the wine and maritime culture of the Rías Baixas.
Further east, the wine landscape changes dramatically as we turn inland from the Basque coast into Rioja Alavesa. Vineyards spread beneath the Sierra de Cantabria around the medieval town of Laguardia, where centuries of winemaking tradition now sit alongside striking contemporary architecture.
Among its most distinctive landmarks is Bodega Ysios, designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava and inaugurated in 2001. Conceived as a “temple dedicated to wine”, its long, undulating roof echoes the line of the mountains rising immediately behind it. Set among the vineyards, the building provides a memorable introduction to Rioja’s celebrated Tempranillo wines and to the continuing relationship between landscape, architecture and winemaking in northern Spain.
8. Santiago de Compostela & the Pilgrim’s Route
Santiago de Compostela is best known as the final destination of the Camino de Santiago, a network of pilgrimage routes that has brought travellers across Europe to Galicia for more than a thousand years.
At its heart is the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, traditionally believed to house the remains of St James the Apostle. The city that developed around the shrine became one of medieval Europe’s great pilgrimage centres, its narrow granite streets lined with churches, monasteries and buildings established to serve the constant movement of pilgrims.
Among the cathedral’s greatest treasures is the Pórtico de la Gloria, the monumental 12th-century entrance created by Master Mateo. Its extraordinary sculptural program gathers apostles, prophets, angels and fantastic creatures around a vision of Christ in glory, creating one of the masterpieces of European Romanesque art.
Around the cathedral, the Plaza del Obradoiro is framed by some of Santiago’s most important buildings, including the former pilgrims’ hospital now known as the Hostal dos Reis Católicos, while the immense Monastery of San Martín Pinario reflects the wealth and influence accumulated by the city’s religious institutions.
The pilgrimage continues to shape Santiago today. Walkers arriving from across Spain and Europe still converge on the cathedral square, and even a short walk along the Camino outside the city offers a sense of the landscapes and rhythms experienced by generations of pilgrims.
Those visiting around 25 July will encounter the Fiestas del Apóstol, celebrating the feast of St James with religious ceremonies, concerts, cultural events and spectacular festivities around the historic centre. On important liturgical occasions, the cathedral’s famous Botafumeiro – a giant swinging censer – can also be seen sweeping dramatically across the transept.
Green Spain is a region of remarkable contrasts, where Atlantic landscapes have helped shape cultures quite distinct from those of the Spanish interior.
From the titanium curves of Bilbao’s Guggenheim and the wild coastline of San Sebastián to the limestone peaks of the Picos de Europa, Oviedo’s early medieval churches, Galicia’s ancient castros and the great pilgrimage city of Santiago, its history can be read across an unusually rich succession of landscapes and monuments.
Northern Spain & Portugal
Bilbao to Lisbon
Our Northern Spain & Portugal tour this coming April follows much of this journey, travelling from Bilbao and San Sebastián through the historic landscapes of northern Spain to Asturias and Galicia, before continuing south through Porto to Lisbon.
