Uribe Bakio

Routes

Leisure

HISTORY

Bakio is located on the coast of Bizkaia, in an exceptional natural setting that successfully combines rural life and tourism, tradition and modernity. Bakio’s long association with tourism has led to the creation of extensive tourist infrastructures and the Tourist Office, which remains open all year round, is the centre of all its information and promotional efforts and is responsible for organising numerous cultural and recreational activities.

Bakio’s secret is its particularly humid, benign microclimate, the result of a combination of individual geographical features. A large part of the land belonging to the municipality extends over a sunken plain, partially invaded by the sea and protected at its ends by two hills.

Thanks to its singular climate, Bakio is an especially appropriate location for farming activities. Even Mediterranean crops, such as citric fruits and vines, are cultivated (something very unusual for these latitudes). The maximum exponent of this extraordinary range of agricultural products is the well-known young wine “txakoli”. The mild temperatures enjoyed all year round also make Bakio an excellent place for rest, leisure and amusement.

Bakio’s main attraction is its spectacular beach (the longest in Bizkaia), which opens broadly towards the North. The heavy swell, which makes it difficult for boats to enter and leave and prevents Bakio from being a fishing centre, is, nevertheless, one of its main attractions, as some of the best waves along the Cantabrian coast break on this beach, creating the perfect conditions for surfing. It was here in Bakio that some of the pioneers who made this sport famous first emerged and this is also the home of one of the most important surfing clubs in the Basque Country. Along the coast, you will also find the San Juan de Gaztelugatxe Biotope, a location protected for its high ecological, cultural and historical value.

Bakio boasts important examples of religious and secular architecture and to visit these there are several signposted tourist routes. The Church of San Pelaio (XII century) is one of the most beautiful exponents of Romanesque architecture in the Basque Country. With regard to civil architecture, the rural palaces of Elexpuru and Ormatza, as well as a large variety of magnificent summer villas, built when tourism came to Bakio in the early 20th century, are well worth a visit.