With regard to extension, Gipuzkoa is the smallest historic territory in the Basque autonomous Community and in Spain. Located in the Bay of Biscay, in the Atlantic axis, its 2,000 square kilometres has seven rivers as their backbone (Bidasoa, Oiartzun, Urumea, Oria, Urola and Deba), which begin to flow in the nearby mountains. Donostia-San Sebastián is the capital and one of the essential visits in Gipuzkoa. Since Queen María Cristina fell in love with La Concha Bay and move the Court here during the summer, many people has succumbed to the charms of this beautiful, human and balanced city, combining small mountains, soft beaches, manor buildings, and long promenades on foot or by bike on the edge of the sea. The lively Old Quarter, the incessant cultural life, and the marks left by creators like Eduardo Chillida make Donostia-San Sebastián a place to come back.
Nevertheless, only a fourth part of the people from Gipuzkoa live in the capital. This small but intense territory, considered more as a dispersed big city than as a small province, is divided into comarcas (lands), each with its own character. Moreover, we have more than enough reasons to visit many of its localities. The 86 kilometres of Gipuzkoa's coast alternate the cliffs formed by the erosion, clean beaches, and fishing ports with a great tradition. Zumaia's museums, Getaria's carveries, Zarautz's big beach, or Hondarribia's medieval streets are only some of the stimulating charms of what we know as Gipuzkoa Coast.
From the blue to the intense green of the inland. Mountain lovers or those keen on a calm hiking have endless routes among farmhouses, hermitages, and middle summits. The natural parks of Aizkorri and Aralar or the Leizaran protected biotope are recommendable places inside the Green Gipuzkoa. There we will find the charm of its small villages, the historic interest of places like Tolosa, Oñati, Bergara, Segura or Ordizia as well as that essential Three Churches Route, which connects the milestones of this Ignatius land: the Basilica of Loiola, the Hermitage of La Antigua and the Sanctuary of Arantzazu.
Gipuzkoa is a territory with tourist tradition; however, it is not a mass tourism, but the tourism that knows how to share with the visitors the same pleasures that delight the people from Gipuzkoa. Above all, gastronomy, in all its shapes. A high quality of life, reflected from the shops to the thermal premises. An intense cultural life, shown in spectacular festivals, but also in about forty interesting museums. The respect for Basque traditions, as well as for the Basque language, which is spoken by a high percentage of the population.
