Spectacular cliffs and rock formations on the Bay of Biscay. Part of the routes abroad, Basque Country this time.

  • Beauty/fun: 7.5/10 Impressive layered cliffs, tiny caves & tunnels, crystalline cool water and nice beaches to start and finish into.
  • Difficulty (check this link if new here, this is not your standard HK hiking web): 7/10 The scrambling and navigation is relatively simple in a calm sea day. The shoreline is very exposed though and big waves are common, huge sometimes. There are several early exits possible, but they are not obvious if you haven’t visited the upper paths before. Consider the water temperature and tides, very different to HK’s.
  • The map (how to download to your phone)

See full screen and the Garmin track of the full loop starting and finishing in Muriola or starting in the subway and finishing around the bus station next to Barrika beach.

When back in my homeland I like to coasteer, run & hike around too. Friends there have been asking about the routes I do. So here one among others that I’ll upload.

There are different ways to arrive at Muriola beach with public transportation. My usual starting point is the last subway stop: Plentzia. You could take a bus from there or, what I do, start walking next to the estuary towards the sea. There is a simple to follow path (check your GPS app) up to the beach. Just beware of the dense vegetation, spiky, although not HK style nasty thorny, in the last section.

Muriola is a nudist beach. So you might want to avoid taking pictures there. Head to the left side of the beach

and start your scrambling.

You might need to swim really early. The rocks around, if without barnacles on, are quite smooth (slippery) and easy to break. Be careful when trying to scramble high. Beware also of the falling rocks. Yup, I have seen small pieces falling just due to a strong wind gut. From the very beginning you will see very picturesque rocks.

I have marked on the map the area around a little cave/tunnel that you can descend through (watch video). In our case, there is where we swam for the first time. In high tide, you can carefully jump down into the water inside the cave. In lower tide, you have only rocks under you and the stepping points on the wall are in partial darkness & wet-slippery. So we decided to be cautious and get into the water from the low rocks around. The exits are relatively simple.

After that area you will turn and start heading South West direction. Unless in extremely calm days you should start to have waves here. All the Plentzia bay is a natural shelter, port. Therefore waves inside tend to be significantly smaller. Once out, you are in the “real” Cantabrian sea. Continue scrambling or swimming, whatever you feel fits you best.

The first early exit is not far. Marked on the map too. You will see a nice shallow cave there. On its left side you could go up carefully and connect with the paths above. There are several. A main dirt path used by hikers and mountain bikers a bit further from the cliff and less clear ones in the vegetation. Long tights/pants are nice here. To continue your coasteering, jump into the water

and find the highest columns/lines up the cliff in front. The cove/little bay itself is a wide one, with big rocks to walk on. Moving forward you will find more picturesque areas.

And several scrambling sections.

There is a cave/tunnel to go through.

Followed by another wide bay with flattish area. After more scrambling.

Easier. Arriving at the last unnamed bay.

In the SW most point, unless in the lowest tide, you will need to swim a bit more.

before you arrive to Barrika beach’s own bay.

See the last cave.

Arriving at the, now a bit more, famous (due to Game of Thrones footage) beach.

Once in Barrika you can decide what to do. You can continue coasteering and connect with beaches further SW. You can go up the stairs, shower and head to the road to catch a bus from there. You could also take the aforementioned dirt path and see the cliffs from above. With Niko it is what we did, running back to the starting point where he had parked his car.

The video, including footage of two consecutive days. With Niko a bit later in the day, approx 2 hours tide difference. The first day alone, the lowest tide was exactly mid way, which is optimal. With him the low tide was almost exactly on the very beginning. Therefore some of the caves and passes had significantly more water.

Everything you should know before coasteering.

More routes in the Basque Country.

I add here a few more potential outings with really beautiful rock formations. I only checked them without fully coasteering them. You can see the hike/run I did, green lines, and the recommended coasteering sections.

Armintza – Plentzia.

This route is really long if doing it fully and there are some areas in between that are not so interesting. Therefore I would start in Armintza. Visit all the nice rock areas and then go a faint hiking path up (checked and easy to find) which connects with main paths that take you to the Lighthouse of Gorliz, the bunkers and tunnels below and to the coastline under. Previously the only relevant feature is Villainous Island. In front, the coastline for a big section is just mainly pebbles and there are no real scrambling opportunities. Over 400m swim to the island.

From Cape Villainous (Cabo Villano) up to Gorliz are really nice rocks again. Easy walk to the Plentzia subway.

See full screen & the Garmin track (includes further trail running up till Larrabasterra).

Muskiz

In the “border” of Basque Country and Cantabria I found further nice rocks + bunkers, tunnels & artillery positions of the Iron Ring from the Civil War + a cave & big chasm (20m? rope required) on my way to the subway.

See full screen & the Garmin track.