Basque Country Map

Travel the Best of the Basque Country

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Basque Country takes in part of southwestern France and a larger part of Northern Spain, as you can see from the map below.

Basque Country - Map

Map of Basque Country ©Mountain High Maps®, modified by James Martin

Basque Country Travel Resources

Basque Country Travel Resources

Bilbao, Spain - Spend three days here, one of them visiting the Guggenheim.

San Sebastian Spain, a major Basque town, along with Bilbao. Otherwise the tourist might be better off spending your time visiting the beautiful Basque countryside, according to Damian Corrigan in his Basque Country Travel Guide.

St-Jean-de-Luz, France, called "a jewel in the Basque Country by Kelby Car, who writes, "This pretty small beach city is just dripping with charm, from its port lined with colorful boats to its boutique shops selling surfing gear and lessons year-round.

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Basque Country In General

Basque Country is a region devided between two states, France and Spain, consisting of 20,664 square kilometres at the western end of the Pyrenees on the Bay of Biscay. It consists of seven traditional provinces Bizkaia, Gipuzkoa, Araba and Nafarroa in Spain (País Vasco) and Lapurdi, Nafarroa Beherea and Zuberoa in France (Pays Basque).

Euskadi, the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country. consists of the three northern provinces of Bizkaia, Gipuzkoa, and Araba found in Spain. Euskadi consists of over 2 million people, or a little over 5% of the Spanish population. In 2002, this 5 percent of population produced 6.38% of the Spanish GDP. [source Euskadi]

Basques on the Spain side have a relatively high degree of Autonomy, while those on the French side do not. A statute of autonomy allows Basques in Spain operate their own parliament, their own taxation system, police force, university and media.

Basque Country: Language

The Basque word for the language is Euskara. It is a very ancient non-indo-European language. Euskara currently has eight dialects identified. Basque is written using the Latin Alphabet. Some important Basque words are found here.

Getting to Basque Country by Train

It's best to explore the Basque countryside by car, but the cities and highlights can be visited by train, expecially for those only interested in going to the Guggenheim. If you don't have a Spain Rail Pass, you can find out the prices of point-to-point tickets on Rail Europe.

A very good Basque FAQ, especially useful for language questions, is FAQs About Basque and the Basques.

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