Navarre

At a glance

Navarre (Nafarroa in Basque) is a world of its own. Its political status — the Chartered Community of Navarre (Comunidad Foral de Navarra) — sets it apart from the Basque Autonomous Community (Biscay, Gipuzkoa and Álava). Its institutional framework rests on the 1982 law known as the Amejoramiento del Fuero, and it has almost complete control over collecting and managing its own taxes.

Area: 10,391 km². Population: 678,333 (INE 2024), including 207,777 in Pamplona (Iruñea). The territory is divided into three language zones: Basque-speaking in the north, mixed in the centre and non-Basque-speaking in the south. In 2011, 13.6% of Navarrese described themselves as Basque speakers and 14.5% considered themselves partial Basque speakers. This dual character, in both language and landscape, is what makes Navarre so rich — and so complex.

This is where the French Way of the Camino de Santiago passes through, where Roland died at Roncesvalles (Orreaga), where Saint Ignatius of Loyola was wounded before his conversion, and where the San Fermín festival has been held every July since 1591.

A little history

• Antiquity: the Roman town of Pompaelo (Pamplona), whose name comes from Pompey (around 75 BC).
• 778: the Battle of Roncevaux Pass — Basques attack Charlemagne’s rearguard and Roland is killed. The Song of Roland would later replace the Basques with Saracens.
• 824 (traditional date): Íñigo Arista becomes ruler of Pamplona; the Kingdom of Pamplona, the future Kingdom of Navarre, is born.
• 1004–1035: reign of Sancho III the Great; at his death, the kingdom is at its greatest extent.
• 1234: Navarre passes to the House of Champagne; in 1284, Queen Joan I marries the future Philip IV the Fair, King of France.
• 1512: Castilian invasion. Ferdinand the Catholic conquers Upper Navarre. Lower Navarre (north of the Pyrenees) is united with France between 1620 and 1624, under Louis XIII.
• 1841: the Ley Paccionada (the law modifying the fueros, Navarre’s traditional charters and laws), which curtails the foral regime.
• 1982: the Organic Law on the Amejoramiento del Fuero (LORAFNA), the institutional framework of the Chartered Community.

Must-see sights

• Casco Antiguo, Pamplona (Iruñea) — ramparts, the Gothic cathedral of Santa María la Real, the Ayuntamiento (town hall), Café Iruña (a Hemingway haunt).
• Pamplona’s Ciudadela — a pentagonal citadel with five bastions (16th–17th centuries), now a city park.
• Encierro / San Fermín — 7–14 July, at 08:00, bulls are let loose along just over 800 m of streets. Highlights: the release from the corrals and the bend into Calle Estafeta.
• Museum of Navarre — from archaeology to modern art, in a former 16th-century hospital.
• Pamplona Cathedral — Gothic cloister, tomb of Charles III the Noble and Eleanor of Castile.
• Roncesvalles (Orreaga) — a collegiate church from the late 12th and early 13th centuries, a historic stopover for pilgrims; every year, thousands of pilgrims begin their journey here.
• Camino de Santiago (Camino Francés) — crosses Navarre from Roncesvalles to Viana.
• Estella-Lizarra — founded in 1090, a stage on the Camino with a rich Romanesque heritage: the church of San Pedro de la Rúa, the Palace of the Kings of Navarre.
• Olite — Gothic royal palace with Mudéjar decoration, medieval town, classical theatre festival.
• Bardenas Reales — 41,845 ha of semi-desert landscapes, a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve since 2000, with badlands and eroded formations (‘Castildetierra’).
• Baztan valley (Elizondo) — a green valley in northern Navarre.
• Zugarramurdi — the witches' village: the witches' cave, the Witches' Museum, the 17th-century Inquisition trials in Logroño. Read the guide
• Roncal valley (Erronkari) — birthplace of Roncal cheese (designation of origin).
• Ochagavía (Otsagabia) — a Pyrenean village, gateway to the Irati forest.
• Irati forest — about 17,300 ha, the second-largest beech and fir forest in Europe; it continues on the French side.
• Sanctuary of Loyola (Azpeitia) — technically in Gipuzkoa, but with strong historical ties.
• Javier (Xavier) — birthplace of Francis Xavier, the Jesuit missionary to Asia.
• Puente la Reina — an 11th-century Romanesque bridge over the Arga, and the first town after the Camino Francés and the Camino Aragonés (Aragonese Way) meet.

Main towns

• Pamplona (Iruñea) — capital, San Fermín, Camino
• Tudela — southern Navarre
• Estella-Lizarra — Romanesque town on the Camino
• Olite — medieval royal palace
• Elizondo — Baztan valley
• Zugarramurdi — the witches' village
• Roncal (Erronkari) — Pyrenean valley
• Ochagavía (Otsagabia) — gateway to Iraty

Must-try food and drink

• Pacharán navarro (PGI) — an aniseed liqueur in which sloes are steeped. Navarre’s signature liqueur.
• Navarre asparagus — white and tender
• Lodosa piquillos — red peppers roasted over embers, peeled and often stuffed
• Tudela artichokes
• Cordero en chilindrón — lamb with peppers
• Navarre-style trout
• Bacalao al ajoarriero — salt cod with garlic and peppers
• Roncal (PDO) and Idiazabal cheeses — sheep’s milk
• DO Navarra wine — long known for its rosés, now also for its reds and whites (garnacha, tempranillo)
• Cuajada — sheep’s milk curd

Living traditions

• San Fermín (6–14 July) — Pamplona. 8 encierros (bull runs). Immortalised by Hemingway in The Sun Also Rises (1926).
• The Chupinazo — the rocket that launches the fiestas, at noon on 6 July, fired from the town hall balcony in front of a crowd dressed in white and red.
• Riau-Riau — a protest procession on 6 July, officially suspended since 1997 but kept alive by popular initiative.
• Gigantes y Cabezudos — giants and big-heads parade every day of San Fermín.
• Bertsolaritza — improvised poetry in Basque.

Curiosities and anecdotes

• Hemingway visited Pamplona between 1923 and 1959.
• The feast of Saint Fermin used to be celebrated on 10 October; in 1591 it was moved to July to coincide with the fair.
• Navarre’s name long featured in the title of the kings of France — ‘King of France and Navarre’ — until 1830.
• Francis Xavier (Francisco de Jasso y Azpilicueta), born in Javier in 1506, was a missionary in Asia, notably in India and Japan. He is co-patron saint of Navarre; 3 December, the day of his death, is Navarre Day.
• Navarre enjoys wide-ranging fiscal autonomy: it collects and manages almost all of its taxes.
• The Camino Francés crosses Navarre from Roncesvalles to Viana.

Photographing Navarre

• The encierro at 08:00 — bulls and runners, a wild atmosphere but palpable tension
• Bardenas Reales at dawn — Castildetierra, the emblematic formation, in low-angled light
• Irati forest in October — beeches turned copper, mist
• Roncesvalles at sunset — the medieval collegiate church
• Olite — the royal palace lit up at night
• Pamplona Cathedral (cloister) — Gothic arches, calm after the bustle of the city
• Zugarramurdi, witches' cave — a mystical atmosphere
• Navarre’s vineyards in October — autumn colours
• Baztan valley — morning mist over the farms