A Rustic Hotel in Spanish Basque Navarre

After Strenuous Hiking, a Comfortable Hotel and Good Food is Needed

Nov 15, 2009

Many mountain villages in Basque Spain have guest houses or small hotels, but in Erratzu in the Baztan Valley in Navarre an entire hotel can be reserved for a party of 16

Many of the mountain villages have an Inn, a guest house or a small hotel, but in Erratzu in the Baztan Valley, there is a hotel where the entire hotel/house can be reserved if a party, or a family, want to be together and relax.

The name of the Hotel is Kastonea and it is what is known as a Casa Rural, a rustic hotel. It is an old house dating from 1820, modernised in a sensitive manner so that the charm of the old remains while the facilities of the new are uncompromised, i.e. wooden floors, beamed ceilings and antique furniture in the centrally-heated bedrooms lead the guest into super-modern ensuite bathrooms.

The house is divided into two homes, each of eight ensuite rooms, so that walking parties, or families who wish to be together and have sole use of an enormous living room with fireplace, kitchen, garden etc. may do so. The kitchen is fully equipped with everything necessary, from washing machine to microwave oven with a vast family table to accommodate a large group. Alternatively, guests can avail themselves of a private dining-room in the hotel, and enjoy typical food of the area prepared by the owners, Los Señores Dendarieta.

Food in the Kastonea Hotel in Erratzu

The house has been in the same family for most of its lifetime, and the surrounding farm provides the meats and vegetables for the table. The pigs are very productive and the Basque owner/farmers, Xanti Dendarieta and his wife Idoia Escudero, will proudly offer heaped dishes of their own produce – chops, sausages, black pudding, meatballs, pork fillets and chitterlings - as a main course. Their dairy farm is only 1 km. away and they will happily take visitors there to see their herd of cows from which comes the milk and cheese offered at the table

The Baztan Valley is known as one of the most beautiful spots in the Pyrenees, soft rolling hills. deep valleys and gushing waterfalls, forests of oak and beech, green meadows and streams with ferny banks. The climate is mild in both winter and summer (but be prepared for some rain). Not far away is the Collegiate Church of Roncesvalles, the starting point of the Camino de Santiago, San Sebastian, and Pamplona. It is even possible to slip across the border for a day to visit part of the French Basque country, Bayonne, St. Jean de Luz and Biarritz.

Kastonea Casas Rural is perfectly located to enable the visitor to enjoy all that the area has to offer, and to ensure that they enjoy the wholesome food and drink of the area.

The copyright of the article A Rustic Hotel in Spanish Basque Navarre in Spain Travel is owned by Mari Nicholson. Permission to republish A Rustic Hotel in Spanish Basque Navarre in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.