{"id":917,"date":"2026-09-12T20:07:31","date_gmt":"2026-09-12T18:07:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lagarioja.com\/?p=917"},"modified":"2026-09-12T20:31:26","modified_gmt":"2026-09-12T18:31:26","slug":"things-to-do-in-rioja-alavesa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lagarioja.com\/en\/things-to-do-in-rioja-alavesa\/","title":{"rendered":"Things to Do in Rioja Alavesa: Medieval Villages, Star Architect Wineries, Dolmens and Viewpoints"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Rioja Alavesa fits into a rectangle of a little over 300 square kilometres between the Sierra de Cantabria and the river Ebro. Inside that small space there are 14,571 hectares of vineyard, 18 municipalities and 219 registered wineries<\/strong>, according to the DOCa Rioja regulatory board. And besides the wine there are megalithic tombs, an Iron Age settlement, walled medieval towns, Romanesque chapels stranded among the vines, and salt lagoons where migrating birds stop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is one of the densest corners of Spain in terms of things to see per square kilometre. Here’s how to make sense of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where Rioja Alavesa is, and how to get there<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Rioja Alavesa is the Basque<\/strong> part of Rioja wine country: the strip south of the Sierra de Cantabria, on the left bank of the Ebro. Administratively it belongs to \u00c1lava, in the Basque Country. Viticulturally it’s Rioja.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Approximate driving times to Laguardia<\/strong>, its capital:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From<\/th>Drive<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
Logro\u00f1o<\/td>20 min<\/td><\/tr>
Vitoria-Gasteiz<\/td>45 min<\/td><\/tr>
Bilbao (and Bilbao airport)<\/td>1 h 15 min<\/td><\/tr>
Pamplona<\/td>1 h 15 min<\/td><\/tr>
San Sebasti\u00e1n<\/td>1 h 45 min<\/td><\/tr>
Madrid<\/td>3 h 30 min<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This makes it a very realistic day trip from Bilbao, and an ideal two-night stop between the Basque coast and Madrid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The villages<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Laguardia<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

A walled medieval town on a hilltop, with a pedestrian-only<\/strong> historic centre. Its great peculiarity is underground: the subsoil is honeycombed with calados<\/strong>, hand-dug wine cellars sunk several metres below the streets between the 15th and 18th centuries \u2014 many still in use, several open to visitors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Above ground: the church of Santa Mar\u00eda de los Reyes<\/strong>, whose 14th-century Gothic doorway retains its original polychrome paint \u2014 a genuinely rare survival \u2014 and the Portal de P\u00e1ganos, a natural balcony over the vineyards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elciego<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The village that became famous because of a building. The pink, gold and silver titanium ribbons of the Marqu\u00e9s de Riscal hotel<\/strong>, designed by Frank Gehry<\/strong> and opened in 2006, sit wedged among the roofs of a 16th-century village. The contrast is the attraction; the San Roque and San Vicente viewpoints are the best places to take it in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Labastida, Samaniego, \u00c1balos and Villabuena de \u00c1lava<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Small stone villages ringed by vines. Labastida has a hilltop viewpoint with 360\u00b0 views; Samaniego is home to Baigorri<\/strong>, a glass cube at ground level beneath which seven floors of gravity-fed winery are buried; Villabuena has one of the highest concentrations of wineries per inhabitant in all of Rioja.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

San Vicente de la Sonsierra<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Technically across the border in La Rioja, but part of the same landscape. Its castle and tower dominate the Ebro from above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Vineyards<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three centuries of wine architecture<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Rioja Alavesa lets you see the entire evolution of wine building within a few kilometres:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1. The calados of Laguardia<\/strong> (15th\u201318th c.) \u2014 wine underground, the solution before electricity.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. The stone family bodegas<\/strong> of the 19th and 20th centuries, inside the villages.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. The star-architect wineries of the 21st century<\/strong> \u2014 Ysios<\/strong> (Calatrava, 2001), whose wave-form aluminium roof echoes the mountain ridge behind it; Marqu\u00e9s de Riscal<\/strong> (Gehry, 2006); Baigorri<\/strong> (Samaniego).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
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    Practical note:<\/strong> almost every winery here requires advance booking<\/strong> and works to fixed tour times. If you’re coming at a weekend, reserve days ahead \u2014 turning up without a booking usually means not getting in.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

    \"Entrance<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Prehistory among the vines<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    This is the part most visitors don’t expect, and arguably the most extraordinary thing about the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n