Our selection of best art, sport and cultural events in the Basque Country during April, 2017
Regarding traditions and festivities:
Enjoy the Basque Country!
Regarding traditions and festivities:
- In Mutriku, Mackerel Fish Day. Where, apart of food market and pintxos, you can see a traditional Basque boats competition. April 1st.
- In Elciego, Alava. Flowers & Vegetables Fair: Flower and Vegetable Garden Market. Exhibition and sale of: plants, vegetables, preserves, ornamentation, machinery for garden and orchard. On April 8th.
- In Pamplona. Week of the Pintxo. More than 90 bars will take part on this competition which involves best pintxo bars in Pamplona and all around Navarre. From March 31st until April 9th.
- In Bilbao. Basque Fest. Exhibitions of art, dance and street theater, children's entertainment, craft fairs, concerts, samples of Basque design and traditional sports exhibitions. April 13th to 16th.
- Easter is celebrated all over the Basque Country from April 13th to 16th this year, but these are the best places to see something different in your visit:
- Segura (Gipuzkoa) and Balmaseda (Biscay). These have famous living performance by locals representing the last days of Jesus Christ life from the 1600s.
- Bilbao and Vitoria and other smaller towns have traditional parades which take out of the churches images and march in an old traditional penitent dressing (dressing that some foreigners wrongly confused by some foreigners with Ku Klux Clan costumes).
- Hondarribia. Religious processions dating back to the begining of the 1600s.
- In Laudio - Llodio, Alava - Araba, The Traditional "Friday of Sorrows". A festival originally granted by the Christian Catholic Church to the locals to enjoy meat during Easter. Nowadays a lively market to see Basque farmers showing best of their horses, goats, sheeps, cattle, etc. Exhibit of Basque Traditional Sport of stone pulling by oxes.
- Bergara. Ramos Saturday Fair. On the eve of Palm Sunday, the city of Bergara organizes a cattle and agricultural fair. It is preceded by a bertsolaris festival on Friday night.
- In Biarritz. Salon des Antiquaires. Antiques, contemporary art, vintage, antique books. April 14th to 17th. Le Bellevue.
- In Ordizia. Shepherd 's Day. Fair organized to show the world of the sheeps, shepherd and the cheese. More than 200 sheep will remember the passage of the herds by the towns. Contest-exhibition of the Latxa breed rams and sheeps. Exhibition of the art of shearing sheep and how cheese is made. April 19th.
- In Aia. Txakoli Wine Day. 20 producers of the Getaria Denomination of Origin from Aia, Getaria and Zarautz villages, will show their products on April, 23th.
- In Vitoria-Gasteiz. San Prudencio Festivals. On the night of April 27th and 28th.
- In Biarritz. Spring Bradery. Nearly 150 boutiques in Biarritz offer the largest brands at the best prices. Ready-to-wear, lingerie, shoes, fashion accessories, luggage, perfumes and beauty products, home decoration, table linen and home .... April 28th until 30th.
- In Aia. XV Fair of collection plants. Iturraran Botanical Garden. April 29th & 30th.
- In San Sebastian. Cinema and Human Rights Film Festival. Victoria Eugenia Theater. March 31st until April 7th.
- In Bilbao. Hermann y Margrit Rupf Collections. Guggenheim Museum. The collection includes 70 works by key artists from the first half of the 20th century such as Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, Juan Gris, Fernand Léger, Paul Klee or Vasily Kandinsky. Until April 23th.
- In San Sebastian. International Dance Exhibition. On April 30th.
- In Getaria. Expo: "Coal and Velvet Looks of Ortiz Echagüe and Balenciaga on the popular costume". Balenciaga Museum. Until May 7th.
- In Bilbao. 'Renoir: intimacy'. Pierre-Auguste Renoir Expositions. Fines Arts Museum. Until May 15th.
- In Biarritz. Anne Etchegoyen in Concert: presents his new album “Compostelle - From the Basque Country to Saint-Jacques". Church of Saint-Eugenia. She will be accompanied by her guitar, a choir of Basque voices, and the dancers of the modern dance company Aukeran to San Sebastian. April 1st.
- In San Sebastian. Basque country symphonic orchestra. Kursaal Centre. April: 3rd, 5th, 27th & 28th.
- In Zumarraga. Basque Instrument "Txalaparta" class. Topaleku, Eitza. From 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. April 7th.
- In San Sebastian. “Swan Lake”, Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra of Royal Russian Ballet. Kursaal Palace. April 22nd.
- In Bilbao. Antonio Orozco in concert, tour "Destination". Euskalduna Palace. April 29th.
- In Bilbao. Dream Theater in concert; images, words and beyond. BEC – Bilbao Exhibition Centre. April 29th.
- In Iraty, near Biarritz. The Salon du 2 roues of the Basque Coast and Landes. It is a mainstream show dedicated to motorcycles, scooters and bicycles. From March 31th to April 2nd.
- In San Sebastian. Half marathon of San Sebastian: 21,097 km. April 2nd.
- Cycling Tour of the Basque Country, a region where cycling tradition is deeply rooted thanks to our spectacular nature. In 5 of the 6 days they will go up by 33 mountain passes and the last leg will be a race against the clock. April 3rd to 8th.
- In San Sebastian. Open International Chess Championship. Large national and international chess masters participate. April 8th until 15th.
- In Biarritz. 33rd edition of Biarritz Quiksilver Maïder Arostéguy. It is the oldest surf competition in Europe. This meeting of the Easter weekend in Biarritz brought together 250 surfers from all over France (Brittany, the Mediterranean, the Landes, the Royal countries, the Basque country) but also Spanish Basques, Italians and other European nationalities. From 15th to 17th April.
- In Zarautz, Surf World Championship "Pro Surf”. In the programm you can also include: films, several concerts, exhibitions, volleyball, footbal and skate exhibits. April 20th to 23th.
- In Vitoria-Gasteiz. Popular Run VITORIA-GASTEIZ – ESTIBALIZ: 15, 075 km. April 23th.
- In Biarritz, French Basque Country. French Championship of Basque Pelota: Jai Alai. Biarritz Jai Alai. Until April: 27th.
Enjoy the Basque Country!
