The Navarre region sits in the north of Spain. It borders France in the northeast, Basque Country in the northwest, La Rioja in the southwest and Aragon in the southeast.
The region has the Pyrenees mountain range in the north and lush fertile valleys in the south along Ebro river valley. In between are a variety of landscapes.
The region has a population of just 650,000. Its capital, Pamplona is home to almost a third of the region’s population. Of course Pamplona is most famous for its festival of San FermÃn or the running of the bulls festival. The festival attracts tens of thousands of visitors every year and usually makes the news all over the world.
Navarre has a rich history and the Kingdom of Navarre existed up until 1841. Sitting as it does between France and Spain Navarre has been an important political and strategic power throughout history.
There are plenty of things to do in Navarre. Pamplona Cathedral is beautiful and there are parks and historical fortifications close to the city centre. Iruna Cafe was a favourite haunt of Ernest Hemmingway and is beautiful. There are a number of national parks offering scenic hikes and spectacular scenery. The region is littered with pretty towns and rivers begging to be explored.
There are no major airports in the region. Your best bet is to fly into either Madrid, Donostia-San Sebastian, Bilbao or even Zaragoza and drive or catch a train from there.
From Madrid, to the capital Pamplona is about 3 hours 30 minutes by train.
Coming from Donostia-San Sebastian it is about 1 hour 40 minutes by train.
From Zaragoza it is a 2 hour 20 minute train trip.
Driving from Madrid takes around 4 hours.
From Donostia-San Sebastian it is about an hour driving.
Bilbao to Pamplona is about a 2 hour drive.
Zaragoza to Pamplona is about a 2 hour 10 minute drive.