Discover Hernani: Old Town and Santa Barbara

Hernani combines a designated historic Old Town with activities around Mount Santa Barbara and a network of trails. If you’re looking for a hotel destination for a trip focused on culture or nature, these different highlights can guide your plans. In the Old Town, the street layout and a guided tour take centre stage; at Santa Barbara, there’s also a short mountain walk and climbing routes. Hernani is also one of five access points to Aiako Harria Nature Park. This lets you consider in advance whether you’d prefer to spend your time exploring history, getting active on the mountain or visiting the nature park.

Old Town and medieval tour

Hernani’s historic Old Town is designated as a cultural asset in the “Monumental Ensemble” category. Its former walled layout consisted of the longitudinal streets Andre kalea and Kale Nagusia, and the cross street Felipe Sagarna “Zapa” kalea. The layout at the time had five entrances. The names and arrangement of the streets bring the historic plan to life: two longitudinal axes and one cross axis formed the walled area.

A guided tour of the medieval town invites you to explore the walls, admire coats of arms and façades, and experience Hernani’s history on a walk. This lets you discover the Old Town not only through its street layout, but also by focusing on individual architectural details. If you’d like to include the tour in your travel plans, check the dates in advance.

Santa Barbara: walking, climbing and pilgrimage

Mount Santa Barbara is close to the town centre and offers a short mountain walk. There are also around 124 climbing routes of varying difficulty at Santa Barbara. These refer to two different activities: the walk is described as short, while the climbing routes span various difficulty levels. If you’re choosing between them, consider which type of activity you’d like to include in your stay.

A popular pilgrimage takes place at the summit of Santa Barbara on 31 July. The programme includes a mass, demonstrations of traditional rural sports, bertsolaris and a communal meal. The fixed date may be important when planning your trip if you’d like to experience this particular event. The walk, climbing and pilgrimage are three different ways to enjoy a stay on the same mountain.

Trail network, nature park access and bus

Hernani has a network of 11 routes developed with the support of the Aranzadi Zientzia Society and the Hernaniko Mendiriz Mendi Association. These 11 routes refer to the trail network; the approximately 124 routes, by contrast, refer to climbing at Santa Barbara. The figures therefore relate to different activities and should not be understood as parts of a single route network. In addition, Hernani is one of five access points to Aiako Harria Nature Park.

There is a specific bus stop for getting to Chillida Leku Museum: bus line BU05 stops at the museum in Hernani. If you’d like to use the line for your visit, check the timetable before travelling.

Discover more destinations: Getaria, Aizarna, Beizama, Berastegi, Villabona, Hondarribia, Bergara, Zumaia.

For the main travel overview: Gipuzkoa.