Lantz: Carnival, Cultural Heritage and Mountain Trails

Lantz combines a long-standing carnival tradition with archaeological remains, historic architecture, and trails through the municipality’s mountainous landscape. These offer different ways to explore the area during a stay: the carnival follows a clear schedule, while the houses, inscription, and trails each reveal different chapters of the town’s history and landscape.

The Carnival of Lantz

The carnival takes place on the Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday before Ash Wednesday; Tuesday is the main day. This three-day schedule helps you plan your visit around the festival. If you are traveling to Lantz for the carnival, check the specific event dates in advance.

The sequence of events also shapes the festival: the capture of Miel Otxin is reenacted on the preceding day. On Tuesday evening, residents stage the execution and burning of the figure at the stake. The carnival is recognized as an intangible cultural asset of cultural interest (Bien de Interés Cultural).

Architecture and Archaeological Traces

The large houses dating from the 17th and 18th centuries stand out in the town’s civil architecture; some bear coats of arms. A striking contrast in time is provided by the present-day parish church of Santa Cruz, a modern building. Lantz’s urban layout also follows a clear settlement typology from Roman times. The Lantz dolmen is part of the Saioa-Loiketa dolmen station.

A Roman road has been preserved between Belate and Lantz. The arrangement and positioning of its stones to improve the passage of people and carts are clearly visible. This distinguishes the section as an archaeological trace from the routes that today mainly run through the mountainous landscape.

An approximately 2,000-year-old Paleo-Hispanic inscription was found in the Aierdi VIII mine, which belongs to the Lantz mining complex. It is considered the northernmost find of its kind in Navarre and the only one of its kind inside a mine on the Iberian Peninsula. In 2024, access to the mine was restricted exclusively to activities related to research. Before your trip, check whether this restriction is still in place.

Ayerdi IV belongs to a group of ten karst caves in the Txorrostarrikoerreka gorge, on the slopes of Ayerdi and Otaño. The galleries in this group were artificially worked for mining in Roman times. This description refers to Ayerdi IV and the named group of caves; it should not be confused with the inscription at Aierdi VIII.

Karst, Forests, and Hiking

The karst system of Lantz features notable aragonite sinter formations. In places, they can have a bluish color associated with copper deposits. Lime kilns were also built in the municipality’s mountains as pits lined with earth and stone. Limestone was fired in them, then the resulting lime was crushed and used as a building material.

The Baztan Way of St. James passes through Lantz on the route from Bayonne via Belate to Pamplona and is one of the routes from France to Santiago. Two other main tracks in Lantz lead to nature trails through beech, chestnut, and oak forests in the municipality’s mountains.

A mountain hike north of Lantz goes via Errebelu and Okolin and continues to Saioa. In addition, a circuit or hike in Lantz is estimated to take two and a half to three hours and is considered not particularly difficult. The different route details give you two specific planning references: a stated duration and a separate route over named mountains.

Discover more destinations: Dorrao, Fitero, Arguedas, Arce, Ollo, Estella, Luzaide / Valcarlos, Cascante

For the broader travel overview: Navarre.