Ayala, Nature and History

In Ayala, located to the north-east of the territory, the evergreen landscape will surprise you almost as much as its fortified towers and manorial houses.

An ideal place to start a good route is Artziniega, on the border with Vizcaya, where you can visit its Medieval district, declared a Monumental Site, the Ethnographic Museum and, close by, the Shrine of Nuestra Señora de la Encina.Take the A-624 road (heading towards Amurrio) until Menagaray and then take the A-4620 through to Quejana-Kexaa. Here you will find the Solar de los Ayala site, an impressive fortified Mediaeval Site. Back on the A-624, continue through to Respaldiza, where you will find the wonderful Tower House of Etxebarri. Continue along this road, always heading towards Amurrio, and take the A-3618 to Izoria and then the A-4612 to enjoy Maroño reservoir. Then continue along the main road to Amurrio, where you will find another Ethnographic Museum and, on the outskirts, the field of Zaraobe, where Ayala was granted its charter in the 14th century.

Another interesting option is to visit a Txakoli wine cellar. From here, the A-625, which Álava and Vizcaya share, will take you through to Orduña. From this point you can reach Cañón de Delika via the A-4906, in order to observe the spectacular cascade of the Nervión river which, with a drop of almost 300 metres, is the highest in the State. Going up through the port of La Barrerilla along the A-2521 road we will reach Goiuri (Gujuli), which means we are now in La Cuadrilla de Zuia.

In this locality we will find another waterfall, namely the Altube. If you continue along the same road and take the A-3612 turn-off, you can visit Izarra, the capital of the municipality of Urkabustaiz. As of this point we have two options. If you wish to reach Vitoria-Gasteiz quickly, take the A-2521 again and then the motorway (N-622), or, for a calmer journey, take the A-3600 and enjoy the landscape.