One of the most attractive landscapes in the Basque Country
URDAIBAI has a great diversity of landscapes, carved out by its rivers as they race down to the Bay of Biscay coast. Three main types can be distinguished: mountainsides – steep but not extremely high – with green, flat-bottomed valleys, then river plains and marshes closer to the coast and finally the narrow strip of cliffs, harbours and beaches that mark the shoreline.
This broad range of landscapes provides homes for an extraordinary variety of natural ecosystems that are on the whole well-preserved: the estuary, the karstic limestone rocks – on which extensive woods of Cantabrian holm oaks stand – and a shoreline dotted with beaches and cliffs watched over by the offshore island of Izaro. Alongside these mature natural ecosystems, URDAIBAI has valuable man-made systems featuring farms based on traditional farmsteads, small hamlets and larger towns of historical and economic significance. All this gives the area a unique character and richness, with one of the most attractive landscapes anywhere in the Basque Country. The main ecosystems are protected under the URDAIBAI Biosphere Reserve Protection and Structuring Act (Act 5/1989).
