10 Best Sights in Pamplona, Bilbao and the Basque Country

This Rafael Moneo–designed monolith of glass and stone, ingeniously contained within a Romanesque palace, is Pamplona's architectural pièce de résistance. With papers and parchments dating to the 9th century, the archive holds more than 75,000 linear feet of documents and has room for more than 55,500 feet more. The library and reading rooms are lined with cherrywood and crowned with a gilded ceiling, and there's a 12th-century crypt that you can visit for free.

Pamplona's most remarkable civic building is the ornate town hall on the Plaza Consistorial, with its rich ocher facade setting off brightly gilded balconies. The interior is a lavish wood-and-marble display of wealth, reinforcing Navarra's historic status as a rich kingdom in its own right. The present building was erected between 1753 and 1759. You can appreciate it from the outside, but the building is not open to visitors.

The fragile gabled Gothic arches of this 14th-century cloister make it one of the finest of its type in the country. Inside are the tombs of Carlos III and his wife, marked by an alabaster sculpture. The well-preserved kitchen is one of just three surviving Gothic kitchens of Spain. The Museo Catedralicio Diocesano (Diocesan Museum) houses religious art from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Call in advance for guided tours in English.

Take an evening paseo alongside locals through this central park with promenades and pools on the site of an ancient fortress.

This museum 12 km (7½ miles) east of Pamplona commemorates Jorge Oteiza (1908–2003), the father of modern Basque art. In his seminal treatise, Quosque tandem, Oteiza called for Basque artists to find their own aesthetic and not acquiesce to the Spanish canon. Rejecting ornamentation in favor of essential form, he created the school of artists from which Eduardo Chillida (1924–2002) emerged. The earth-tone concrete slab of a building housing the museum was Oteiza's home for more than two decades.

This gorgeous Navarran hamlet 54 km (33½ miles) southeast of Pamplona, perched atop a lush riverbed and gorge, is the birthplace of the 16th-century Roman Catholic missionary Francis Xavier, cofounder of the Jesuit order. There's a fine castle, cathedral, and monastery, comfortable hotels, a couple of restaurants, and an impressive visitor center with rotating exhibits. Whatever your religious persuasion, it's a beautiful stop on your travels in the Pamplona area.

In a 16th-century building once used as a hospital for pilgrims on their way to Santiago de Compostela, this museum has a collection of regional archaeological artifacts and historical costumes. Placards are Spanish-only.

Designed by celebrity architect Rafael Moneo, this contemporary art museum and event space is on the University of Navarra campus. It has an exceptional photograph collection dating to the birth of photography as an art form, and the permanent art collection features classic works by Rothko, Picasso, Kandinsky, and Tàpies.

An unforgettable glimpse into the Kingdom of Navarra of the Middle Ages is the reward for journeying to this town. The 11th-century church of San Pedro is revered for its finely worked Romanesque cloisters and portal, but it's the town's storybook castle—restored by Carlos III in the French style and brimming with ramparts, crenellated battlements, and watchtowers—that dazzles the imagination. You can walk the ramparts, and should you get tired or hungry, part of the castle has been converted into a parador, making a fine place to grab a snack or catch a few z's.

One of Pamplona's greatest charms is the warren of narrow streets near the Plaza del Castillo (especially Calle San Nicolás) filled with restaurants and bars.