San Juan de Gaztelugatxe

Why go

This record is the hermitage of San Juan (Saint John) on the islet of Gaztelugatxe in Bermeo, not the islet itself or the protected area around it. Bizkaia's provincial council says the present hermitage is not the original and has been rebuilt several times after battles and fires, the last major rebuilding coming in 1983 after a fire in 1978, and that the area was declared a protected biotope in 1998 and renamed a Natural Monument in 2023. The council's page says that on days with controlled access an access ticket must be booked online in advance and shown to the staff at the access point, that on other days no booking is needed, and that a limit of 1,462 visitors a day applies. The same page names the Urizarreta access as the way in, describes a path and a flight of steps leading up to the hermitage, and lists days reserved for local celebrations on which it recommends that tourists do not visit.