Discover Navarra (A Journey Around the Kingdom of Navarra)

A week in Navarra, which is a small province with a desert, a beech forest, a royal palace and a stretch of French Basque coast in it. Caminos arrange it as a fly-drive with the hire car included, or with the ferry and your own car.

The first three nights are in the north-west, and they cross the border freely: the Baztán and Bidasoa valleys on the Spanish side, then Hondarribia, San Sebastián, Saint-Jean-de-Luz and Biarritz on the French, with the rack railway up La Rhune for the view over both. Pamplona is close by.

Two nights in the north-east follow, which is the quietest corner. The Irati forest is one of the biggest beech woods in Europe, the Lumbier and Arbayún gorges are full of griffon vultures, and Ochagavía and Isaba are stone villages in high valleys. Roncal cheese is made here, Ossau-Iraty over the pass, and Roncesvalles is where the Camino comes down out of France.

The last two nights go south, and the landscape changes completely. Olite has a royal palace of the kings of Navarra, all turrets and galleries, and Las Bardenas Reales beyond it is clay badlands and wind-carved buttes that look nothing like Spain. Ujué and Artajona are fortified hill villages on the way. Seven nights, three bases, circular. Per person for two sharing, bed and breakfast, with the car included; flights are extra. Caminos also offer this as the short version of their longer Pyrenean and Rioja routes if you want to extend it. It suits anyone who wants a week that goes from Atlantic surf to semi-desert without a long drive anywhere in it.