Sunday at Gaztelugatxe and Mundaka: steps above the sea and lunch facing Laida.

San Juan de Gaztelugatxe is the hermitage on an islet off the Bermeo coast, joined to land by a stone bridge. You reach it on foot and climb 241 steps. It is the most visited place in Bizkaia, so the plan starts early: at nine the path is almost empty and the car parks have space. Afterwards you go down to Mundaka, eat facing Laida beach and close the day in Gernika, at the Casa de Juntas.

The day, hour by hour

8:15 · Set off. From Bilbao, via Mungia and Bakio to the BI-3101. It is about forty minutes. At Urizarreta there are 22 free public spaces and a private paid car park below; at Lurgorri, 57 spaces a kilometre from the Ermu access. From 10:00 to 16:00 they fill up.

9:00 · Gaztelugatxe. You walk down 1,200 m on a path with very steep stretches, cross the bridge and climb the steps to the hermitage. You come back via Ermu, 1,600 m that are gentler. Allow about two and a half hours. On controlled-access days, which the Diputación de Bizkaia sets each year, you need a free ticket booked on their website; the rest of the year you enter freely. The hermitage is usually closed: the booking is for the walk.

12:00 · Mundaka. Half an hour by car. Park at the entrance to the village and go down to the harbour. The walk continues to the Santa Katalina peninsula, with the estuary bar in front of you and Laida on the other side.

13:30 · Lunch at the Portuondo. Traditional Basque cooking above the estuary, with Laida beach opposite. On Sundays it serves lunch from 13:30 to 15:30 and is closed Tuesday and Wednesday. Book by phone.

16:00 · Casa de Juntas in Gernika. Fifteen minutes up the estuary. The seat of the Bizkaia General Assembly has the tree stained-glass window and the oak beside the entrance. The visit is free, by prior appointment on the Juntas website, and opens in the afternoon from 16:00 to 18:00, until 19:00 from June to September.

17:30 · Head home. By the BI-635 towards Amorebieta and the motorway: in Bilbao around a quarter past six.

If the plan changes

If the sea is rough or there is an orange alert, do not go down to Gaztelugatxe. With small children, the path is not for a pushchair: in summer swap the climb for Laida beach. If you want to see the islet from the water, Hegaluze leaves from Bermeo harbour on a one-hour trip to Gaztelugatxe via Cape Matxitxako, from €14, from March to October. If it rains, the Gernika Peace Museum is open on Sunday mornings.