Itzaga is a mountain in the transition area between the Basque Mountains and the Prepyrenees of Navarre, which gives it a beautiful view over both mountain ranges, partly because of its prominence of 800 metres. There is a short direct route from Ardanza de Izagaondoa to the Itzaga, but on this hike we take a slightly longer route so that we can do an attractive circular hike through this mountain range of Navarra.

  • From where we parked the car (1), continue on the dirt road. Soon we see a signpost to the right towards the Izaga (2), but we continue straight here.
  • After fifteen minutes at the fork (3) we keep to the right. We follow the unpaved road for quite some time, descend a bit, and after about 20 minutes, where the unpaved road goes up again in a bend to the left, we turn right onto a trail (4). We walk a bit through the open field and a little further on we follow the path on the left side of the open field (5).
  • We walk into the forest (6) over a narrow path and after more than five minutes we reach another trail (7) where we turn right. A little further we reach another wide trail (8) where we turn right again. We ignore the path immediately left here.
  • Fifteen minutes later we find a milestone to the right of the wide path to a path that we take (9). Immediately from the left a path joins, but we keep to the right. A little further on (10) we keep left / straight ahead. The forest opens regularly and we see the Pyrenees.
  • Three quarters of an hour later we arrive at the Ermita de San Miguel (11) and we arrive at the route to the Itzaga, to the left.
  • We reach the Itzaga (12) in fifteen minutes. From the Itzaga we walk back to the Ermita de San Miguel (11), behind which we keep left on a narrow path. Do not take the dirt road on the left here.
  • The trail is marked with milestones and about 20 minutes after the Ermita we come to a fork with signposts (13) where we go straight on towards Ardanaz. Fifteen minutes later at a pile of milestones (14) we turn right off the wide path to arrive at a wide path (15) again a few minutes later, where we turn right, further down.
  • Five minutes later at the bend of the wide path (16) we ignore the path on the right and we continue on the left following the wide path. Ten minutes later we arrive at the wide path of the way out (2) where we turn left and walk back to the car.

Route Peña Itzaga