Gaztelugatxe is an islet on the coast of Biscay belonging to the municipality of Bermeo, Basque Country (Spain). It is connected to the mainland by a man-made bridge. On this islet sits a hermitage named ‘Gaztelugatxeko Doniene’ in Basque, or ‘San Juan de Gaztelugatxe’ in Spanish. On the side is a bell that visitors can ring and make a wish, for this reason, we nicknamed it ‘the house of wishes’.

Getting to Gaztelugatxe involves driving some quite narrow roads to the mainland location, from here you can walk to the islet. Although you can see Gaztelugatxe from the start of the walk and the distance doesn’t seem far, the walk itself involves a steep path on the mainland side followed by 237 steps once you cross the bridge. We did this on a blistering hot day and were glad to find there is a water fountain just before the bridge.

Once you’ve gotten to the bridge you can choose to cross and visit the Gaztelugatxe or take some steps down under the bridge, we chose to climb up to Gaztelugatxe first and then go down under the bridge afterwards for a short rest before the return climb. The views are stunning along every bit of this walk, and small lizards skitter out of the way along the whole route. We really did find it worth the walk/climb.