Set in one of the world’s more temperate zones, the Basque Country has a wonderfully mild climate with few extremes of temperature or weather conditions when the seasons change. The climate, the influence of the sea, and an attractive mixture of villages, mountains, hills and abundant greenery, all make the Basque Country a place of natural surprises. Plentiful rain waters a naturally fertile terrain spread out on either side of the western prolongation of the Pyrenees, which divides the Basque Country into two different microclimates and social areas.
The more northerly microclimate is a thin stretch of land overlooking the Bay of Biscay. This part of the Basque Country has long been witness to the arduous, fruitful and at times dangerous relationship between man and the sea. It has also helped to shape some major cities and towns, giving rise to much business, industrial and financial activity.
The southern half of the Basque Country, bordering on the Ebro basin, has a Mediterranean microclimate: the rains drain off into the Ebro after fertilising an area full of wide open spaces. The area as a whole, much less affected by urban development, is more agricultural than the northern part; smaller, more isolated villages abound.
At present, more than 2 million people live in the Basque Country, giving a figure of around 300 inhabitants per square kilometre, higher than the European Union average. Most people live in the larger urban areas in the northern zone.
The public health resources of Euskadi are managed by the Basque Government through the Basque Health Service (Osakidetza), which comprises 51 hospitals, 442 outpatients' centres and upwards of twenty-four thousand healthcare professionals, a number that ensures 4.5 doctors per 1,000 inhabitants.
This unit, according to the experts, provides the best available health care in Spain, and, according to its users, represents Euskadi’s most highly-valued public asset. All this enables us to place ourselves in the lead among developed countries in terms of life expectancy and number of physicians per inhabitant.
We can facilitate the necessary processing (work permit, training, etc..) to enable your spouse to work in Euskadi.
The Basque educational system guarantees the mandatory and free character of education from 6 to 16 years old and is characterized by a bilingual model using two official languages, Euskera and Spanish, together with English.
Schooling is voluntary for children from 0 to 6 years of age and obligatory from 6 to 16. It is distributed into three stages:
Income Tax. This is the main tax to pay. The employer – i.e., the Fundación Ikerbasque – is the entity withholding income tax from your salary and depositing it in the state treasury.
The Basque Country offers a wide range of housing options. Ikerbasque will help you find a home in keeping with your needs.
In the Basque Country the sea is a major factor in the climate. The Basque Country has all the characteristics of ocean climate. Temperatures are mild and it’s slightly rainy. The average annual minimum temperature is between 13° and 15°C. The highest average temperature in the coldest winter month (January) is 12°C (on the coast it’s a bit warmer) and the average maximum in the hottest month (August) is 25°C. However it is not unusual for the temperature to reach the 30s in the summer months.
In recent years the effects of climate change are being seen with less rain and slightly higher temperatures – especially in summer. Summer and winter remain clearly defined but the transitional seasons of spring and autumn are getting shorter. You can usually rely on being able to swim in the sea and eat outside in summer. In winter you may well need a warm coat – especially in the inland area where the temperatures are cooler due to the higher land and the continental climate.
The main attraction of the Basque Country is perhaps its hugely varied natural beauty, with tree-lined mountains, rocky cliffs and plains whose colour shifts as the hours of the day tick by. The 252 km of coastline offers breathtaking views, fishing villages where time seems to have stood still, endless clean beaches ideal for swimming and water sports, and mysterious river estuaries. There are also exceptional hiking and cycling routes.
The Basque Country has eight nature reserves, with beauty spots ranging from charming woods to idyllic waterfalls. But all this is just part of what the Basque Country has to offer visitors looking for peace, quiet and enjoyment. One of the advantages of living in the Basque Country is that it is small and easy to travel through. There is an extensive network of roads, with motorways linking the three provincial capitals, and efficient, attractive airports, e.g. that of Bilbao.
The Basque Country also offers a full range of leisure activities including surfing, golf, rowing. This unique range of attractions is completed by a number of major cultural events such as international jazz festivals in summer, symphony concerts and stage shows. Museums include the beautiful Artium in Vitoria, the San Telmo in Donostia and the Fine Arts and Guggenheim museums in Bilbao, where a whole new focal point for culture and leisure has grown up. World-renowned architects have put their names to new features in the city, including Argentina’s Cesar Pelli and Iraq’s Zaha Hadid in the Abandoibarra and Zorrozaurre areas. With a total area of 600,000 m2, this latter area beside the river Nervión blends reminiscences of the city’s industrial past with works by Chillida, Dalí, Bourgeois, Lüpertz, Tucker, Rückriem, Garraza and Zugasti. Other significant buildings include the Zubiarte centre by Robert Stern, the Uribitarte Towers, designed by Japanese architect Arata Isozaki, the Zubizuri bridge by Santiago Calatrava, the Palacio Euskalduna conference centre and concert hall with its ochre walls built to look like an upturned ship, the Metro underground railway by Sir Norman Foster and the glass building designed by Rafael Moneo to house the library of the University of Deusto.
But the main feature of the Basque Country is its cuisine. The exquisite, loving care with which the Basques cook is one of the keys to their character. There are around a thousand gastronomic societies and clubs, whose members meet regularly to prepare meals that are veritable works of art of culinary imagination. Cooking is deeply rooted in Basque culture: the area has produced world-renowned chefs such as Arzak, Berasategi and Subijana, and schools that have revolutionised the concept of fine cuisine. The Basque Country has one of the highest concentrations of haute cuisine restaurants in the world, and is a host of other small eateries that serve traditional recipes in uniquely attractive settings. The open, hospitable nature of the Basques means that these are just some of the pleasures visitors can find here.
