Hegaluze, boat tours in Bizkaia.

Discover the beauty of the coast of Bizkaia through Hegaluze’s boat tours, a unique experience on the Basque coast.

Hegaluze, a Basque company specialized in making known our natural and cultural environment from the sea, has a strategic position on the Basque coast, a location from which it is possible to reach 2 of the jewels of our coast, San Juan de Gaztelugatxe and Urdaibai, in just 1 hour of navigation. Hegaluze provides us with a wide range of boat trips in Bizkaia from which to choose, experiences through which we have the possibility of getting to know some of the most beautiful corners of our coast.

Urdaibai, one of the most striking environments of the entire coast of the Basque Country, has the stretch of coast between the towns of Bakio and Elantxobe, a space in which we find 13 of the wildest kilometers of our entire coastline. On board the Hegaluze boats, we have visited a great collection of natural treasures. Elantxobe, Mundaka, Bermeo, Cape Ogoño, Laga beach and San Juan de Gaztelugatxe represent some of the most beautiful spots of our coast, places worthy of any maritime adventure.

The environment that we show you today, has authentic movie locations, and is that, Urdaibai, space selected on several occasions as one of the most beautiful of the Cantabrian, has given life to some of the unexplorable scenes of Game of Thrones. San Juan de Gaztelugatxe, the most famous islet of the Biscayan coast, was selected together with Zumaia and Barrika to give life to one of the spaces of the seventh season of the emblematic American series. If you want to know more details about the Basque scenarios of Game of Thrones, do not hesitate to read our article: The 4 scenarios of Game of Thrones in the Basque Country.

Hegaluze, currently has two vessels, Hegaluze and Hegaluze Barria. The main boat, Hegaluze Barria, with a capacity of 66 passengers, is a perfect option to visit the most beautiful places of Urdaibai or to watch cetaceans in the open sea. This boat, conditioned to transport people with reduced mobility, has a bathroom, music, public address system and whale watching platform, everything you need to spend long trips at sea. Its other boat, Hegaluze, the smallest of the fleet, has a total capacity of 25 people, a boat of lesser length and draft that is suitable for getaways along the Urdaibai estuary. If you want to see the coast of Bizkaia in a different way than usual, we recommend visiting it by sea, aboard the Hegaluze boats. And the fact is that the green and rocky cliffs are allied with the coastal towns to show us some of the most outstanding charms of our environment, an experience that enriches every traveler who visits us. Do you want to know what are the most popular routes or boat trips in Bizkaia? Do not miss the following lines, read on!

Nature lovers and sea lovers are in luck, Hegaluze and its boat routes offer a complete and unique experience through our cliffs, beaches and fishing ports. An experience that we do not hesitate to classify as one of the best of the Basque coast. If a few days ago we told you about the possibilities offered by sailing along the estuary of Bilbao, today we show you the possibility of sailing through Urdaibai, a totally different scenario to the one we showed you then, in which we have the opportunity to contemplate the wildest side of Bizkaia. Hegaluze, offers us 3 boat routes, two in Urdaibai and one in the open sea, but all of them have impressive panoramic views of the Basque coast. In the following lines we are going to tell you about our experiences aboard Hegaluze’s boats, stay tuned!

Boat route to Elantxobe: This boat route gives us the possibility to see from a different point of view the towns of Bermeo, Mundaka and Elantxobe, 3 coastal towns surrounded by wonders of nature such as Cape Ogoño, the island of Izaro or the beach of Laga. We started our adventure in the port of Bermeo, next to the parking lot, in front of the sculpture of the wave, origin of all Hegaluze routes and place where we met Juan, responsible for Hegaluze. We take a seat on the boat and begin our route to Elantxobe, heading towards Cape Ogoño. On the way, we find the island of Izaro, where the loudspeaker alerts us of its history and importance while pointing out a school of fish to port. We leave Izaro behind and face the last stretch of coast before reaching the picturesque village of Elantxobe, it is time to contemplate the Caves of Ogoño and the majesty of this gigantic cape that makes us look like dwarfs as we pass. We arrived at Elantxobe, from the sea the vertiginousness of its streets increases exponentially, beautiful. We turn around, return to Bermeo, but not before visiting the port of Mundaka, the Hermitage of Santa Katalina and the marshes of Urdaibai, returning to contemplate (from another perspective) Izaro and Ogoño. Beautiful coastal route. We must point out that the Hegaluze boat enters each of the ports it crosses, allowing us to contemplate the crystalline waters of its interior. A very successful route for those who want to know some of the most emblematic fishing villages of Bizkaia from the sea. During the tour we recommend moving from port to starboard (and vice versa) to contemplate in greater detail each attraction of the trip. However, we remind you that the front part of the boat, the whale-watching platform, should be used with caution and under request of those in charge of the boat.

Boat route to San Juan de Gaztelugatxe: Undoubtedly one of the most demanded routes, and no wonder, through this boat trip we have the opportunity to see San Juan de Gaztelugatxe from a unique perspective, from the sea. San Juan is the culmination of a boat trip in which we visit the Matxitxako cape and the island of Akatz, a magical environment that has been listed as a Protected Biotope. This route, like the rest of the Hegaluze routes, starts in Bermeo, except that we head to Cape Matxitxako, an environment where the green of the forests and the blue of the sea recreate a movie scene.After contemplating Matxitxako, the boat heads towards the Akatz Rock, a space that the sea and the wind have sculpted capriciously with the passage of time. A place where once a colony of rabbits found a small paradise, curious isn’t it? Finally, we come to the great protagonist of the day, the place of infinite beauty, San Juan de Gaztelugatxe. Moment, in which the cameras and cell phones take chipas to immortalize one of the most famous rocky sets of the Bay of Biscay. On the way back, we have the opportunity to contemplate another of the faces of Akatz, its more vegetal side, a delight. We must point out that there is the possibility of doing this same route by boat to see the sunset, the only variation is the duration (increases to 1 hour and 30 minutes) and the cost (increases to 16 € for adults and 10 € for children).

Whale watching boat trip: This trip is different from the rest, and on this occasion, the Hegaluze boats leave the Basque coast behind to enter the open sea, at the edge of the continental shelf, more than 12 miles from our coast. On this trip we will be accompanied by members of the AMBAR association (Association for the study and conservation of marine fauna), a non-profit organization that has been conserving and disseminating the natural wealth of the Basque Country since 1998. A high quality experience, in which we have been lucky enough to see more than 6 species in the same outing: common dolphins(Delphinus delphis), striped dolphins (Stenella coeruleoalba), Cuvier’s beaked whales (Ziphius cavirostris), long-finned pilot whales(Globicephala melas), yellow-legged gulls(Larus michahellis) and gannets (Morus bassanus). A great adventure on the Basque coast in which besides enjoying like children we had the opportunity to learn about the different species that ply our waters daily, the cetaceans of the Basque coast.

Personalized route: Boat routes according to the client’s taste. You design the route to follow and Hegaluze takes you to your destination. This type of outings offer us the possibility of docking in one of the coastal towns surrounding Bermeo to enjoy its gastronomy, take a swim or simply to get to know the Urdaibai environment.

Where to eat after the boat trip: Although there are many restaurants where you can enjoy the Basque gastronomy, in this case we recommend you to enjoy the Cannon restaurant, an establishment with beautiful views over Bermeo and the coast of Urdaibai that blend perfectly with the traditional gastronomy of our town. You can read more about this restaurant in our article Restaurant Cannon etxea, a restaurant of height.

Please note that the prices shown in this article are approximate and may vary over time. Hegaluze’s guided tours by sea are now one of the attractions of the town of Bermeo. An experience that has our exclusive TurismoVasco Tiketa accreditation. Each and every one of the places of our coast has its own peculiar charm, from the biggest cliffs to the smallest beaches. Which boat route do you like the most?