Most beautiful villages in La Rioja

La Rioja may be small in size, but it packs in a surprising variety of landscapes: the vine-covered Ebro valley, the ranges that close it off to the north and the mountains of the south, where the climate turns cooler and green takes over everything. Among the prettiest villages in La Rioja there is a common thread that you notice straight away: the mark of the frontier. For centuries these lands were fought over by Navarre and Castile, and that history is still visible in castles, walls and royal foundations.

San Vicente de la Sonsierra sums it up well. Overlooking the Ebro at the foot of the Sierra de Cantabria, it has kept its Navarrese castle and the hermitage of Santa María de la Piscina, and its municipal area is packed with remains ranging from the Neolithic to the medieval wars. Sajazarra, in Rioja Alta, tells another version of the same story: a walled town beside the Aguanal and Ea rivers, presided over by the castle-palace of the Velasco family, with almost a thousand years of documents behind it.

Ezcaray changes the scene completely. Founded by Navarrese kings at the foot of the Picota de San Torcuato, it was the last place in La Rioja where Basque was spoken, and today it is the natural starting point for anyone wanting to walk in the mountains or head up to the snow. Barely an hour's drive separates the vineyards of the Sonsierra from the peaks of Ezcaray, and that proximity means you can combine medieval stone, wine country and mountains in a single trip.