27 Apr The green road
The history and development of the city have allowed the construction of a town full of green areas and trees, in which cultural heritage and urban nature merge. This region has many hectares of parks and gardens, making it the city in Spain with the largest area of parks per inhabitant, 26 m2.
At the foot of the Gateway of France, the northern entrance to the walled city, the River Arga describes a meander that contains one of the most special places in Pamplona, a very interesting agricultural area.
In order to highlight the benefits of the vegetables that this land boasts, throughout the year Pamplona holds several gastronomic events offering numerous proposals such as pincho routes, guided food and wine tours, workshops, tastings and pairings and many activities related to this product, including “Winter Vegetables”, “Rosé and Vegetables”, “Vegetables in Spring”, “Rosé and Asparagus Week”…
Points of interest:
Orchards of Arzantzadi
- Address: C/ Vuelta de Aranzadi s/n.
- GPS: 42.82611, -1.64125
- Phone: 948 42 01 00
- Web: go to the web
- Access:
- Description: At the foot of the Gateway of France, the northern entrance to the walled city, the River Arga describes a meander that contains one of the most special places in Pamplona.
A 150,000 square metre park in the meander of the river formed on the left bank of the Arga, between the Rochapea and Txantrea neighbourhoods.
It consists of a succession of spaces with the character of a natural park (riverside area), an agricultural park (orchards) and an urban park (green spaces, squares, children’s play area).The orchards combine the productive and traditional aspects of this environment with didactic aspects and social relations, all represented in a restaurant.
- Resident’s tip: If you are in Aranzadi Park, be sure to visit the only hórreo (granary) that exists in Pamplona.
Gurbindo House
- Address: C/ Vuelta de Aranzadi, 8.
- GPS: 42.82935, -1.639785
- Web: go to the web
- Access: It is not possible to drive a car in the park.
- Description: It is a centre for the interpretation of agriculture and livestock farming located in Aranzadi Park, in the heart of Pamplona. The visit offers a journey of sensations in which you will discover the importance of agriculture and livestock farming as the driving force behind the economy of Navarre.
Casa Gurbindo Etxea has an agricultural area where you can learn first-hand about the work involved in farming.
Casa Gurbindo Etxea was created with the aim of becoming a point of reference of the rural world in the city, a tourist and leisure space where the rural environment and the endogenous resources of the territory are promoted.
- Resident’s tip: If you want to get to know and see this place, in situ, with all the different crops of the Navarrese orchards, this is the place.
Orchards of La Magdalena
- Web: go to the web
- Access:
- Description: Located in one of the oldest districts of Pamplona, on the banks of the river Arga, the Zabalza family has been cultivating its vegetable gardens for more than 150 years, generation after generation, bringing the best products from the garden to the consumer.
With a natural method, avoiding chemical products, always taking care of the environment and putting delicacy and interest in obtaining the most tender and tasty vegetables and salads you have ever eaten. Famous throughout Pamplona are its crisp lettuces, tomatoes, green beans, borage, chard and spring onions.
For those who do not have the opportunity to go to the orchard or to the market, they have the option of finding the vegetables harvested on the day.
- Resident’s tip: If you want to get to know and see this place, in situ, with all the different crops of the Navarrese orchards, this is the place. Don’t miss it!
La Taconera Park
- Address: Calle Taconera, 6.
- GPS: 42.81772, -1.65113
- Web: go to the web
- Access: It is not possible to drive a car in the park.
- Descripción: Los Jardines de la Taconera, los más antiguos de Pamplona, son un jardín de estilo francés en el centro de la ciudad. Diseñados en 1830, conservan un aire romántico. Su estilo es versallesco, con amplios caminos de grava, elementos escultóricos, parterres y setos recortados… Tiene una superficie de 90.000 m2 y está situado alrededor de las murallas de la ciudad. De hecho, integra una parte de ellas, como el foso rodeado de muros de baluartes en el que viven diversas especies, como un pequeño zoológico con ciervos, faisanes, patos, cisnes, pavos reales… No hay horarios de apertura ni de cierre, así que puedes pasarte cuando te apetezca. Uno de los árboles más llamativos es la sapphora japónica, que se encuentra en el encantador Café Vienés.
- Resident’s tip: With children it is a delight, there is plenty of space for them to run around and you can keep an eye on them without any problems.
Verduarte Bastion
- Address: Plaza de Baluarte s/n.
- Opening hours: Monday to Sunday from 1:00 pm to 3:30 pm.
- Phone: 948 06 60 56
- Email: reservas@verduarte.com
- Web: go to the web
- Access:
- Description: Located at the top of the Baluarte Palace of Congresses in Pamplona. A privileged location with exceptional views of the city. Haute cuisine restaurant, awarded with a Sol Repsol 2020, where you can enjoy all the essence of the vegetables of our land, tasting them in all their textures, flavours and forms. They have two menus that will make your experience a journey through the most traditional flavours combined with the latest gastronomic trends. All of this is prepared by chef Nacho Gómara, of Ribera origins, the cradle of Navarrese vegetables, and with a great professional career.
- Resident’s tip: Seasonal produce is the star of our cuisine. Don’t leave Pamplona without tasting our excellent vegetables.
Return of the Castle and Citadel
- Address: Avenida del Ejército, 1.
- Opening hours: Tuesday to Saturday: from 11:30 to 13:30 h. and 18:00 to 20:30 h. Sundays and Holidays: from 11:30 to 13:30 h.
- GPS: 42.812971, -1.65329
- Phone: 948 420 975
- Email: ciudadela@pamplona.es
- Web: go to the web
- Access: Access to the Citadel Park by car is not permitted.
- Description: Leaving the Taconera towards the south, we come to the Vuelta del Castillo, the name given to the old glacis of the Citadel, which had a defensive function and which, when the fortification passed into municipal hands in 1964, became a large cultural and leisure area.
The Citadel is home to the Contemporary Culture Centre. In its pavilions you will find exhibitions and different activities and, in its gardens, sculptures by renowned artists such as Oteiza, Basterretxea, Miralles, etc.
Once outside the fortress, it is a pleasant walk around both the moat area and the Vuelta del Castillo. On these paths you can find maples, cypresses, beeches, firs, pines, ashes, elms and cedars, among others. Among the trees, we can find birds such as the European scops owl, which is a small owl, and the medium-sized cockatoo or bat, which has nesting boxes throughout the park.
La Biblioteca restaurant in a gastronomic hotel
- Address: Calle Beloso Bajo, 11
- GPS: 42.82041, -1.62387
- Phone: 948 293 380
- Email: reservations@almapamplona.com
- Web: go to the web
- Access: 7 minutes from the centre of Pamplona by car.
- Description: La Biblioteca Restaurant, with one Michelin star, is located in a design and avant-garde hotel integrated in nature. This hotel with its own personality seeks to surprise by offering its visitors new experiences.
Leandro is constantly on the lookout for new possibilities that the environment offers him, he gets lost in fields and forests, talks to market gardeners, shepherds, farmers, wise connoisseurs of these habitats, who discover ingredients that have always been there, as well as ancient uses to reinterpret and that today provide Leandro with a range of innovative opportunities. This means that Alma’s dishes contain the fruits that forests and fields produce in each season, thus taking the person on an unusual journey into the past.
Reviews in the media: “One of the best traditional cuisines you can find”
Comer, El Mundo
“Elegance, technique and traditions. Landscape on the plate”.
José Carlos Capel – Food critic for El País.
Santo Domingo market
- Address: Calle Mercado, 79
- Opening hours: From Monday to Saturday from 08:00 h. to 14:00 h. Friday and eve of holidays from 16:30 h. to 20:00 h.
- GPS: 42.81991, -1.644179
- Phone: 948 22 18 58
- Web: go to the web
- Access: 7 minutes from the center of Pamplona by car.
- Description: In the historic centre of Pamplona, of course, stands the oldest market in the city, which preserves within its walls a piece of the history of the capital of Navarre. It is a traditional market set in a central rectangular courtyard, with a multitude of individual stalls offering a variety of fresh produce. The current market was built in 1876, on the same site where, a year earlier, a fire burnt down what until then had been Pamplona’s central market, where the market gardeners of the Rochapea neighbourhood sold their produce to the people of Pamplona.
Hamabi's restaurant
- Address: Mercado Santo Domingo. 1ª planta del mercado.
- GPS: 42.81948, -1.64440
- Phone: 948 293 380
- Email: reservas@hamabi.es
- Web: go to the web
- Access: From the Plaza de Santiago.
- Description: Located on the first floor of the Santo Domingo market of the capital of Navarre. It is a restaurant that “seeks to recreate, from a more modern point of view, the dishes that were served in the old inns of the city, with popular recipes with identity, family recipes and a lot of history”. The aim is to use products that, depending on the season and time of year, are available on the market on a day-to-day basis, “an outstandingly different, traditional and modern gastronomic proposal”. The team of the new restaurant is formed by Rubén Zubiri, Patricia Lugo and Jon Urrutikoetxea, who have decided to open this new restaurant after 8 years in the Barri de Albert Adriá, Barcelona.
- Resident’s tip: Don’t miss “Hamabi’s liturgy”, one of the menus suggested by the chef.
