Country chapels

Aramaio has at least 25 of these chapels dotted about its territory, some of them linked by fine walks. Many are in ruins, but around half are still used by the local populations as places of worship.

They are mostly small, simple buildings with no great artistic merit, built with small porches and thick walls of masonry in the same style as the local farmhouses. The best known and best loved of them is the chapel of Andra Mari de Ibabe in Ibarra, on the road to the hamlet of Gantzaga. This chapel, records of which exist as far back as the 16th century, is maintained by an association known as the "Cofradía de Hijosdalgo del Valle de Aramaiona", which has kept it in use as a place of worship. The association holds a popular festival on the second Sunday in September.

Another chapel with a long tradition is Marixeka, close to the road from Legutiano to Aramaio, just before the Krutzeta Pass. Records of a chapel here date back to the 16th century, but many changes were made to it before it was eventually destroyed in the Civil War. The present building (the third to stand on the site) was built in 1981. The main festival there is held on the first Sunday in September, and attracts crowds from all over the valley to its exhibitions of traditional local dances, singing and sports.

The chapel of San Cristóbal is also popular. Located on the mountain of the same name near the Krutzeta Pass, records indicate that this shrine to St. Christopher was in use in the mid 16th century. The fields around the chapel affords magnificent views of the valley. The main festivities here take place on the second Sunday in July, and feature popular traditional music, dance, sports and food.

The views over Aramaio and the Urkiola Natural Park are spectacular from all the highest peaks in the Sierra de Arangio, but the Krutzeta pass is especially recommended. An easily accessible, strategically placed viewing balcony has been set up by the roadside from which the whole valley with all its beautiful countryside and the peaks of the Sierra de Arangio towering behind it can be seen.

It is said that in 1905, when King Alfonso XIII was visiting his former teacher Francisco de Paula Arrillaga y Garro, who lived in this valley, he was struck by the similarity of the area to the Alps, and christened Aramaio "little Switzerland". The name caught on, and remains popular to this day.

The municipality has two parks in outstanding natural settings: Marixeka park, close to the Albina reservoir and the country chapel from which it takes its name, and the park of Andra Mari de Ibabe in Ibarra, which also takes its name from a country chapel.