Urkabustaiz

Urkabustaiz is the most westerly municipality in the district or "Cuadrilla" of Zuia. It measures just over 60 km2, and stands between the Gorbeia massif and the crags of Orduña. The mountainous terrain and the influence of the Bay of Biscay on the climate have resulted in a green landscape with splendid beech and oak woods over much of the area. Especially impressive are the oak groves of Ostuño (Monte de La Calzada), Godamo and Abornikano, and the beech groves of the Altube Valley, Sierra de Gibijo hills, Abezia and Estuñagan.

But the best known features of the area are the gorges formed by the rivers. These spectacular landscapes are among the most beautiful and the most visited in the district of Zuia, and include the Goiuri-Ondona waterfall and the head of the river Jaundia/Altube and the Ebana waterfall at the source of the river Nervión.

The Sierra de Gibijo hills tower over the valleys below (Izarra and the Altube Valley), and provide magnificent viewing balconies at Estuñagan/Alto del Corral (841m.), Alto de Ganbaza/Abezia (836m.) and Alto de San Martín (724m.). This terrain has conditioned the local economy which has centred since time immemorial on cattle farming and forestry. Even today these remain its chief activities. Like the rest of the district, the landscape of Urkabustaiz is clear evidence of the way in which the land has been used in this area: it is a rural landscape dotted with hamlets and scattered farmhouses, meadows and woods.

The production of cheese, junket, cakes and pastries, meat, etc. has evolved into a major industry (viz. the cheese factory at Izarra), though family firms still abound (e.g. cheese production & marketing in the farmhouses of Goiuri-Ondona and Inoso). The area's industrial firms are based on two industrial estates in Izarra: Landaverde, which houses big firms working in various industries, and Martasalo where over 41,000 m2 of industrial land is available. The service sector is centred on Izarra, where there are several bars and restaurants, a hotel with restaurant, a sports centre with a pelota court, gym, sauna, bowling alley and social centre and a leisure complex with swimming pools, football pitches, tennis courts, picnic tables and barbecues, plus a bar/ restaurant and woodland trails.