Getaria and the Balenciaga Museum

Getaria is a small fishing town on a spit joined to a hill known as the mouse for its shape, and it has produced two people of note. Juan Sebastian Elcano was born here and completed the first circumnavigation in 1522 after Magellan's death, returning with eighteen survivors of two hundred and seventy. Cristobal Balenciaga was born here in 1895, the son of a seamstress, and became the couturier whom Dior called the master of us all; the museum, opened in 2011 in and behind the Aldamar palace, holds around twelve hundred pieces from his houses in San Sebastian, Madrid and Paris, shown in rotating exhibitions. The town also grills whole turbot over charcoal on the street and makes txakoli in the vineyards behind.

What you actually see

• The Balenciaga Museum - couture from his Paris and Spanish houses.
• The Elcano connection - monuments to the first circumnavigator.
• The street grills - whole fish cooked over charcoal along the harbour.
• The txakoli vineyards - slopes of low-trained vines above the town.

When to go

April to June and September to October; the museum is open year-round with reduced winter hours and closes on Mondays. The town holds an Elcano festival every four years on the circumnavigation anniversary.

Honest expectations

The museum shows rotating selections, so specific garments may not be on display. Getaria is small and the town itself takes an hour. Restaurant prices are high and the best places book out.

Nearby

Zumaia's flysch coast lies west; Zarautz and San Sebastian are east.