Vitoria-Gasteiz

The Visigothic king Liuvigild founded a town called Victoriacum in 581 to celebrate a victory over the Vascones, though historians disagree over whether it stood on this site or nearby, perhaps at Armentia. The village of Gasteiz occupied a hill, the only high ground on the plain of Álava, and its first walls were built between 1050 and 1100. In 1181 King Sancho the Wise of Navarre founded the town of Nova Victoria on the hilltop as a defensive outpost; in 1200 Alfonso VIII of Castile took it, and after a fire in 1202 the church of Santa María was rebuilt as a fortress-church guarding the town's entrance. In 1463 the town was one of the five founders of the Brotherhood of Álava.

From the Middle Ages to the 18th century the town changed little. In 1781 Antonio de Olaguibel designed the arcaded Plaza Nueva to link the old hilltop with the new town spreading below. On 21 June 1813, by the river Zadorra just outside the city, a British, Portuguese and Spanish army under Wellington broke the French army of Joseph Bonaparte — the Battle of Vitoria, celebrated in Beethoven's Wellington's Victory and by the monument in the Virgen Blanca square.

The 19th century brought a neoclassical expansion of wide streets and gardens, and the 20th century industry and rapid growth. On 20 May 1980 the Basque Parliament chose Vitoria-Gasteiz as the seat of the new autonomous community's institutions. The city later planned its growth around parks, was the first Spanish city named European Green Capital, in 2012, and won a UN Global Green City Award in 2019.

The summer is full of music and fiesta. The Azkena Rock Festival in June has brought Pearl Jam, the Sex Pistols, Deep Purple and Alice Cooper to the city; the jazz festival has been held every July since 1977. The Virgen Blanca festivities, from 4 to 9 August in honour of the city's patron, open with the descent of Celedón, a fictional figure in a beret and traditional blouse carrying an umbrella, followed by days of free open-air concerts and events.

The city is both Vitoria and Gasteiz — residents use one name or the other depending on the language they are speaking — and as the Basque capital it hosts the Parliament, the Government and the Lehendakari's residence at Ajuria Enea. Vitoria-Gasteiz is also known for the manufacture of playing cards: the Heraclio Fournier company is based here, and its founder's grandson started the collection that became the city's playing-card museum.

Sport is followed closely. Deportivo Alavés play football at Mendizorrotza, and Baskonia, four times champions of the Spanish basketball league, play at the Fernando Buesa Arena. An Ironman triathlon is held every year. Remembering is part of civic life too: the city has honoured a promise to protect the old Jewish cemetery of Judizmendi, for which the Basque Jewish community paid tribute in 2019.

About 260,000 people lived in Vitoria-Gasteiz in 2025, making it the second city of the Basque Country; around 18 per cent were born abroad, and nearly 23 per cent were over 65. The economy specialises in health care, aeronautics, the car industry and viticulture, with large plants and logistics centres run by Mercedes-Benz, Michelin and Gamesa, and the playing-card maker Fournier headquartered in the city. As the seat of the Basque Parliament and Government, it is also an administrative centre.

Growth has been concentrated in the new neighbourhoods of Lakua, Salburua and Zabalgana, built to house a growing population. Planning has kept every resident within about 300 metres of a green space, and the Green Belt — a ring of parks, wetlands and woods — is where people walk, run and cycle. A new private university, the European University Gasteiz, opened in Salburua in 2022.

The evening rhythm centres on the Virgen Blanca square, Calle Dato and the old town, with friends meeting for a drink and a pintxo. The tram and buses carry commuters across a flat, compact city, and free public bikes can be hired at several points.

Pintxos are as much a part of life here as anywhere in the Basque Country, from the classic potato omelette made with Álava potatoes to new combinations of garden, land and sea. The city's own institution is the pintxo-pote, a round of bars in which each drink comes with a pintxo for a small set price, often with a red from Rioja Alavesa.

Local cooking leans on the province's produce. Caracoles a la alavesa are snails in a robust sauce, and in season the city prizes wild mushrooms, above all the perretxikos, called the "elvers of the mountain". Vitoria-Gasteiz was named Spain's Capital of Gastronomy in 2014.

Sweets are a speciality. The city is dotted with confectioners, some more than a century old, and the local favourite is goxua — Basque for "sweet" — a dessert of sponge, cream and custard, alongside chocolate truffles. Wine comes from the vineyards of Rioja Alavesa to the south, where acclaimed wineries designed by Santiago Calatrava and Frank Gehry lie within reach of the city.