Napoleon III built a true fairytale palace in the Basque Country, which is now the favorite place for couples to get married
Napoleon III built a true fairytale palace in the Basque Country, which is now the favorite place for couples to get married
Who hasn’t ever dreamt of getting married in a fairytale castle? In the Basque Country, there is a place where that dream can come true: the Arteaga Castle. Located in Biscay, in the Urdaibai Biosphere Reserve –declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO–, Arteaga is a fortress that has been turned into a luxury hotel specializing in weddings.
This palace was built by Napoleon III and Eugénie de Montijo in 1856 atop a defense tower from the thirteenth century. The building, inspired by French Gothic architecture, currently has 13 rooms of varying categories, a wine cellar, and a restaurant with a dining room that can host weddings for up to 300 guests.
Arteaga’s cuisine is one of the establishment’s most applauded aspects by those who attend weddings. The pan-seared scallop with fennel and roasted pumpkin, the grilled and sliced entrecôte with cream of Idiazabal cheese, and the boneless grilled turbot fillet with wheat and a shellfish emulsion are some of the most noteworthy dishes.
Couples who marry in the Arteaga Castle are invited to spend their wedding night in the Napoleon Suite, a room located in one of the wall’s turrets which features a terrace and a private swimming pool.
If foreign guests are attending the wedding, the ideal thing to do would be to rent out the entire hotel for several days to allow guests to enjoy the elegant rooms and suites, the beautiful courtyard, the rooftop terrace that offers panoramic, 360-degree views of the entire valley, and the underground wine cellar where wine pairing events can be held for groups of up to 30 people – it’s a dream come true for the couple as well as for their guests.
Castillo de Arteaga
Gaztelubide Kalea 7, Arteaga.
Tel.: +34 946 240 012
