Basque culture in August 2025 is brimming with options with traditional and popular summer festivals in the major cities and also in many Basque towns.

At the festivals, you’ll find dances and concerts with traditional and popular music, giants and big-headed figures, discos, fire bulls, Basque games and sports… However, each has its own unique characteristics, which I highlight when listing them in the agenda. I recommend the Vitoria-Gasteiz Virgen Blanca festival for the more cultured, San Sebastian Semana Grande festival for the refined, and Bilbao Aste Nagusia festival for the more party-loving. The latter is the most popular and the most visited by foreigners.

Don’t forget the San Fermín festival in Pamplona in July! One of the most popular among Basques, Navarrese, Spaniards, and foreigners. Come watch or run in front of the bulls. It’s the festival Hemingway never wanted to miss! In 2025, we will commemorate the 100th anniversary of Hemingway’s visit to the Basque Country, where he enjoyed, wrote, and completed his novel “Fiesta“ (The Sun Also Rises). He finished writing it in San Sebastian and Hendaye in August 1925.

July, August, and September are the months when Basque culture offers us the most traditional activities and ways to move our bodies. We warm up our bodies and souls with jazz festivals in July. We let our bodies dance at the August festivals. And we catch our breath with the international film, magic, and television festivals in September. Three months of good culture and varied fun!

During these three months, you can also move your body with traditional Basque sports. These include stone lifting, Jai Alai, log splitting, soka-tira, and rowing. The Eusko Label Rowing League offers around 20 competitions during these months. The 12 best Basque Country traineras ranked in 2025 are: Hondarribia, Orio, Donostiarra, Zierbena, Bermeo, Ondarroa, Cabo, San Juan, Ares, Lekittarra, Getaria, and Kaiku. In August, some of the competitions will be in: Hondarribia, Lekeitio, Zarautz, Ondarroa, and Getaria.

The best Basque culture activities in August 2025 in Euskadi, as we Basques refer to the three Spanish provinces of the Basque Country, are:

Basque culture events in Bilbao and Biscay

  • in situ: Refik Anadol. Exhibition of the immersive, architectural & multisensory work of Turkish video artist Refik Anadol. Guggenheim Museum Bilbao. From March 7th to October 19th.
  • Exhibition “D’Abraira: Drawn Panoramas of Industry in Bizkaia.” Art, history, and industrial memory. Ink and watercolor drawings by Gerardo D’Abraira of Bizkaia’s industrial factories. Rialia Industria Museoa, Portugalete. From April 1st to August 31st.
  • From Greco to Zuloaga: Masterpieces of Spanish Art. 30 paintings and two representative sculptures. Museum of Fine Arts of Bilbao. From April 1st to September 25th.
  • Helen Frankenthaler: Painting without rules. New ways of abstraction from the 1950s to the first decade of the 21st century. Organized by the Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi (Florence) and the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation (New York). Guggenheim Museum. From April 11th to September 28th.
  • International Watercolor Exhibition. 80th anniversary of the Basque Watercolor Association. 80 watercolors from around the world, Spain, & the Basque Country. Ondaren Gallery. From May 8th to August 30th.
  • Exhibition “Agustín Ibarrola. Euskadi, 1977-1979”. Iberdrola-Museo 2024 Conservation and Restoration Program. Also included are four canvases from his Guernica with some of Picasso’s work. Rooms 11-16. From June 17th to September 30th.
  • Barbara Kruger exhibition. Where language occupies a central place. First anthological exhibition of the artist in Spain. Guggenheim Museum Bilbao. From June 24th to November 9th.
  • 21st Organ Festival: Urdaibaiko Organoak. Heritage, art and emotion. Arratzu, Axpe-Busturia, Gauztegi-Arteaga, Bermeo and Mundaka. From August 2nd to 15th.
  • Ken Follett’s The Pillars of the Earth. Euskalduna Palace – Auditorium. Ambition, betrayal, and resistance. August 14th–31st.
  • Mamma Mia! The Musical. Greatest hits from the legendary Swedish group ABBA. Arriaga Theatre. From August 14th to September 21st.
  • Semana Grande de Bilbao 2025 / Aste Nagusia. A varied popular program with special features: Chupinazo (the opening ceremony) and opening speech, Marijaia (the opening ceremony), association huts, and concerts in eight venues, especially in Abandoibarra and Parque Europa. From August 16th to 24th.

Basque culture proposals in San Sebastian and Gipuzkoa in August 2025

  • “Mare Clausum: Whose is the sea? “. Collection of historical pieces, from weapons and banners of naval battles to maps and exotic objects. Basque Maritime Museum. From July 5th, 2024 to November 2nd.
  • Harri, Lurra, Huts [Stone, Earth, Void] exhibition. Eduardo Chillida’s material universe from the perspective of earth and stone. From February 6th to October 12th.
  • Cristobal Balenciaga: Technique, Material, and Form. An exhibition offering an in-depth and educational look at the couturier’s work, influence, and legacy. Cristobal Balenciaga Museum. From March 7th to January 11th, 2026.
  • Temporary Exhibition: Girovago and Rondella. An Italian puppet company with thirty-nine years of experience. Tolosa International Puppet Center. From March 22nd to September 21st.
  • “The Subtleties of a Dialogue” Balenciaga’s first museum exhibition. A selection of dresses designed by Basque couturier Balenciaga and Georgian creative director Demna. Documents from the Balenciaga archive. Cristóbal Balenciaga Museum. From May 23rd to January 11th, 2026.
  • “Dressing a Garden” exhibition. How floral motifs transformed Baroque and Enlightenment textile art; and the evolution of 18th-century taste and aesthetics. San Telmo Museum. From June 7th to September 28th.
  • The Seasons. Malandain Ballet, Biarritz. Blends Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons” with Giovanni Antonio Guido’s “The Four Seasons of the Year”. Victoria Eugenia Theatre. July 31rd – August 3rd.
  • San Sebastian Musical Fortnight. A festival of classical music performances and concerts since 1939. Choirs, chamber groups, operas, ballet, symphonic music, and more. From August 1st to 29th.
  • The Cabaret of Lost Men. A boy who wants to be a singer receives a… different kind of proposal. Teatro Principal. August 6th-10th.
  • San Sebastian’s Semana Grande 2025. A rainbow of activities, including: “Cañonazo” and the “Artillero” song, an international fireworks competition, horse racing, and water sports and beach activities. From August 9th to 16th.
  • Commemoration of the fire of 1813. It almost completely destroyed the city during the War of Independence. Activities for all audiences. Parade of txistularis, torches, gunners, and trumpeters. Lights extinguished and candles lit on balconies and in the streets. August 31st.

Basque culture activities in Vitoria-Gasteiz and Álava in August 2025

  •  A story of Judith and Holofernes. Exhibition of Peeter Sion (Antwerp, Belgium, 1624 – 1695), Flemish Baroque painter. Museum of Fine Arts of Alava. From February 20th to September 14th.
  • Exhibition “Musikarta. Card Music. Music in Playing Cards.” More than 60 cards related to musical themes or content from the 18th to the 21st century. BIBAT Museum. Fournier Playing Card Museum. From March 23rd to October 31st.
  • Asins, Oteiza, and Palazuelo. Giving Shape to the Transcendent. Three pioneering figures challenging the principle of abstraction through diverse and sometimes converging formal choices. Museum of Contemporary Art of the Basque Country – Artium Museoa. Opening March 28th, closing date not yet set.
  • Exhibition: “Women. Work and Family”. Themes: Women and the Rural World, Women and the Sea, and Not Just Mothers. Women in Basque Society, 19th and 20th Centuries. Álava Museum of Fine Arts. From April 8th to October 19th.
  • 11th Korterraza Araba. Short films on open-air terraces throughout the province of Álava. Sections: Super Selection, Komedia, Txiki, and Mix. From June 20th to September 5th.
  • “Monument to the Family” exhibition. Works and performances by Abel Azcona, an international, radical artist committed to contemporary art. Montehermoso Cultural Center. From June 20th to September 5th.
  • Craft Fair celebrating the patron saint’s day of the Virgen Blanca. Santa Bárbara Plaza. Jewelry, textiles, decorations, gifts, toys, etc. From July 24th to August 9th.
  • Virgen Blanca Festival 2025. A multitude of festive events, including the descent & ascent of the Celedón River, Lantern procession, theater performances, open-air concerts, a craft and food fair, & an Arab souk. Pre-festivals from the end of July. From August 4th to 9th.
  • Rioja Alavesa Spherical Festival. A unique festival featuring music, gastronomy, art, and local culture. Art, landscape, and heritage values ​​from and in Laguardia, Labastida, Samaniego, Lapuebla de Labarca, Elciego, Villanueva de Alava, and Elvillar. August 22nd–24th.
  • Folklore, dance, and music: “Sangre y Klorofila,” “Arrorró,” and “Batu.” Contemporary dances in Plaza Santa María. August 24th.

Aitor Delgado Tours curates this selection of culture, sporting, and traditional Basque events every month of the year. I hope you enjoy the Basque culture offerings for August 2025. Don’t forget to book my services as a personalized tour guide in the Spanish and French Basque Country to enhance your Basque perspective.

June 25, 2025