Foodies fill their Basque-ts with bargain properties
- 10% of world’s top 50 restaurants in the Basque Country (Euromonitor)
- Locals swapping pricey properties for fabulous food (Kyero.com)
- Just 1,600 Brits live in the Southern Basque Country at present (Ministry of Employment and Social Security)
The Basque Country, spread across France and Spain in the Western Pyrenees, is a region with a well-known and fascinating political and historical story. But these days, the area also has a growing reputation as one of Europe’s most tantalising locations for foodies.
Basque Country cuisine draws elements from both Spanish and French cooking, blending them in ways that delight the taste-buds and draw in gourmet travellers from across the world. According to El Pais, the cuisine blends traditional methods, seasonal local ingredients and imaginative technical know-how in order to create something truly special.
The Southern Basque Country, consisting of the three provinces of Álava, Biscay, Gipuzkoa, the two enclaves (Enclave of Treviño and Valle de Villaverde) and the Chartered Community of Navarre, contains half of Spain’s eight restaurants with three Michelin stars. Three are in Gipuzkoa and one in Biscay. Not only that, but five of the world’s 50 best restaurants, according to the Euromonitor Consumer Lifestyles in Spain Aug 2015 report, are located in the Basque Country. Astonishingly, that’s as many as can be found in the whole of France.
The Basque city of San Sebastian is gourmet paradise, with a total of 16 Michelin stars awarded to restaurants in the city and its outlying areas. According to Euromonitor, no other area on Earth can claim to have such a density of Michelin stars.
But foodie heaven comes at a price. According to data from the Spanish National Statistics Institute (INE), although the Basque cost of living is spot on the national average for Spain, the cost of food and drink there is well above average.
At the three Michelin starred Arzakis, a meal can cost around €200 per head. Interestingly, the restaurant’s clientele consists largely of local middle class families, rather than the super-rich, according to Arzakis’ proprietor. Gourmet tourists are also drawn to Arzakis and the Basque Country’s other three starred establishments.
So how is it that locals can afford to splurge regularly on such fabulous and expensive food? Martin Dell, Director of Spanish property portal Kyero.com, which lists more than 200,000 homes from 3,000 estate agents, explains,
“It’s interesting in the Southern Basque Country to see that despite the average cost of living, property is 9% cheaper than the average cost across Spain, according to the INE House Price Index. It seems that locals – and second home owners – are balancing out their big food budgets by saving on property.”
Spain’s Basque Country regions are still relatively un-discovered (at least compared with the Costas) when it comes to British home owners. According to the Spanish Ministry of Employment and Social Security, there are just 1,600 Brits among the 56,000 foreign residents of the Southern Basque Country, with the majority being made up of Portuguese and Romanian settlers.
However, with the area’s fast-growing reputation as one of the tastiest places on the planet, Brits looking for a second home in Spain and thinking with their stomachs may well be inspired to head north instead of south in increasing numbers over the years ahead!
For further details on properties to rent and buy across Spain, visit www.kyero.com.