After the Maratón Martín Fiz: Valle Salado de Añana

The Route: Vitoria-Gasteiz → Salinas de Añana → Vitoria-Gasteiz Logistics: Hire car, about 35 minutes each way on the A-1 and minor roads. A half-day built round a booked guided visit. Marathon Month: May Duration: Day trip

Vitoria-Gasteiz ──(about 35 mins by car)──> Valle Salado de Añana ──(about 35 mins)──> Vitoria-Gasteiz

The Maratón Martín Fiz is a flat run round a green city. Thirty kilometres to the west, the landscape of Álava produces something stranger: a narrow valley covered in terraces of wood and stone, where salt water from underground springs has been evaporated into salt since at least the early Middle Ages, and probably since Roman times.

May at Añana is the start of the salt-making season. The terraces, called eras, are worked in the warmer months, when sun and wind can dry the brine, so in May the valley is coming back into use after the winter. In most years the days are mild; the valley can be windy and has little shade.

There is no convenient public transport, so drive. The valley is about 30 km from Vitoria-Gasteiz, reached by the A-1 towards Burgos and then the A-2622, in about 35 minutes. There is parking by the visitor centre in the village of Salinas de Añana.

The salt valley

The valley holds more than 5,000 salt pans on some 767 terraces, supported by stone walls and wooden posts and fed by a network of wooden channels that carry the brine down from the springs. Most of the structures were rebuilt in a long restoration from the 2000s, and salt is made here again and sold in the shop.

The standard guided visit lasts about an hour and costs €8.50 (about £7.50). Book in advance at vallesalado.com and check the days and times, which vary through the year. The route follows paths and wooden walkways down through the terraces; there are slopes and some steps, but the pace is slow and there are stops to taste the brine at a spring. Wear shoes with grip, as the wood can be slippery with salt.

The visitor centre also offers a salt spa experience, soaking feet in a warm brine pool, which is a reasonable thing to offer marathon legs; check what is running on the day.

The village

Salinas de Añana is a small village of stone houses above the valley. A short walk leads to the viewpoints at the top, looking down over the terraces. Buy a bag of the salt before driving back to Vitoria-Gasteiz.