Salinas de Añana - Valle Salado

Salinas de Añana is a municipality in Álava, part of the Cuadrilla de Añana, with a history stretching back to the Neolithic period. It received its town charter in 1140, making it the oldest villa in Álava. Declared a Cultural Heritage site and Historic Monument, the town owes its entire identity to salt.

The Valle Salado — the Salt Valley — spans around 120 hectares and once formed the most important inland salt-production complex in Europe. More than 5,000 flat platforms known as eras, supported by wooden frameworks and stone walls, step down the valley slopes, taking advantage of a distinctive diapir geological structure that forces saltwater springs to the surface. This brine, called muera, travels through a network of wooden channels and pools before reaching the evaporation platforms, where sun and wind do the work of crystallisation.

The landscape is unlike almost anything else in the Basque Country: brilliant white in summer, grey and spectral in winter. After decades of decline and neglect, the restoration of the eras and the revival of salt production have brought this extraordinary cultural landscape back to life.