Village
Municipality bordering France, separated by the Bidasoa river, in the Bidasoa Beherea comarca. With 63,835 inhabitants (INE, 2025) it is the second most populous municipality in Gipuzkoa. Altitude of 20 m and an area of 42.40 km². In 1992 important Roman archaeological remains were found in its town center that appear to confirm that Irun occupies the site of the ancient city of Oiasso.
Historical milestone
In 1659 the Peace of the Pyrenees between Spain and France was signed on the Isla de los Faisanes (Pheasant Island), in the Bidasoa. The island is today a Spanish-French condominium, considered the smallest condominium in the world.
Monument
Church built between 1508 and 1606 that combines Gothic and Renaissance elements. Declared a Bien de Interés Cultural in the national monumento histórico-artístico category.
Monument
14th-century hermitage declared a Bien de Interés Cultural, near the Roman site of Oiasso.
Monument
Baroque-style town hall opened in 1763.
Historical milestone
Civic-military parade commemorating Irun's victory over French troops at the Battle of San Marcial in 1522, held every June 30. It is declared a fiesta de interés turístico nacional.
Nature
24-hectare wetland reclaimed in the marshes of the Bidasoa estuary, a refuge for a large number of migratory bird species.
Monument
Renaissance palace built in 1612 by Sebastián de Urdanibia on the site of a former tower house, with an ashlar facade and two coats of arms, one of them showing a burning tower recalling the 1476 fire of the Aranzate tower. Declared a Monumento Histórico-Artístico, together with the adjoining ironworks and mill it has formed a Conjunto Monumental since 2000. It now holds the collections of the Basque Film Archive.
Monument
Stone column erected in 1564 in the Plaza de San Juan, a symbol of Irun's own identity; it is believed to commemorate the town's defense against French invasions. It was declared a Monumento Histórico-Artístico in February 1964.
Historical milestone
On 31 August 1813, on the hills of San Marcial overlooking Irun, the Spanish Fourth Army under General Manuel Freire, supported by Anglo-Portuguese forces, repelled Marshal Soult's Napoleonic troops while the allies besieged San Sebastián. The victory ended French attempts to relieve the town and marked the beginning of the end of the Peninsular War in the area. It is a different episode from the 1522 attack commemorated by the Alarde de San Marcial.
Historical milestone
Beneath present-day Irun lay Oiasso, a Vascones port at the mouth of the Bidasoa, on the border between Hispania and Aquitania, with intense activity between 70 and 200 AD. Excavations have uncovered the port and its warehouses, a set of baths, a necropolis and nearby mining operations. The Oiasso Roman Museum, opened in 2006, brings together the finds.
Historical milestone
Mining district already worked in Roman times for iron extraction, which reached its peak activity between the late 19th and mid-20th centuries, before its final abandonment in the 1940s. It preserves the largest number of ore-roasting kilns in the whole Basque Country. It is visited via the mining train that departs from the Oiasso Museum toward the Aiako Harria nature park.
Nature
Protected natural area since 1995, covering 6,806 hectares, between the Urumea and Bidasoa rivers, shared by Irun, Oiartzun, Errenteria, Hernani and Donostia-San Sebastián. Its granite relief forms three peaks over 800 m -Irumugarrieta, Txurrumurru and Erroibide- and a hundred-meter waterfall in the Aiztondo gorge. From its summits the bay of Txingudi is visible, with Hondarribia, Irun and Hendaye.
Activity
Popular race of about 20 km between the Behobia quarter, in Irun, and San Sebastián, held every November. Born in 1919 and continuously revived since the 1970s, it is one of the most heavily attended long-distance races in Spain, with more than 28,000 runners in recent editions.
Historical milestone
In 1476, during a clash with French troops, a group of soldiers took refuge in the Aranzate tower house, located where the Plaza de San Juan Harria now stands. The owner, Pedro de Urdanibia, set fire to the tower, killing about a hundred soldiers and sealing the Gipuzkoan victory. The episode was recorded in the coat of arms of the later Palacio de Urdanibia, which shows a burning tower.
Food and drink
In Irun, as in Hondarribia and Errenteria, it is a tradition for godmothers to give their godchildren an opil, a sponge cake decorated with hard-boiled eggs, on 25 April, the feast of San Marcos.
Historical milestone
Irun went from the status of "universidad" to that of "villa" in the 18th century and did not officially receive the title of "ciudad" (city) until 15 August 1913. Over its history it also accumulated the honorific titles "Muy Noble y Leal", "Muy Benéfica y Generosa" (Ferdinand VII, 1818), "Heroica" (Alfonso XII, 1875) and "Muy Humanitaria" (Alfonso XIII, 1913), recorded on its coat of arms under the motto "Vigilantiae custos".
Historical milestone
On 21 April 1864 the first international railway line between Spain and France opened to the public, connecting the stations of Irun and Hendaye over a bridge built to cross the Bidasoa, with one stretch of Iberian gauge and another of international gauge. The railway had reached Irun a year earlier, in 1863, brought by the Compañía de los Caminos de Hierro del Norte de España.