Erriberri, Spain

OLITE is as gorgeous a small town as you could ever hope to stumble across, all the more unexpected a pleasure in that its larger neighbour Tafalla is quite unremarkable, and the town itself is surrounded by ugly modern developments. Reach its core, however, and you're confronted by the magnificent Palacio Real de Olite (daily 10am–2pm & 4–6/7pm; € 2.80), a former residence of the kings of Navarra. A ramble of turrets, keeps and dungeons, the oldest part (Palacio Viejo) now houses a parador. Olite also holds two fine old churches, Romanesque San Pedro and Gothic Santa María, usually open during services only.

Olite's central square, Plaza Carlos III, sits atop a series of impressive medieval galleries (Tues– Fri 11am–1pm, Sat & Sun 11am–2pm & 5–7pm; € 1.50), whose existence was a local legend for centuries before they were unearthed in the 1980s. Their original purpose is still a mystery, although it is thought they could have been a market or crypt, or even part of a secret tunnel linking Olite with Tafalla. Today, they house a somewhat random display on the town's history.

Olite's exuberant Fiesta del Patronales takes place on September 13–19, and there's a medieval festival the second weekend in August, leading up to the saint's day of Olite's patron, the "Virgin of the Cholera" on August 26, which commemorates the town's salvation from the cholera epidemic of 1885.