When you visit the Hotel Viura by DesignHouses, you can’t help noticing the enormous contrast between the avant-garde design of the hotel and the ultra-traditional wine village of Villabuena de Álava. For the architects, that was exactly the point.
Villabuena tumbles down the slope of a hill, a succession of narrow, parallel streets lined with sober ochre houses and mansions with noble family crests above a creek. The village is a testimonial to the historical success of Rioja wines, with 43 wineries inside the town limits. The townspeople boast that it has the largest number of wineries per capita in the Rioja DOCa.
The name Hotel Viura is a homage to Rioja’s iconic white grape variety, reminding guests that they are immersed in wine culture represented by the vineyards and wineries in the village.
Following the streets down toward the creek, you suddenly come face to face with the hotel. One’s first impression might be that a spaceship had landed next to the village church and jai-alai court.
What immediately catches your eye is what seems to be a jumble of haphazardly placed, superimposed cubes, reminding you of a three-dimensional Cubist sculpture. This is the key to understanding the Hotel Viura: the building itself is a work of art.
The hotel offers much more than thirty-five bedrooms, a restaurant, common areas, gardens and a bar. Whether you’re staying overnight, having a meal or a glass of wine, you’re surrounded by a dazzling array of art: sculptures, paintings, ironwork, wood shaped by carpenters, lamps, oak casks hanging from a ceiling, smooth river stones assembled into a design at the reception desk, corridors with architects’ sketches, statues in the gardens, and much more.
Photo: Hotel Viura
For this unwavering devotion to art, the Hotel Viura received the 2026 Best Of Wine Tourism award for Art and Culture to commemorate the 15th anniversary of its opening in 2010.
Hotel Director Elena Muras explained that the current collection of artwork on display features works from Navarran sculptor Faustino Aizkorbe (www.aizkorbe.com), landscapist and portraitist Larry Karlin, visual artist, graphic and web designer Aritz Kabe, Basque oil painter Aitor Etxeberría, and Cuban Gustavo Díaz Sosa.
Photo: Viura Hotel
Other events are planned for the anniversary celebration, such as a happening the afternoon of the August 12th solar eclipse, but Ms. Muras coyly left us guessing about the others until a future date.
In addition to the current works on display throughout the hotel, in its 15-year history, Viura has organized a number of noteworthy exhibitions, among which, a retrospective presentation of artist Fernando Higueras, titled Desde el Origen (From the Beginning), Ignacio Lloret (Tachi), Riojan Luis Burgos, as well as a photographic exhibition featuring images from cinematic creations by Spain’s internationally renowned fashion designer Cristóbal Balenciaga.
Photo: Hotel Viura
Ms. Muras, besides her role as the director of the hotel, is the president of the Villabuena Wine Route and the Villabuena Wine Fest. The Great Wine Capitals recognized the town’s efforts to show off their wineries with a Best Of Wine Tourism award for Innovative Wine Tourism Experiences 2019. The award is prominently displayed at the reception desk.
An additional Best Of trophy for Accommodation, was awarded in 2014.
Photo: Viura Hotel
The Hotel Viura pushes all the buttons for a first-class wine tourism experience: leading the town’s efforts to promote local wines and food, and providing a comfortable venue for great food, wine and relaxation, while at the same time showcasing the artwork of a wide range of artists. Art and Culture from the ground up.
Hotel Viura
Calle Mayor s/n.
Villabuena de Álava 01307
+34 945 609 000
www.hotelviura.com
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Featured photo: Hotel Viura
Learn more about Bilbao-Rioja Great Wine Capitals