Hello, how are you?

I was born and raised in the Basque Country. This land is not something I discovered—it is something I belong to and live every day.

My name is Mikel Pikabea. Like this place, my name carries history, language and continuity. Pikabea can be translated as “below the fig tree”—a tree that is both fragile and enduring, rooted, fertile, and quietly present across this land. In many ways, it reflects how I understand territory and life here.

I grew up with these landscapes, these seasons, and a way of understanding food, work and time shaped by proximity and restraint. Over the years, I have built lasting relationships with the people who truly define this land: farmers, fishermen, winemakers, artisans and cooks who work quietly, with integrity and pride.

My background is eclectic: I trained as an electronic engineer, studied philosophy, and have been a certified Tai Chi and Chikung instructor for over 25 years. Equally formative was growing up deeply connected to land and sea, learning firsthand from my grandparents and parents about farming, fishing, seasonal harvests, and traditional Basque cuisine. Those early experiences shaped my approach as a guide, storyteller and educator, and fueled lifelong interests in folklore, anthropology, transpersonal growth and natural living.

Beyond guiding and teaching, I enjoy cultivating gardens, foraging mushrooms, and exploring music in my home studio.

Pick a B comes directly from my name—Pikabea—but its meaning goes further. It is a conscious choice.
To pick a B is to choose Basque, boutique, and deliberately bold experiences. It reflects a way of working that is bespoke by nature, focused on what is best—not on what is most visible.

Tourism, in itself, is not neutral. It can sustain a place—or slowly erode the very foundations that make it worth visiting.

In regions like the Basque Country, where identity, language and ways of life have endured over centuries—often under pressure—this balance becomes especially fragile.

What attracts people here today is not accidental.
It is the result of continuity: communities that have remained rooted, knowledge that has been passed on, and a relationship with land and sea that has not been entirely replaced.

When tourism loses its sense of proportion, that continuity is at risk.
Places become simplified. Culture becomes representation. And what is lived turns into something performed.

This is where I position my work.

Not against tourism—but against its loss of meaning.

Pick a B is a way of engaging with this territory without reducing it.
Of accessing it without distorting it.
Of understanding that what is valuable here is not infinite—and should not be treated as such.

The name reflects how I work. I don’t create experiences for display; I open doors to what already exists.
To places that are not advertised.
To tables where food is shared rather than displayed.
To landscapes best understood slowly, and often in silence.

I work privately and personally, designing each journey with care and intention. I choose to work with travelers who value discretion, cultural depth and genuine connection—those who understand that real luxury is found in access, trust and time.

Nothing you will experience is staged. Everything is rooted in proximity, seasonality, and human relationships built over years.

True luxury is not what you are shown, but what you are allowed to enter.

— Mikel Pikabea
Founder & Guide, Pick a B Tours