Best Things To Do in Bilbao

Bilbao is the most important city in the Basque Country, a cosmopolitan reference and also a tourist destination that in recent years has left behind its purely industrial profile to become a cultural symbol for the whole of Spain. It has achieved this partly with the Guggenheim Museum, but also with a wide range of attractions that attract millions of visitors every year.

Some of the best things to see and do in Bilbao include museums, food markets, excursions along the estuary and gastronomic tours, which feature some of the tastiest dishes in Europe.

If you go to Bilbao, it is essential that you get tickets to visit the Guggenheim Museum. Its opening in 1997 marked a before and after in the city's profile. Its strategic location on one of the banks of the estuary led to a profound revitalisation of public and private spaces and boosted tourism in the region as it became the most visited attraction in the city.

The 'Guggenheim effect', as the media dubbed it, also brought international fame to the contemporary art museum that houses works by Andy Warhol, Yves Klein, James Rosenquis and Antoni Tapies, among other renowned 20th century artists.

The Guggenheim, which receives more than a million visitors every year and is one of the best tours of Bilbao, you can't miss its permanent exhibitions and temporary shows, but neither can you miss the architecture of the building, designed by Frank Gehry and recreating a stone and glass boat covered in titanium.

Interesting details

• Museum prices... Admission for adults starts at 13 euros. Children under the age of 18 are free.
• Museum location... Avenida Abandoibarra 2, Bilbao.
• Museum opening hours... Tuesday to Sunday from 10.00 to 19.00.
• How to get to the museum... From the centre of Bilbao you can take the A3247 bus to Alameda Recalde station.

The Old Town of Bilbao is the foundational site of the city and is made up of the Seven Streets that gave it its origin in the Middle Ages.

Artecalle, Tendería, Belosticalle, Carnicería Vieja, Barrencalle, Barrenkale Barrena and Somera, which is the oldest and home to the city's most famous bars and restaurants, are the winding cobblestone paths that give life to this picturesque quarter of Bilbao and are not to be missed if you spend a day or two in the city.

In the Casco Viejo you can lose yourself in a walk through its streets to discover some of the most representative sites of the city, such as the Cathedral of Santiago, the Basque Museum, the Motrikes Bar and the churches of San Antón, San Nicolás and Santos Juanes.

It is also home to the Ribera Market and Plaza Nueva, the epicentre of Bilbao's best pintxo bars.

The Arriaga Theatre, which is still open and promoting opera and dance performances, is also located in the Casco Viejo and is one of the main meeting points for guided tours of the neighbourhood.

• How to get to Casco Viejo... Take the Bilbao Metro to Zazpi Kaleak station.

The Mercado de la Ribera is one of the places you must visit in Bilbao if you really want to feel like a local. There you can buy fresh produce and browse through each of the floors, which are reserved for a specific type of food.

On the ground floor are the fishmongers, on the first floor the butchers and on the second floor the fruit and vegetable stalls. You can also dine or have lunch at some of the pintxo stalls and have one of the best wine tastings in Bilbao.

Located in the Old Quarter, the Ribera Market is also the perfect place to stop for lunch between excursions or to buy local produce from the same stalls where the locals shop. After the renovation, this food market also includes a jazz bar on the ground floor of the building.

The Mercado de la Ribera, which is the largest in Europe, has been operating on the same site since the 14th century and is one of the places that has brought fame to the exquisite Basque cuisine, as most visitors touring Bilbao pass through the market's restaurants and bars during their stay.

Details of interest

• Market location... Erribera Kalea s/n, Bilbao.
• Market opening hours... Every day from 8.00 am to 0.00 am.
• How to get to the market... Take the Bilbao Metro to Zazpi Kaleak station.

The Bilbao estuary is intimately linked to the history of the city, which was built around it to favour maritime transport, so a stroll along the paths along its banks is one of the best ways to get to know Bilbao and its industrial vestiges.

Since the Middle Ages, the city's most emblematic buildings have been built on its banks and this tradition has continued to the present day, so that during your walk you can go from the Old Quarter and the omnipresent bell tower of the Cathedral to the Guggenheim Museum and the New San Mamés in just a few streets away.

If you want to tour the estuary from the water, you can take a boat trip to the Basque coast, which is an ideal plan if you plan to visit Bilbao with children, as it is a very fun activity.

The Artxanda viewpoint is one of the highest points in Bilbao and from where you can enjoy one of the best views of the city. You can get there on the funicular railway that links the Zubizuri Bridge with the highest peak of the mountain.

Once at the viewpoint, you will be able to see the most emblematic buildings, the entire estuary and the mountain range that surrounds and encloses the metropolitan area.

From Mount Artxanda you can also see the unmistakable silhouette of the Guggenheim, the Nuevo San Mamés and the Iberdrola Tower, which at 40 storeys is the tallest building in the city. The Old Town can be distinguished by the bell tower of Santiago Cathedral.

As well as taking some of the best photographs of the city, on clear days you can see the Bay of Biscay, especially if you plan to visit Bilbao in summer, when the days are clear and the panoramic views are clearer.

Interesting details

• Price of the funicular... The ticket for the return transfer from the Zubizuri Bridge to the top has a starting price of 4.30 euros.
• Location of the Zubizuri Bridge... Zubizuri, Bilbao.
• Funicular opening hours... Every day from 7.15 am to 10 pm.
• How to get to the Zubizuri Bridge.... From the centre of Bilbao you can take the line 5 tram to Uribitarte station.

Since the construction of the Guggenheim, Bilbao has become a global reference for contemporary art overnight, but long before that the city already had the Museum of Fine Arts, which houses more than ten thousand works of art from the 13th century onwards.

If you are an art lover, this museum will become one of your favourite places to visit in the city, and its location means you can also combine your visit with a walk through Doña Casilda Park, an English-style garden that is one of the largest green lungs along the estuary.

If you're touring Bilbao by night, you can also dine in the nearby Abando area, which has some of the best restaurants in the city.

Details of interest

• Museum price... Admission is free.
• Museum location... Museo Plaza 2, Bilbao
• Museum opening hours... Wednesday to Monday from 10.00 am to 8.00 pm. Closed on Tuesdays.

The Vizcaya Bridge is one of the first stops towards the Basque coast on the route from Bilbao and also a landmark of the Basque Country, as it contains what was the first mechanical and metal-framed ferry in the world, with a design that was inspired by the Eiffel Tower.

This bridge separates Portugalete from Getxo, in an area that informally belongs to Greater Bilbao. The ferry is the only land-based way of getting from one town to another and its operation continues to highlight the Basque coast's power as a Spanish industrial power since the 19th century.

Getxo is also one of the fishing villages with some of the best beaches on the Basque coast, including Las Arenas, Arrigunaga, Azkorri-Gorrondatxe and Barinatxe.

Visiting the Vizcaya Suspension Bridge is one of the alternatives for exploring the interior of the Basque Country, away from the bustle of the big cities like Bilbao and San Sebastián, to get to know a different side of northern Spain.

• How to get there from Bilbao... By car you can drive along the A-8 road for 12 kilometres in approximately 15 minutes. You can also take the C1 bus or the Bilbao Metro to Portugalete station.

Basque cuisine enjoys a very good reputation for its varied flavours and also for the abundance of its dishes, and it is one of the main motivations for tourists when choosing the Basque Country as a tourist destination. For this reason, Bilbao offers some of the best gastronomic tours so that you can enjoy its dishes.

The options I recommend you don't miss are cod in pil pil sauce, Bilbao-style sea bream and baby squid in its own ink. As you will see, the main delicacies of Basque cuisine contain fish and this is due to its proximity to the port areas. You can also try tripe in Biscayan sauce, marmitako, hake in green sauce and grilled cutlet.

Among the pintxos you can try the classic gilda, anchovies in vinegar, the bilbainito, the bacon and plum skewer and the Iberian ham croquettes, one of the most famous in the Basque Country, which is also characterised by the inclusion of pork in its recipes. I advise you not to forget to try the goxua, which is the traditional Basque dessert, made with sponge cake and whipped cream.

To enjoy Basque cuisine you don't need to visit the most exclusive restaurants, but simply choose a stall in the Mercado de la Ribera or in any area of the Casco Viejo. And always try to accompany your meals with a good Rioja wine. If you are planning a short stay in the city and don't have time to visit a winery, you can try txakoli at the market stalls. If this is your case, here is a list of activities you can do to discover Bilbao in 3 days.

Bilbao is an ideal city to use as a base to discover the towns along the coast of Biscay and also nearby places within the Basque Country, such as Vitoria and the towns along the Rioja wine route.

If you have enough time in Bilbao to take a trip outside the city, I recommend you do so to get to know an alternative profile of northern Spain and the beauty of the Cantabrian Sea.

You can tour the Basque coast and the Rioja wine route on your own or on an organised excursion. Some of the most attractive towns near Bilbao are Orio, Zumaya, Guetaria and Gernika, as well as larger towns such as San Sebastián, Biarritz and San Juan de la Luz, the latter two of which are in France, in the so-called French Basque Country.

Another popular excursion from Bilbao is to San Juan de Gaztelugatxe, the town that has gained international fame since it was chosen as the setting for some episodes of the popular series Game of Thrones. There you can visit the rock castle crowned by the hermitage of John the Baptist, which can be reached by a stone bridge with 241 steps.

If during your visit to Bilbao you want to walk along one of the main streets of the city and also go shopping, you can visit the Gran Vía Don Diego López Haro, which crosses the district of El Ensanche and connects the Plaza Circular with the Plaza del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús.

Along its route you can find the most exclusive shops while walking under the centenary lime trees.

If you are planning to visit Bilbao during Christmas, you will find the Gran Vía decorated with lights and Christmas motifs and the locals with a wide range of gifts. If you want to take a break during the walk, you can relax in the Jardines de Albia, located in Abando, just a few streets away.

On Bilbao's Gran Vía, you can also discover the Palacio Foral, the Palacio Chávarri and the Plaza Moyúa, which is home to some of the city's most stately buildings and is noted for its wide range of bars and restaurants.