Guggenheim Museum Bilbao

The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao sits on the south bank of the Nervión river, where an industrial waterfront once stood. Frank Gehry designed it, and it opened in 1997 as a branch of the Guggenheim Foundation. The building is the reason many people come: curving sheets of titanium, limestone and glass pile up in forms that change with the light, looking silvery under grey Basque skies and almost golden at sunset. The museum became the best-known example of how a single cultural building can reshape the image of a post-industrial city.

Inside, a tall central atrium organises the visit, with galleries branching off in very different shapes. The largest is a long, column-free hall that holds Richard Serra's The Matter of Time, a series of huge weathered steel sculptures you walk through and around. The museum's permanent holdings centre on modern and contemporary art, and its program of temporary exhibitions rotates through the year, sometimes with installation work by artists in the vein of Chiharu Shiota, so what you see in the upper galleries depends on the date of your visit.

The outdoor sculptures are among the most photographed in Spain. Jeff Koons's Puppy, a giant terrier covered in living flowers, guards the entrance on the city side. Louise Bourgeois's spider Maman stands near the river, its long legs shading a space beneath, and a mist fountain and a pool lie along the water edge. Walking around the exterior before going in is part of the experience, and you can do it for free.

The museum sits in the Abandoibarra Waterfront district, so it is easy to continue on foot along the river to the red Zubizuri footbridge and the university area, or to head into Casco Viejo (Old Town) and the Mercado de la Ribera. For a different perspective on the whole building and the estuary, the Artxanda Funicular climbs to a hillside viewpoint. The Bilbao Fine Arts Museum, a short walk away, makes a good counterpoint with its older European collection.

It suits architecture lovers, modern art fans and anyone curious about the Basque Country's reinvention, though you do not need to know contemporary art to enjoy the building itself. Allow at least two or three hours for the galleries and more if you like to linger. The museum is popular, so arriving early on the day or booking through the official channel only is the practical way to avoid long waits.