How the Day Fits Together
Bilbao is compact enough to cover its two best-known areas in one day on foot. The Guggenheim Museum stands on the left bank of the Nervión estuary, and the Casco Viejo, the medieval old town, is upriver on the right bank. The walk between them along the riverside promenade takes roughly 25 minutes. A sensible plan is the museum in the morning, when it opens, and the old town for lunch and the afternoon. If you prefer not to walk, the Euskotren tram runs along the river with stops at Guggenheim and Arriaga (for the old town), and Bilbao metro has a Casco Viejo station.
The Guggenheim Building and Outdoor Art
The museum, designed by Frank Gehry, opened in 1997 and changed how the city was seen abroad; its titanium-clad curves are best appreciated from the outside first. Several works are visible without a ticket:
- Puppy by Jeff Koons, a giant West Highland terrier covered in flowering plants, at the main entrance on the city side.
- Maman by Louise Bourgeois, a bronze spider more than nine metres tall, on the riverside terrace.
- Tall Tree & The Eye by Anish Kapoor, a stack of reflective steel spheres by the water.
- Fog sculpture by Fujiko Nakaya, which releases mist over the pool at intervals.
The La Salve bridge next to the museum carries red arches by Daniel Buren, and the steps beside it give a good view over the building.
Inside the Museum
The collection is shown through rotating exhibitions, so what you see depends on the season. One permanent fixture is Richard Serra's The Matter of Time, a group of huge weathering-steel spirals and ellipses in the long ground-floor gallery that you walk through rather than look at. The museum is usually open Tuesday to Sunday from 10:00 to 19:00, with Monday openings during summer and some holidays. Tickets include an audio guide, under-18s enter free, and students and over-65s pay a reduced price. Buy tickets on the museum's own website, which warns against unofficial resellers; a combined ticket with the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum is also available. Two to three hours is enough for most visitors.
The Riverside Walk
From the Guggenheim, follow the promenade upriver. You pass the Zubizuri footbridge by Santiago Calatrava, whose glass deck is slippery in rain, and the city hall on the far bank, before reaching the Arriaga Theatre, a late 19th-century opera house that marks the edge of the old town. The route is flat and runs beside the water most of the way.
The Casco Viejo and the Siete Calles
The old town grew from the original "Seven Streets" (Siete Calles, or Zazpi Kaleak in Basque), a grid of parallel lanes running down to the river. Today the area is mostly pedestrian, with small shops, bars and churches. Key stops:
- Santiago Cathedral, a Gothic church that became a cathedral in 1949 and is a stop on the northern route of the Camino de Santiago.
- Mercado de la Ribera, a riverside covered market opened in 1929 and refurbished in the 2010s, with produce stalls and a food hall.
- Basque Museum (Euskal Museoa), covering Basque ethnography and history in a former college building.
- Church of San Antón, by the old bridge, which appears on the city's coat of arms.
Pintxos in Plaza Nueva
Plaza Nueva is a 19th-century neoclassical square enclosed by arcades, lined with bars. In the Basque Country, pintxos are small bites displayed on bar counters, and the usual practice is to order one or two with a small drink (a zurito of beer or a txikito of wine) and then move on to another bar. Ask what the hot pintxos of the day are, as these are cooked to order and are often the best item. On Sunday mornings the square hosts a small market. The bars in the surrounding streets fill up from about 13:00 and again from 19:30, which are the busiest times to find space at the counter.
Practical Tips
- Weather. Bilbao is wet for much of the year, so pack a light waterproof even in summer.
- Views. For a panorama, take the Artxanda funicular from near the Campo Volantín area up to the hilltop park above the city.
- Getting in. Bilbao airport is linked to the city centre by bus. The city is also about an hour by road from San Sebastián, so it combines easily with the coast.
