Bilbao is one of the most surprising cities in Spain. In the heart of the Basque Country, it puts landmark modern architecture, a Gothic old town, some of the best food in the country and green hills within a few minutes of each other. If you arrive by ferry, you can walk most of it.
Here are twelve things worth doing, with a note on which cost nothing. A good number of Bilbao’s highlights are free, so this works whether you have a full budget or none at all.
- Arriving by ferry? Bilbao’s terminal is at Zierbena, about 21 km from the centre, so plan the transfer. Sailings run from Portsmouth and from Rosslare in Ireland. See how to get from the port to the city centre.
1. The Guggenheim Museum
The one thing not to miss. Frank Gehry’s building is a work of art before you have bought a ticket, and inside is serious modern and contemporary art.
2. The outdoor sculptures, which cost nothing
The museum charges entry, but the sculptures outside are free and they are the images everyone recognises. Puppy, the giant flower-covered dog at the entrance, and Maman, Louise Bourgeois’s spider, on the river side. If the budget is tight, the exterior alone is worth the walk.
3. Walk the Nervión riverside
The river is the spine of the city and the promenade is the best free thing to do in Bilbao. Start at the Zubizuri Bridge and follow it to the Guggenheim, past art installations, cafés, skate parks and fountains. Half an hour at a stroll, longer if you stop.
4. Get lost in Casco Viejo
The old town is a maze of alleys, squares and pintxo bars. Walk the Siete Calles, the original seven streets the city grew from, and look in at the Gothic Cathedral of Santiago. Wandering costs nothing, though resisting a pintxo while you do it is another matter.
5. Pintxos at Plaza Nueva
Plaza Nueva is a arcaded rectangular square in Casco Viejo lined with pintxo bars, and it is where Basque eating actually happens. The way it works: you order one or two at a bar, drink a glass of txakoli, the local dry white, then move on to the next place. Nobody sits down for a whole meal.
Two or three pintxos and a drink per bar keeps it cheap, and three or four bars makes an evening.
6. The Artxanda funicular
A few euros gets you up to the best viewpoint over the city and the river. Go shortly before sunset. More detail in our guide to taking the funicular in Bilbao.
7. Mercado de la Ribera
One of the largest covered food markets in Europe, on the edge of the old town. Fresh produce and seafood downstairs, small bars upstairs. Browsing is free and a pintxo with a river view costs very little.
8. Museo de Bellas Artes, free on Wednesdays
The fine arts museum holds El Greco, Goya and other Spanish masters alongside modern work, and it is the counterweight to the Guggenheim. Entry is free on Wednesdays. The Museo Vasco, the Basque Museum in the old town, is often free on Sunday afternoons. Both are worth planning your days around, so check current opening times before you go.
9. The Zubizuri Bridge and the modern city
Santiago Calatrava’s white pedestrian bridge, with its glass floor and curved arch, is the other piece of architecture people come for. It sits on the riverside walk, so you get it for free on the way to the Guggenheim.
10. Doña Casilda Park
Next to the fine arts museum, with fountains, a duck pond, peacocks and shade. The obvious place to picnic if you have picked something up at the Ribera market, and a good break in the middle of a museum day.
11. A boat trip on the Nervión
Seeing the city from the water gives you a different read on it: you pass under the bridges and get the industrial history of the estuary that made Bilbao rich long before the Guggenheim arrived.
12. A day out of the city
Bilbao is within an hour of both the coast and the Basque countryside. Getxo for the beaches and the transporter bridge, or San Juan de Gaztelugatxe, the island hermitage reached by a stone causeway, which Game of Thrones viewers will recognise. If you arrived by ferry with your car, see our road trip ideas from Bilbao.
Doing Bilbao cheaply
Bilbao is an unusually good city for a small budget, because most of what makes it worth visiting happens outdoors.
- Free: the riverside walk, the Guggenheim sculptures, Casco Viejo and the Siete Calles, Doña Casilda Park, the Ribera market, the Zubizuri Bridge
- Free on certain days: Museo de Bellas Artes on Wednesdays, Museo Vasco on Sunday afternoons
- A few euros: the Artxanda funicular, a pintxo and a glass of txakoli
- Transport: get a Barik card, the rechargeable metro and tram pass. It is cheaper per journey than single tickets and works across the network, so you can skip taxis entirely
You do not need a car in the city at all. See getting around Bilbao without a car, and when to visit Bilbao for weather and festival timing.
