10 Best Things to Do in Bilbao

The Casco Viejo started as seven parallel lanes laid out in the 1400s, and locals still call it the Siete Calles. Somera, Artekale, Tenderia, Belosticalle, Carniceria Vieja, Barrenkale and Barrenkale Barrena run between the Catedral de Santiago and the riverbank, most of them barely wide enough for two people to pass a shop doorway.

Plaza Nueva, the arcaded neoclassical square completed in 1851, anchors the eastern edge and packs pintxo bars under its 64 arches. The Gothic Catedral de Santiago dates from the 14th century and charges about 5 EUR to enter. Sunday mornings bring a flea market and a bird market to the square. The whole quarter is pedestrianised, so this is a walking entry with no transport involved once you arrive.

Pro Tip: Begin on Calle Somera around 20:00, take one pintxo and one small glass of txakoli per bar, then move south. Paying at the end of each stop is normal - staff count your plates and toothpicks on trust.

The Mercado de la Ribera runs about 10,000 square metres along the Nervion, which earned it a Guinness listing as the most complete municipal food market in Europe. The current art deco hall went up in 1929, replacing centuries of open-air trading on the same stretch of bank, and a 2010 renovation added glass, lifts and a first-floor eating gallery.

The ground floor still functions as a working market. Fishmongers sell hake and Cantabrian anchovies, butchers hang whole cuts, and grocers stack Idiazabal sheep cheese and Gernika peppers. Upstairs, about a dozen counters serve pintxos, cider and txakoli from midday, where a plate and a glass together cost roughly 5 EUR. Entry is free and hours run from around 08:00 to 14:30 Monday to Thursday, longer on Friday and Saturday.

Pro Tip: Arrive at 12:30 on a Saturday for the fullest version of the market, then eat upstairs. The fish stalls start packing away by 14:00, so leave the browsing until after you have seen them.

The Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao holds roughly 10,000 works spanning the 12th century to the present, and plenty of residents rank it above the Guggenheim for depth. Its strongest rooms cover Spanish painting, with El Greco, Goya and Zurbaran, alongside a Basque section built around Ignacio Zuloaga and Aurelio Arteta that you will not find represented anywhere else at this scale.

It stands at the edge of Dona Casilda Park, five minutes on foot from the Guggenheim, which makes pairing the two easy. General admission is about 10 EUR and the last two opening hours of the day are free. A large extension designed by Norman Foster with Luis Maria Uriarte has been reshaping the complex, so confirm which galleries are open before you set out.

Pro Tip: Go after 18:00 on a weekday for free entry and near-empty rooms, then walk two minutes into Dona Casilda Park, where the duck pond and bandstand make a decent place to sit before dinner.

The Funicular de Artxanda has hauled passengers up the 770-metre track from Castanos since 1915. The ride lasts three minutes and climbs about 226 metres, ending at a terrace that frames the entire Nervion valley - the Guggenheim's titanium roof, the Iberdrola Tower, the port stretching west, and the green ridges closing in behind the city.

A return ticket costs around 4.60 EUR, roughly 2.30 EUR each way, and the Barik card is accepted at the barrier. Cars leave every 15 minutes from early morning until 22:00, later on summer weekends. At the top you will find a park, a memorial to the Basque fighters of 1937, a handful of restaurants with valley-facing terraces, and a marked path that walks back down to the city in about 40 minutes.

Pro Tip: Ride up 45 minutes before sunset, then walk 200 metres left from the upper station. Most people crowd the first railing while the cleaner angle on the Guggenheim and the river bend sits further along the path.

Santiago Calatrava's Zubizuri opened in 1997, the same year as the Guggenheim, and the name means white bridge in Basque. A single steel arch carries a curved deck about 75 metres across the Nervion. The original glass-brick walking surface turned so slippery in the rain that the city eventually covered it, a decision that ended up in court between the architect and the council.

The bridge works best as one point on a longer route rather than a destination in itself. Follow the Campo Volantin promenade along the right bank from the Ayuntamiento bridge, cross the Zubizuri, then continue west along Abandoibarra past the Guggenheim to the Euskalduna. That full walk covers roughly 3 km of flat, car-free paving and takes about an hour at an unhurried pace. It costs nothing.

Pro Tip: Walk it after dark. The Zubizuri arch is lit white, the Guggenheim throws reflections across the water, and the promenade stays busy with runners and dog walkers well past 22:00.

The Basilica de Begona honours the Virgin of Begona, patron of Bizkaia, known across the province as Amatxu - Basque for mother. Building started in 1519 on the spot where the Virgin was said to have appeared, and the Gothic nave took most of the following century to complete. The bell tower, added in 1907, is visible from a good share of the city below.

Inside, the 16th-century figure of the Virgin stands above the altar under a silver canopy, ringed by votive offerings left by sailors returning from the Atlantic. Entry is free. Reaching it from the Casco Viejo means about 12 minutes up the Calzadas de Mallona steps, or you can skip the climb entirely with the Ascensor de Begona, the public lift on Calle Esperanza, for well under 1 EUR.

Pro Tip: Take the Ascensor de Begona up and the Mallona steps down. The lift saves the steepest section, and the descent passes the old cemetery terraces with a clear line of sight over the Casco Viejo rooftops.

Azkuna Zentroa occupies the Alhondiga, a municipal wine warehouse finished in 1909 and then left empty for decades. Philippe Starck gutted the interior and reopened it in 2010, resting the three brick-clad blocks on 43 pillars that are each different - Roman columns, Indian carvings, art deco shafts - standing in an atrium you can walk through free of charge at any hour it is open.

The building now runs a cinema, a public library, exhibition halls, a gym and a rooftop swimming pool with a glass floor. Look up from the atrium and you see swimmers overhead. Exhibitions are usually free or a few EUR, and the late opening hours make this the sensible stop when Atlantic rain closes in, which it does often between October and April.

Pro Tip: Stand under the centre of the atrium and look straight up at the pool base, then head two streets south to Calle Ledesma, which holds the densest run of pintxo bars outside the Casco Viejo.

The Puente de Vizcaya has swung a suspended gondola across the mouth of the Nervion since 1893, making it the oldest transporter bridge still in service anywhere. Alberto Palacio, a student of Gustave Eiffel, designed it to move people and carriages without blocking the shipping channel below. UNESCO added it to the World Heritage List in 2006 as a landmark of industrial engineering.

The gondola crosses the 160-metre span in about 90 seconds, runs every eight minutes day and night, and costs well under 1 EUR on foot. A separate ticket of roughly 12 EUR takes the lift 50 metres up to the walkway along the top deck, where the view runs down the estuary to the Abra bay and the open Cantabrian Sea. Portugalete's steep old quarter sits on one bank, Getxo's shipowner mansions on the other.

Pro Tip: Cross on the gondola for pocket change first, then buy the walkway ticket on the Getxo side where the queue is usually shorter. Add the 30-minute waterfront walk to Ereaga beach before riding Metro Bilbao line 1 back.

San Juan de Gaztelugatxe is a rocky islet on the Bizkaia coast joined to the mainland by a stone causeway and a zigzag staircase of 241 steps. A hermitage has stood on the summit since at least the 10th century, and the chapel there now traces back to 1053, rebuilt more than once after fires and coastal raids. Game of Thrones filmed it as Dragonstone, which multiplied visitor numbers almost overnight.

Access is free but needs a timed reservation booked in advance through the official Bizkaia tourism system, and summer slots run out. From the car park the round trip covers about 2.5 km with a steep return climb - budget two hours on site plus travel each way. The site sits between Bakio and Bermeo, so pairing it with Bermeo's fishing harbour makes a full and satisfying day out of one bus fare.

Pro Tip: Book the earliest slot of the day and ring the chapel bell three times, as local tradition asks. Wear proper shoes - the steps are uneven stone and turn slick in the Atlantic drizzle that reaches this coast most months of the year.