Spain · City break

Bilbao City Guide

Shipyards and steel gave way to titanium and art. Bilbao has reinvented itself. The seven lanes of the old town sit close together, the shimmering waves of the Guggenheim line the Nervión, and the Artxanda rises above it all. One ready-made day route from Casco Viejo metro takes the funicular to the top.

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Our walking tours of Bilbao

Ready-made routes from the station guide you through Bilbao, to the right spots from the very first step, with no planning needed.

Old Town, Guggenheim & Artxanda

From Casco Viejo metro through the Siete Calles to Plaza Nueva and on into the Mercado de la Ribera market hall. Then along the Nervión to Calatrava's white Zubizuri bridge, to the Guggenheim with Gehry's titanium waves and the flower dog Puppy out front. Finish with the funicular up Artxanda, where the whole city lies at your feet.

Casco Viejo. Bilbao's old town is a tangle of seven lanes, the Siete Calles. This is where the city began in 1300. Between Santiago Cathedral and the riverbank you'll find pintxo bars, old hatters and fabric shops side by side. Best to set off with no fixed plan and follow whichever place looks busy. Mornings are quiet; from late afternoon every counter turns into a spread of little bites.
Plaza Nueva. This severe 19th-century arcaded square is the old town's living room, with arches all around and pintxo bars packed underneath. On Sunday mornings traders lay out books, stamps, records and all sorts of bric-a-brac. Under the arcades you stay dry even in the rain. In Bilbao that genuinely matters. One of the buildings houses the Royal Academy of the Basque Language.
Mercado de la Ribera. This riverside market hall was built in 1929 and, at around 10,000 square metres, ranks among Europe's largest covered markets. From outside it looks like a ship moored at the quay; inside, light drops through big stained-glass windows onto the stalls. Downstairs people buy fish, vegetables and salt cod; upstairs there are pintxos, beer and txakoli. A good stop before carrying on along the Nervión.
Zubizuri. Santiago Calatrava threw this white arched footbridge across the Nervión in 1997. Zubizuri simply means white bridge in Basque. The curved pylon with its fan of cables is the shot everyone takes here. Careful in the rain. The glass deck turns treacherously slippery, which is why a covering has since been laid over it. From the bridge you can already see the Guggenheim shimmering upstream.
Guggenheim Museum. The Guggenheim is the reason the world talks about Bilbao today. Frank Gehry's building of curving titanium panels opened in 1997 and flipped the image of this shipyard and steel town completely. People have called it the Bilbao effect ever since. Just walking around the outside is worth the trip; the titanium changes colour with the light. Inside stands Richard Serra's hall of vast steel spirals that you walk right through. Mondays are usually closed, except in summer. Best to book your ticket in advance.
Puppy. Guarding the entrance is Puppy, Jeff Koons' twelve-metre West Highland terrier made of flowering plants. He was only meant to stay for the opening, but then the city refused to give him back. Twice a year he's completely replanted, so his coat of colour changes with the season. Shoot him head-on from below with the titanium building behind and you get the best picture.
Museum of Fine Arts. Optional. If you still have time and an appetite for art, walk the 500 metres on through the park to the Museo de Bellas Artes. The collection spans the Middle Ages to the present, with El Greco, Goya, Zurbarán and strong Basque work. It's far calmer than the Guggenheim and rarely crowded. Parts of the building close off at times because of the big renovation, and Tuesdays it's shut altogether. Tip. Right in front of the museum lies the Parque Doña Casilda, which locals call the Duck Park, with its pond and flowering pergola, perfect for a short break.
Funicular de Artxanda. From the foot of the city's home mountain a funicular from 1915 hauls you up to Artxanda in three minutes. At the top there's a park with terraces, a couple of cider houses and the view you'll keep of Bilbao, with the loop of the river, the old town and the Guggenheim like a silver patch in the middle. It's loveliest just before sunset, when the city below turns warm. The same funicular takes you back down; from the lower station it's ten minutes on foot to Casco Viejo metro.

Planning your visit

One day is enough. The route from Casco Viejo metro runs four kilometres and starts in the seven lanes of the old town, at the Plaza Nueva and the Ribera market. It then crosses the curved Zubizuri bridge to the Guggenheim with its titanium skin and the flower dog Puppy in front, on to the fine arts museum and up to Artxanda by funicular. A shipyard city turned itself into an art city this way. Five evening tips are ready, and San Sebastián is an hour away by train.

Going out & nightlife

Rooftop bars

The Rooftop by The Artist. Roof terrace looking straight at the Guggenheim, a short menu and decent wines. Turn up when it opens at 4 pm and you won't need a reservation. Plus you get the best corner by the railing.

Nightlife quarters

Casco Viejo (Siete Calles). The seven old-town lanes turn into one long pintxo crawl at night, with a bite and a glass per bar, then on to the next. Between Plaza Nueva and Calle Somera it's bar after bar, and people drink out in the street because there's no room inside. It fills up from around 8 pm, thickest on Thursdays and Fridays.

Food & restaurants

Nerua. A starred restaurant inside the Guggenheim itself, Basque cooking at its most pared back. Every dish boiled down to two or three ingredients. Honest heads-up. The room is deliberately bare and bright, atmosphere is not its strong suit, but the plates are uncompromising. Book well ahead; the menu comes at a proud price.

Bars & clubs

Residence Café. A whisky bar in Abando, a few steps from the Guggenheim, with a list that takes a while to read. There's live music regularly. Mostly blues, soul or rock. And at weekends it runs until half past two. No posing, just dark wood and people who know what they're ordering.

Stage & concerts

Teatro Arriaga. A neo-Baroque showpiece from 1890 on the riverbank, named after the Basque composer Juan Crisóstomo de Arriaga. The programme runs from opera and concerts to dance and Basque theatre, and there are guided tours by day. The stalls are nicely raked, so there are hardly any bad seats.

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Practical information for Bilbao

Public transport

Operator. The public transport network of Bilbao and the province of Bizkaia is run by several independent operators, all of them joined together in the Consorcio de Transportes de Bizkaia (CTB). Metro Bilbao runs the two subway lines, Euskotren the tram along the Ría as well as the regional trains from Atxuri station, among other destinations toward Bermeo, Bizkaibus the intercity buses including the airport line A3247, and Bilbobus the city bus lines within Bilbao. The shared Barik chip card is valid with all the operators named above, plus the Artxanda funicular, the Ascensor de Ereaga in Getxo, the Funicular de Larreineta, the Puente Colgante transporter bridge, and several parking garages.

Network. Two metro lines, a riverside tram and buses, plus a funicular and a transporter bridge.

Modes of transport. Subway (Metro Bilbao) · Tram (Euskotren Tranbia) · Regional train (Euskotren, from Atxuri station) · City bus (Bilbobus) · Regional bus (Bizkaibus) · Funicular (Funicular de Artxanda) · Transporter bridge (Puente Colgante)

Operating hours. On weekdays the metro runs from around 6 am to 11 pm, outside those hours demand is too low for subway service according to Metro Bilbao. On Fridays, Saturdays, and the eve of public holidays, however, the metro runs all night without a break in service. Airport bus A3247 already runs from 5 am from the city center to the airport and until 11.40 pm from the airport back to the center, every 15 minutes in both directions.

Night service. There is no separately named night bus or night metro line, instead the regular metro simply stays in service all night without a break on Fridays, Saturdays, and the eve of public holidays. On all other weekdays service ends at 11 pm, with the first train the next day around 6 am.

Buying tickets. Tickets and the anonymous Barik card are sold at the vending machines in every metro station, by cash or credit/debit card. For a personalized Barik card, for example with a youth or family discount, you need to visit one of the eleven Oficinas de Atención a Clientes of the CTB in Bizkaia, for which ID and a current photo are required. Season tickets such as Bidai or Gazte can additionally be topped up at the affiliated network of kiosks and tobacco shops, as well as via the CTB website and app. At the airport, a dedicated Bizkaibus counter in the arrivals area sells single tickets for line A3247, also by bank card.

App and payment. Since July 8, 2026, the official Barik Mobile app of the Consorcio de Transportes de Bizkaia has been available for both Android and iOS. It stores the Barik card digitally on the smartphone, allows topping up the balance, and shows the current balance, with no need for a physical card. At the vending machines in the metro stations you can pay either by cash or by credit or debit card, and card payment is also accepted at the sales counter of the A3247 airport bus.

Which ticket. Metro Bilbao sells single tickets without a Barik card (Ocasional) for 2.00 Euro in Zone 1, 2.20 Euro in Zone 2, and 2.25 Euro in Zone 3, and up to ten people can share one anonymous Barik card loaded with credit. Anyone who buys a Barik card (3 Euro, with a minimum top-up of 2 Euro in cash or 5 Euro by credit card, so 5 or 8 Euro in total on first purchase, top-uppable up to a maximum of 90 Euro) pays only 0.61 Euro per ride as Creditrans credit in Zone 1, 0.71 Euro in Zone 2, and 0.78 Euro in Zone 3. Mathematically, the card fee in Zone 1 is offset from the third ride onward, after that Barik is consistently cheaper than single tickets. Metro Bilbao does not offer a day or multi-day ticket for tourists, the remaining season tickets (Bidai 50/70/Oro, Gazte 70/Oro) are tied to residency in Bizkaia.

Fare zones. Zone 1 stretches from Bolueta to San Ignazio and covers practically the entire city center of Bilbao, so tourists almost always pay the lowest zone price there. Zone 2 applies to Etxebarri, Basauri, and the route as far as Berango, among others, and Zone 3 to the coast between Larrabasterra and Plentzia.

Tip. The Puente de Vizcaya transporter bridge is World Heritage and runs every few minutes.

Getting there

Main station

Location. Centrally located, with a large stained-glass window in the concourse.

Long-distance trains. Long-distance rail service in Bilbao runs through Renfe at Abando Indalecio Prieto station on Plaza Circular, right in the middle of the city. Renfe runs the station as an intermodal hub with Larga Distancia, Media Distancia, and connections to the Cercanías lines C1, C2, and C3. The main long-distance routes are Bilbao to Madrid Chamartín Clara Campoamor and Bilbao to Barcelona Sants, both served by Alvia trains. Further Renfe destinations from Bilbao include Burgos, Logroño, Zaragoza, Lleida, and Tarragona, which lie along the same routes toward central Spain and the Mediterranean. The journey to Madrid takes around five hours, a high-speed link to Bilbao is not yet in operation.

Opening hours. Bilbao-Abando is open daily from 4.45 am to 24.00, only at night does the hall close. The first long-distance train toward Madrid departs at 6.45 am. Travelers out late should keep in mind that it closes at midnight.

Airports

BIO

Into the city. Bus A3247 to the Bilbao Intermodal bus station, with stops at Gran Vía 79 and Plaza Moyua, journey time around twenty minutes, single ticket without a Barik card 5 Euro, card payment also possible at the counter in the arrivals hall. A taxi to the center costs a flat fare of 27 Euro on weekdays and 30 Euro on Sundays and public holidays.

Frequency. From the airport to the center 6.10 am to 11.40 pm, from the center to the airport 5 am to 10 pm, every 15 minutes in both directions.

Local quirks

Pintxos, not tapas. In the Basque Country the bites sit on the bar counter and are paid for one by one. You move from bar to bar.
One card for almost everything in Bizkaia. According to Metro Bilbao, the Barik card is valid not only for the metro, tram, and bus, but also for the Artxanda funicular, the Ascensor de Ereaga in Getxo, the Funicular de Larreineta, the Puente Colgante transporter bridge, several parking garages, and the Bizimeta bike-share system in Uribe Kosta.
Zone 1 covers almost the whole visit. The cheapest fare zone, Zone 1, stretches from Bolueta to San Ignazio and thus covers practically the entire city center. Anyone staying within the center automatically pays the lowest zone price on every ride.

Good to know

Currency: EUR €
Emergency number: 112
Plug type: C · F
Time zone: Europe/Madrid
Driving: right

Speed limits. built-up areas 20/30/50 km/h (tiered), outside towns 90 km/h, motorway 120 km/h

Since May 2021, a three-tier system has applied within built-up areas instead of a single uniform value. 20 km/h on streets with a single level for the roadway and sidewalk, 30 km/h on streets with one lane per direction, and 50 km/h only from two lanes per direction upward. As a result, most inner-city streets are now limited to 30 km/h, which surprises visitors from countries with a uniform 50 km/h. A dense network of fixed and mobile speed cameras enforces this consistently, and fines on rental cars often arrive by mail only weeks later.

Tipping. Not expected. A few coins or five percent for good service is plenty.

Tolls. Some motorways are tolled, recognisable by AP in the name. Routes marked A are free.

Access restrictions. Cities above 50,000 inhabitants must set up low emission zones. Madrid and Barcelona enforce by camera, and foreign vehicles must register online in advance.