CargandoCargandoA Bilbao se viene por el Guggenheim y uno se queda por todo lo demás. La ría ordena la ciudad: a un lado el museo y los puentes nuevos, al otro el Casco Viejo, con sus Siete Calles y sus barras de pintxos. Es una ciudad para andar y para comer de pie, y un fin de semana da para mucho más de lo que parece.
Bilbao in one dayThe Guggenheim in the morning, which is what you came for, then walk down along the estuary to the old town: twenty minutes and you see half the city. Lunch on pintxos at La Ribera, the largest covered market in Europe, and up the Artxanda funicular at dusk to see the lot from above. It fits without rushing.1 day· 4 stops
Bilbao in 2 daysThe whole city: the Guggenheim and the other museum almost nobody sees, the Casco Viejo for pintxos, the Artxanda viewpoint and a trip out to Gaztelugatxe. Everything urban is walkable along the estuary; Gaztelugatxe needs a car or bus and a booked ticket.2 days· 7 stops
Bilbao and the coast in 4 daysTwo days of city and two of Biscay: the Portugalete transporter bridge, the Urdaibai reserve with the Mundaka wave, the harbours of Bermeo and Lekeitio, and Gaztelugatxe. The coast is a little over an hour end to end by car, and it is worth sleeping one night outside the city.4 days· 12 stops
Bermeo
Urdaibai and MundakaThe Zubizuri bridgeThe Fine Arts Museum
Lekeitio
The Old Town and the Seven Streets
Vizcaya Bridge
Mercado de la RiberaGuggenheim Museum
Artxanda viewpoint
Azkuna Zentroa
San Juan de Gaztelugatxe💡The txikiteo is done on foot
You do not have dinner in one place here: you have a pintxo and a small beer in each bar and keep moving. Staying three hours at the same counter marks you out as an outsider. In the old town there are twenty bars in five streets, so it happens by itself.
💡Gaztelugatxe has to be booked
Entry is free but you have to get the ticket online in advance and numbers are capped by time slot. Without a booking they will not let you up, and it is half an hour from Bilbao for nothing. In summer they go weeks ahead.
💡At the Guggenheim, the outside is free
The building, Louise Bourgeois's giant spider, the flower Puppy and the walk along the estuary cost nothing and are half the visit. If contemporary art is not your thing, stay outside without guilt: the masterpiece is the building.
💡Sirimiri: do not cancel the plan
It rains here in a fine drizzle, in bursts, in any month. With a waterproof you carry on doing everything, and all that green around you is exactly why. Checking the forecast and cancelling means not going at all: nobody in Bilbao changes their plans for this.
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