Bilbao

OverviewGetting aroundLeisure activitiesSights and ActivitiesAbandoibarraEnsancheThe Old QuarterAthletic ClubEating and drinkingRecommendationsFurther info (links)

Overview

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Bilbao is the commercial and administrative head of an area of about one million people living by the Ibaizabal-Nervion estuary. After centuries of trading and iron industry, in the last decades Bilbao has become a service town, supported by a huge investment in infrastructure and urban renewal, that started with the construction of an underground network (Metro Bilbao) in 1995 and the opening of the Bilbao Guggenheim Museum in 1997.

A nice NYT article and video about Bilbao

Getting around

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Bilbao comprises several districts, some of them quite far away from each other, but the city is pedestrian friendly and small enough that a visitor can cover most of it on foot in a day, the longest distance being 3 kilometers. For the lazy ones, we recommend the tram line, which offers nice views of the city (including the venue of Odyssey 2016). Also, besides the underground, which stretches from southeast to northwest, a dense network of buses allows the access to all city neighbourhoods (pdf map). For those of you that enjoy cycling, a handful of companies hire bikes and offer planned tours of the city on two wheels accompanied by a guide. Finally, Bilboats offers the possibility of cruising along the river, a unique way of approaching the history of Bilbao, its architecture and cityscape. Two maritime-cultural trips are offered, both with an optional audio guide in several languages. The mooring place is located in front of the city hall.

Leisure activities

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Located in a hilly countryside, Bilbao offers many outdoor activities. Hiking is very popular as well as rock climbing in the nearby mountains. Mount Artxanda, easily accessible from the city centre by a funicular railway (a three-minute trip that saves a height of 250 meters), features a recreational area at the summit, with restaurants, a sports complex and a balcony with panoramic views. In the south, the natural wonders of Mount Pagasarri receive hundreds of hikers every weekend.

Sights and Activities

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A few minutes away by the underground train, the Vizcaya Bridge, declared World Heritage in 2006, connects Portugalete and Las Arenas at the left and right banks of the estuary. In the coast, old fishing villages like Plentzia, Mundaka or Lekeitio have become touristic spots due to the nearby beaches, where watersports, especially surfing, are practiced. Just an hour away by car, two spots are worth a visit: the beautiful city of San Sebastian (European Capital of Culture in 2016, and the vineyards and wineries of La Rioja

Abandoibarra

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Thirty years ago, Abandoibarra was a grey place full of containers and longshoremen. Now, the area has been completely refurbished and is commonly described as the new Bilbao. The old wharfs, quays and piers gave way to grassy recreational areas, surrounding emblematic buildings such as the Guggenheim Bilbao Museum, the University of Deusto Library, the UPV/EHU Auditorium (Bizkaia Aretoa, venue of Odyssey 2016), the Iberdrola Tower and the Euskalduna Conference Centre and Concert Hall.

Ensanche

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The so called Ensanche is a wide area comprising the districts of Abando and Indautxu, which nowadays combines residential and commercial uses. The area grew at the beginning of the 20th century with the industrial development of the city, initially only as a residential neighbourhood, but then gradually pulling the administrative and commercial activities.

The Ensanche streets are organized around Gran Vía, an axis which connects three main squares: Plaza Circular, which gives way to the Old Quarter, Plaza Moyúa, which plays the role of geographical center with streets departing radially from it, and Plaza del Sagrado Corazón, the west end of the area, where important facilities are located, such as the Euskalduna Conference Centre, the Bus Terminal ( TermiBus), the Basurto Hospital and the San Mames football stadium.

Around Gran Vía, a variety of establishments and stores can be found: banks, department stores, international brands, bookshops, bakeries, pharmacies, etc. The quarter is plenty of hotels, restaurants, bars (some of them offering live music) and cafes, with outdoor terraces that are full of people when the weather is good. Some streets are famous for their lively atmosphere: Ledesma, Diputación, Heros, Licenciado Poza, Egaña, etc. Many interesting buildings and places are located in this part of the city: Paseo de Uribitarte, Isozaki Towers, Zubi Zuri Bridge, Plaza de los Jardines de Albia, Teatro Campos Elíseos, Estación de Abando and Azkuna Zentroa (Alhóndiga Bilbao, an early twentieth-century wine warehouse now transformed into a groovy public leisure/cultural centre with a swimming pool that boasts a transparent floor, allowing you to view the soles of swimmers’ feet from the entrance hall below).

This area also features a parkland, Parque de Doña Casilda, just behind the Fine Arts Museum, which connects with Abandoibarra, a perfect place to walk, run or simply sit and read a book while enjoying a sunny morning.

The Old Quarter

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Overview

When the city of Bilbao was founded over 700 years ago, its inhabitants made their living from market gardens and fishing, and the river was beginning to emerge as the best means of communication with the outside world. There were at that time two different centres of population; on the one hand, the left bank or Bilbao la Vieja, which was a mining area where iron was worked in the foundries, and secondly, the right bank, called the Old Quarter (Casco Viejo), which engaged in commerce and port activities. The heart of the Old Quarter was surrounded by walls and consisted of three parallel streets. Later it became necessary to take down the walls and build four streets perpendicular to the river, which along with the first three, make up what is known today as the Seven Streets.

When, on August 26th, 1983, the river breached its banks causing severe flooding in the Old Quarter and Bilbao La Vieja, few imagined how the district would evolve in the forthcoming years. An ambitious development plan has met the objectives of keeping people living in these areas, attracting new residents and improving living standards. Today, that fateful summer day is just a myth, reminded by commemorative plaques indicating the maximum level reached by water. The Old Quarter and Bilbao La Vieja have become a magnet for locals and tourists alike with its varied and lively atmosphere of shops, bars and restaurants.

Hot spots

The Old Quarter contains a handful of treasures such as the Neoclassical Plaza Nueva, the Church of San Anton, Santiago’s Cathedral and the Arriaga Theatre. El Arenal is the entrance to the Old Quarter and extends from the City Hall to the Arriaga Theatre. It was formerly a sandy area that shaped an inner beach, dock and shipyard, changing over the years until the nineteenth century, when the whole area was drained and shaped to its current form, with gardens, fountains and ponds.

The Unamuno Square and the Mallona stairs, along with the nearby Iturribide street, are one of the liveliest places (kind of crossroad) in the Old Quarter. The square includes the entrance to an underground station and is close to the Plaza Nueva, so there is always people walking in all directions.

La Ribera Market is a landmark of Bilbao and therefore a must, specially for those that enjoy the view and taste of fresh food (vegetables, fish and meat) in a lively atmosphere. The activity dates back to the fourteenth century when a market area was created outdoors next to the Church of San Anton. The current building was opened in 1929, according to Pedro Ispizua project, with a singular modernist architecture and an art deco ornamentation. The building has been recently remodeled and is now equipped with the best infrastructure for vendors and customers.

Bilbao La Vieja

Compared with the districts of Abandoibarra and Casco Viejo, the process of renewal arrived somewhat later in Bilbao la Vieja. However, much more than any other place in the city this colourful and lively neighbourhood is a multiethnic melting pot of all ages and walks of life, with many different languages spoken here thanks to the steady flow of immigration Bilbao has witnessed in recent years. If you’re after a taste of Bilbao’s legendary ‘grit’, then a wander here is as much a must-do as a trip to the Guggenheim. In Bilbao La Vieja, art galleries (with expositions of young emerging artists) set up shop alongside goldsmiths, Moroccan restaurants, healthcare centres, convents and night clubs.

In addition, the neighbourhood’s artistic expression gives it the freedom to turn the Church of La Merced, for example, into Bilborock Music Centre, with multiuse rooms and rehearsal studios all under one roof. There is also Bilbao Arte on Urazurrutia Street, a local art workshop aimed at promoting and offering training to young and aspiring artists. Periodically, a street market is organized on Saturday mornings in 2 de Mayo and the surrounding streets, with live concerts and shows, pop-up shops and roadside stands with innovative handmade designs.

Eating and drinking

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The Basque Counry is renowned in Spain for its gastronomy, and Bilbao is full of restaurants, from the most traditional to the most sophisticated (and expensive). Except for some highly demanded places, you won’t need to make a reservation. The day menu (Menú del Día) that is offered at lunch time (from 1 to 3 pm) in many restaurants around the city, consists of two dishes plus a dessert, tap water (which is excellent) and bread included. Prices range from 10 to 15 €. For dining, you may first take into account that most restaurants start serving dinner at 9 pm. As a rule of thumb, things happen two hours later than in your country. See our recommendation section for particular places. Prices for dinner range from 30 to 50 €.

No visit to Bilbao (and the Basque Country in general) would be complete without trying pintxos (pronounced pin-choss), the local (but much better) version of Spanish tapas. If you’re vegetarian, you might want to have a local order for you to avoid any nasty surprises. Locals often do a crawl of pintxos in the bars of a particular area, snaffling plates of the snacks with their drinks. You may find a dozen bars in a relatively short street, with people drinking and chatting on the sidewalks. This pintxos crawl is typically done on Saturday and Sunday from noon, but also in the evenings, from about 7 to 9 pm (before dinner, or more frequently, instead of dining).

At peak times, streets and plazas in the Old Quarter (Casco Viejo) and pedestrian areas of the modern town (Ensanche), such as Ledesma, Diputación and Egaña, are filled with people strolling from bar to bar, stopping to chat with neighbors and friends, children in tow, grazing on pintxos. The insiders stop in for only the specialties of the house, then move on. Hat’s off to them, because it’s really hard to pull yourself away from the bar when you’re enjoying the delicious nuggets of jamon and a glass of red wine or the typical txakolí (young, fresh and fruity white wine produced in the Basque Country). But we recommend sampling lots of different places.

With regard to drinking, you will note that most people are just holding the glass without tasting it for minutes, standing in the same place and chatting, then moving to another bar, not too far away. Besides beer, the most popular drink is red wine, specially the Rioja crianza, tasted in small sips. Curiously, people in Bilbao drink small rations of beer, called zuritos, which they sip just as they were glasses of wine. But don’t panic: you can also ask for a whole beer. Prices are reasonable: 2 € for a beer, 1.5/2 € for a glass of red wine or txakolí, and 1/1.5 € for a pintxo.

Athletic Club

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[Partly quoted from travel journalist Gerry Kerkhof]

Athletic Club is, historically, the third most successful football club in Spain. As well as being one of only three clubs never relegated from the top division of La Liga – there are no prizes for knowing the other two – they are also third in the number of titles won over the years. Recently, the team claimed their first trophy in three decades when they wrapped up a 5-1 aggregate over Barcelona to win the Spanish Super Cup.

Most football followers know about the long-standing “Basque only” policy of Athletic, which has been the subject of much debate, but I suspect that fewer are aware of the benefit that this concentration on home-grown players has had to the Spanish national squad. Athletic Club has had more players representing Spain than any other Spanish club – including Real Madrid and Barcelona. The club has continued its tradition of signing players born in the Basque provinces of Spain or France, although in the late 1980s this was broadened to include players who had moved to the region at a young age.

From the outside, the brand new stadium of Athletic Club, called San Mames Berria, may seem like any other stadium, but La Catedral (The Cathedral), as it is known in Spain, offers the greatest sport atmosphere in Spain, much the same way as an English football stadium. Players here are called lions because the first stadium was built near a church called Saint Mammes, after the saint who was thrown to the lions by the Romans but, in a turn of fortune, the animals refused to eat him. Before a game, crowds of fans dressed in white and red (the team colours) gather in the bars on nearby Licenciado Poza street to get one or two drinks and pintxos. The festive atmosphere is unbelievable with many groups belting out traditional songs.

An Irish visitor’s opinion taken from TripAdvisor: “San Mamés is a fantastic new stadium with the stands right on top of the pitch. The people of Bilbao treat Athletic like a religion and it was a great experience to be a part of it. The stadium is in the middle of the city and is an integral part of the city. There is no worries about public transport that can be problematic for other stadia. Hundreds of bars and restaurants surround the stadium and help generate a fantastic pre/post match atmosphere. If you love soccer, San Mamés should be on your must see list.”

Recommendations

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Culture

Walks

  • By the river (3 km, 45 min.): from the City Hall to Olabeaga, starting on the right bank and crossing to the left bank through Zubi Zuri
  • Casco Viejo (wandering and shopping): from El Arenal to San Antón, crossing Plaza Nueva, Unamuno square, Santiagos’s Cathedral and La Ribera Market
  • Gran Vía (2 km, 30 min.): from Plaza Circular to Plaza del Sagrado Corazón, with detours to Jardines de Albia and Parque de Doña Casilda

Pintxos and more (must-go places by area)

  • Ledesma / Jardines de Albia: Iruña, Artajo, El Puertito, Bilbao Berria
  • Heros / Henao: Ad Hoc, Marvellous, Bistrot, El Figón, Pikata, Singular
  • Diputación: El Globo, La Viña, La Olla
  • Maestro García Rivero: El Huevo Frito, Okela
  • Plaza Nueva: Víctor Montes, Café Bar Bilbao, Sorginzulo
  • Casco Viejo: Rio Oja, Xukela, Txiriboga, Irrintzi
  • Plaza Unamuno / Iturribide: Muga, Melilla y Fez

Restaurants

Other