We visited Bilbao for the first time in June 2026. We flew from Alicante to Bilbao Airport, just over an hour's flight. The best advice we received when researching Bilbao was to buy a Barik travel card and at the far right on the arrivals floor is a travel desk where you can purchase a Barik card for just €3 (June ’26) and add any multiples of €5 onto the card (we put €10 on ours).  We then went directly outside where an airport bus was waiting which took us into the centre of Bilbao in about 15 minutes and, with the Barik card, cost just 81cents.  Without the card it would have been €5 each.  We went on to use the card on the metro (30 minutes journey each way), the funicular return journey, the ferry at the Bizkaia bridge and the return bus journey to the airport, and still had a few cents remaining on the card!  You can top it up at metro or train stations, at authorised kiosks or online using the Barik NFC App.  The app is also useful to check your balance.  Great value!  The card is valid for 7 years, so we will keep ours for our next trip to Bilbao.

We stayed at the Sercotel Ayala.   It was a nice hotel in a great central location, opposite El Corte Ingles and a 10 minute walk from the old town. The beds were really comfortable and the hotel had good soundproofing. We weren’t impressed by the weak shower over the bath mind you. We didn’t eat breakfast at the hotel, but it cost €11 if booked ahead, double that otherwise. Book a room at Sercotel Ayala

Click here to book great value hotels in Bilbao, view photos and read travellers' reviews

The most obvious thing to do in Bilbao is to visit the world-famous Guggenheim Museum. Impressive inside and out it’s well worth a visit.  You can book ahead online, although we were there at the end of June, mid morning, and didn’t book ahead and there was no queue.  Admire the amazing architecture of the building like no other, designed by Canadian American architect Frank Gehry.  Outside exhibits include The Puppy, designed by the artist Jeff Koons, 13 meters high, with approximately 38,000 living plants and flowers, which are replaced twice a year (in spring and autumn) to keep the artwork in full bloom.

There is also Maman, the 9-meter-tall steel spider which has a sac containing 10 marble eggs at its underbelly and its abdomen and thorax are made of ribbed bronze.  And the silver sculpture ‘Tall Tree & The Eye’ with 73 reflective spheres anchored around three axes.

We’re not exactly connoisseurs of art, but we thoroughly enjoyed the Guggenheim, particularly the exhibits by Igshaan Adams and Ruth Asawa.  The infinity mirrored room is also interesting, but you may have to wait in a queue for a quick look at it!

Another interesting place to visit is the Athletic Bilbao stadium. They have an excellent museum where you can read about their history and watch fascinating videos showing the passion for the club. Then you go outside to see the pitch, sit in the dugout or the directors box, see the press room, dressing room, etc. If you’re even remotely interested in football you should enjoy this.

Take the Arxtanda Funicular up Mount Artxanda for great views, Once you’re at the top, you can enjoy excellent views over the city — including a perfect view of the Guggenheim. There are also some nice walking trails to enjoy, but the temperatures were in the low 40s when we were there so not many people were hiking! Hours of operation for the funicular vary by season and are more limited on Sundays but generally opens between 7.15am and 8.15am and closes between 10pm and 11pm. Cars leave every 10-15 minutes and the ride takes just three minutes. You can ride the cable car one-way or buy round-trip tickets.  Tickets are €4.30 return or €2.50 one way – or just €0.65 with the Barik card. If you walk down, the path goes through a quiet wooded area and ends up at Etxebarri park and takes about 45 minutes.  There’s a nice bar/restaurant at the top called Txakoli Cafeteria where we had a delicious glass of txakoli before taking the funicular back down.

We were looking forward to visiting La Ribera Market, Bilbao’s Central Market as we love the ones in Valencia and Barcelona and had read that Bilbao has the largest covered market in Europe.  What a disappointment it proved to be!  The food court only had a few stalls and there was little of interest to buy in the rest of the market

Get the metro from central Bilbao to Portugalete (takes about half an hour) and go to the Bizkaia/Vizcaya Hanging Bridge which links Portugalete and Getxo.  It was built in 1893 and is the world’s oldest transporter bridge.  It was was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in July 2006. Vehicles and foot passengers are transported in a gondola, suspended from the rails of the horizontal crossbar above.

Bars and Restaurants in Bilbao

Bilbao has a pintxos culture, so virtually every bar you go into has a big selection of finger food on the counter.  Most of it is bread with something on top, such as ham, sausage, seafood, cheese, egg, or an interesting combination, but there are also other tasty offerings including tortillas and croquetas.  It’s usually more exotic than tapas.  For example it’s the first time we have seen a huge selection of different flavoured tortillas.  The best one we had (in fact probably the best tortilla we’ve ever had!) was a spicy tortilla with morcilla at Zaharra Bar in Plaza Nueva.  It was delicious!  If you don’t like morcilla they have a huge selection of tortillas with different toppings and fillings.  The large ham croquetas there were also very nice, and the staff are friendly.    It’s a good place to try txakoli too, ice cold and refreshing.  Txakoli is a light, slightly sparkling white wine that is available for around €2.50 a glass at virtually every bar in Bilbao.  We don’t usually drink white wine, although we like cava, but the txakoli is easy to drink and lighter in alcohol.  Perfect for summer!  The pintxos tend to cost around €2.50 – €3.50 each.  There are several bars and restaurants in Plaza Nueva but Zaharra was our favourite.

Calle Ledesma was a great street for nightlife with lots of pintxos bars and restaurants.  The street was really buzzing on Saturday night and we felt it was more for the locals, whereas Plaza Nueva seemed full of tourists.  Bar Ledesma was the most popular, but we also liked Ekain and Nicolás.  When we returned to Calle Ledesma on Monday night it was totally different – much quieter and many places were closed.  Sunday and Monday are quite quiet in Bilbao so if you are planning a short break and night life is important, we would recommend avoiding these days if at all possible.

Our favourite place for breakfast was El Tilo de Mami Lou, a nice little cafe just over the bridge into the old town. We had a ham and cheese croissant and tostado with tomato and avocado and both were very tasty. Nice coffee too, and their cakes looked delicious. If we’d been there longer, I’m sure we’d have sampled them!

We read great things about Bascake saying that their cheesecake was amazing, so when we were looking for a coffee shop on our last morning and found it by accident, it felt like a sign!  However, although it was quite tasty, it was a bit too runny and sweet and in our opinion not a patch on the amazing Burnt Basque Cheesecake at La Vina in San Sebastian.

So, we had a wonderful time in Bilbao, another great city in northern Spain.