Basque Country
Bilbao
Two days covers the Guggenheim and the pintxos bars of the Casco Viejo, and pairing it with San Sebastián makes a tidy Basque break once you've come in from BIO.
Best length
2-3 nights
Airport
Bilbao (BIO), ~12km north
Airport to centre
Bizkaibus A3247 ~25 min, €3 to Moyua/Gran Via
Best base
Abando for first-timers; Casco Viejo for pintxo nights
In short
Bilbao at a glance
Bilbao is a tight 2-night break that punches above its size: the Guggenheim, a genuinely great old town for pintxos, a three-minute funicular to a viewpoint, and an easy bus or train link to San Sebastian. Stay in Abando or Casco Viejo, book the Guggenheim ahead in summer, and treat the city as half of a Basque pairing rather than a week on its own.
The short version
- Two nights covers the Guggenheim, Casco Viejo pintxos and the Artxanda funicular; add a third if you want a San Sebastian or coast day.
- Stay in Abando for the smoothest first trip, or Casco Viejo if you want to walk home from the pintxo bars.
- Book the Guggenheim (€15) ahead for summer weekends; the Fine Arts Museum next door is free on Wednesday evenings and all day Friday.
- Get in from BIO airport on the Bizkaibus A3247 for €3 to Moyua and Gran Via, not a €25-€35 taxi.
- San Sebastian is roughly an hour away by bus and the obvious day trip; the Vizcaya transporter bridge at Getxo is the local one.
Bilbao is the city the Guggenheim rebuilt, and the museum is still the reason most people fly in — Gehry’s titanium curves are as much the experience as the art, and the riverside sculptures around it cost nothing to see. But the better surprise is the Casco Viejo, the medieval old town across the water, where the proper meal is a pintxo crawl bar to bar around Plaza Nueva rather than a single booked restaurant. Two nights is enough to do both well: one day for the museum and the river, one evening for the old town, and a late-afternoon funicular up Artxanda for the view back down over the lot.
The planning calls that matter are small. Get in from the airport on the €3 Bizkaibus rather than a taxi, buy a €3 Barik card on arrival so the funicular and metro cost next to nothing, and book the Guggenheim ahead if you’re coming on a summer weekend. Bilbao sits on the wet Atlantic coast, not the dry Mediterranean, so a light raincoat earns its place in the bag in any month. Below, the structured planning — where to stay, the airport options, real costs in pounds, and how to slot in a San Sebastian day — picks up from here.
Keep a first trip focused: book the big timed sights, then leave room for neighbourhoods and food.
Top things to do in Bilbao
Guggenheim Museum Bilbao
The titanium exterior, the giant flower-covered Puppy and Bourgeois's spider Maman are all free to see from the public plaza and riverside — so the only question is whether to pay €15 (about £13) to go inside, where Richard Serra's vast steel maze in Gallery 104 and the soaring atrium are the things worth the ticket. Book a timed slot online before you travel; weekends, Easter week and summer sell out. Avoid Monday in the off-season (the museum is shut) and skip the packed free Tuesday 18:00–20:00 window unless you don't mind crowds.
Bilbao Fine Arts Museum
While the building works run through 2026 the Museo de Bellas Artes is free, because its main building is shut for the Foster + Partners 'Agravitas' expansion and the collection has moved to the 1970 pavilion off Plaza Chillida. You get a condensed run of the highlights — El Greco, Goya, a Francis Bacon, and the Basque rooms with Zuloaga, Oteiza and Chillida — for nothing, which makes it the easiest art win in the city. Enter from Plaza Chillida / Alameda del Conde Arteche, not the boarded-up Doña Casilda front, and allow about an hour for the reduced display.
Where to stay first
The areas that make a first visit easier — not an exhaustive directory.
Abando
££ mid-rangeThe central, well-kept choice across the river from the old town: wide boulevards, the Guggenheim within walking distance, and the Moyua/Gran Via bus stops where the airport coach drops you. The easiest first-timer base, if not the cheapest.
Best for: First-timers, couples, short stays
Casco Viejo
£ valueThe medieval old town and the heart of the pintxo scene. Stay here if you want to roll out of Plaza Nueva and walk home, and accept narrow streets and weekend-night noise as the trade-off. Best value of the central areas.
Best for: Food-led trips, nightlife, walkers
Indautxu
£ valueWhere locals actually live: Dona Casilda park, the Fine Arts Museum and good, unflashy pintxo bars without the old-town markup. Slightly less central but a short walk or metro hop, and better value for a few nights.
Best for: Repeat visitors, value, quieter evenings
Getxo / coast
££ mid-rangeThe seaside suburb at the mouth of the estuary, near the Vizcaya bridge and the beaches. Only worth it if you want sea air over city centre and do not mind a 25-30 minute metro ride each way.
Best for: Sea views, slower pace, families
Airport to city centre
| Option | Time | Cost | Book ahead? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bizkaibus A3247 to Moyua / Gran Via / Termibus | ~25 min | €3 single (cash or contactless) | Simplest and cheapest; runs every 20-30 min |
| Taxi to the centre | ~15-20 min | usually €25-€35 | Worth it late at night or with luggage |
| Bizkaibus A3927 direct to San Sebastian | ~1h15 | about €17 | Useful if Bilbao is a stopover, not your base |
When to go
Sweet spot: May, June, September and early October are the sweet spot: 16-23C, lighter rain and manageable crowds. Bilbao sits on the wet green Atlantic coast, not the dry Mediterranean, so pack a layer and a light raincoat whatever the month.
Mid-August brings Aste Nagusia, the nine-day Big Week festival, with huge crowds and hotel prices well above the rest of the year, so book months ahead or avoid it. Winter is quiet, cheap and often grey and wet; it suits the museums but not the riverside.
What it costs
UK return flights to Bilbao are often £30-£90 outside school holidays when booked ahead from London, Manchester or Bristol; the direct hop is about 1h45. August (Aste Nagusia and peak season) is the dearest month, January the cheapest.
Daily budget per person
Pintxos make Bilbao feel cheap if you graze and dear if you sit down for a full restaurant meal in the old town. Two or three bars at €2-€4 a plate plus a txakoli is the local way and the better value.
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