Self-Guided Walking Tour of Bilbao, Spain (2025)
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Bilbao, the largest city in Spain's Basque Country, is a city of contrasts, where tradition and modernity coexist in a vibrant urban landscape. At its core, the Casco Viejo, or Old Town, offers narrow cobbled streets, lively squares, and centuries-old buildings that tell the story of Bilbao's rich past. Visitors can wander through historic landmarks, charming shops, and bustling markets such as the Mercado de la Ribera, immersing themselves in the rhythms of daily life while experiencing the city's authentic Basque character.
On the other hand, Bilbao is equally celebrated for its contemporary architecture and cultural institutions. The Guggenheim Museum, with its striking titanium curves, symbolizes the city's transformation from an industrial hub into a center of modern art and design. Walking along the riverbanks and across the bridges of the Nervión River, visitors can see how modern urban planning, green spaces, and public art have reshaped the city while maintaining connections to its industrial heritage.
Exploring Bilbao on foot offers an engaging blend of experiences. From the serenity of the Doña Casilda Park and the bustling plazas of the Old Town to innovative spaces such as the Zubizuri Bridge and the Isozaki Towers, every corner of the city reflects a dialogue between history and progress. Whether enjoying pintxos in a traditional tavern or marveling at avant-garde architecture, a walking tour of Bilbao captures the city's dynamic spirit, making it a cultural journey that is as diverse as it is memorable.
How to Get to Bilbao
By Plane: Bilbao is served by Bilbao Airport (BIO), located about 12 kilometers north of the city center in the town of Loiu. The airport handles numerous domestic and international flights, connecting Bilbao with major cities across Spain and Europe. From the airport, travelers can reach the city center quickly by taxi, bus, or the Metro, with journey times typically around 20–25 minutes, making it a convenient gateway for visitors planning to explore Bilbao on foot. For the best deals and a seamless booking experience, check out these flights to Bilbao on Booking.com.
By Train: Bilbao is served by trains from major cities such as Madrid, San Sebastián, and Burgos. The Abando Indalecio Prieto station is centrally located and just a short walk from the Old Town. Train schedules and bookings can be found on Omio.
By Car: Easily accessible via the AP-8 and A-8 highways, Bilbao offers central parking at Parking Arenal and Parking Plaza Nueva. If you are looking to rent a car in Spain I recommend having a look at Discover Cars, first, as they compare prices and review multiple car rental agencies for you.
Where to Stay in Bilbao
To make the most of visiting Bilbao and this walking tour, it is best to stay overnight in or near the city center. This allows easy access to the Casco Viejo, the Guggenheim Museum, and the scenic riverbanks, ensuring you can explore the city on foot while enjoying its lively atmosphere, historic streets, and vibrant culinary scene. Staying centrally also puts you close to public transport, shops, and cultural venues, making it convenient to discover all that Bilbao has to offer.
In the heart of the city, near the Guggenheim and Abando district, you could consider Hotel Meliá Bilbao or Gran Hotel Domine Bilbao, both offering luxurious accommodations and prime locations for sightseeing. For a more boutique experience, Sercotel Coliseo provides contemporary comfort close to shops, parks, and cultural attractions. Another excellent choice is Hotel Carlton Bilbao, a historic hotel near the main commercial streets and walking distance to the Old Town.
For those who prefer staying in the atmospheric Casco Viejo itself, options like Hotel Bilbao Plaza or Petit Palace Arana offer charming accommodations surrounded by the narrow streets, plazas, and vibrant pintxo bars that define the historic quarter. Choosing central or well-connected neighborhoods ensures that your walking tour of Bilbao is both immersive and convenient, allowing you to fully enjoy the city's architecture, culture, and lively atmosphere.
A Brief History of Bilbao
Bilbao, the largest city in Spain's Basque Country, was founded in 1300 by Diego López V de Haro, Lord of Biscay, at the confluence of the Nervión River and the Bay of Biscay. Its strategic location made it an important commercial and port city, fostering trade and shipbuilding. The historic heart of the city, known as the Seven Streets of the Old Quarter (Siete Calles), retains much of its medieval charm with narrow cobbled streets, picturesque plazas, and centuries-old architecture. Landmarks like the Catedral de Bilbao, built primarily in the 14th century, showcase Gothic design while reflecting the city's enduring religious and cultural traditions.
During the 19th and 20th centuries, Bilbao transformed into an industrial powerhouse, with the riverbanks lined by factories and warehouses. The Grand Ayuntamiento, Bilbao's City Hall, completed in 1892, and Plaza Nueva, built in 1821, are emblematic of this period of urban development, combining elegance with civic pride. The Mercado de la Ribera, constructed in 1929, became a central hub for commerce, highlighting Bilbao's long-standing role as a center of trade. Teatro Arriaga, inaugurated in 1890 and inspired by Parisian opera houses, reflects the city's growing cultural sophistication during the industrial era.
In recent decades, Bilbao has reinvented itself as a center for art, design, and tourism, spearheaded by the creation of the Guggenheim Museum in 1997. This striking contemporary building, located in the redeveloped Arts District, symbolizes the city's shift from heavy industry to culture and innovation. Modern attractions such as the Gran Vía and panoramic viewpoints allow visitors to appreciate both the historic and contemporary sides of the city. The River Nervión, once the lifeblood of Bilbao's industrial economy, now provides scenic walks and leisure spaces, completing the city's journey from medieval port to modern cultural destination.
Guided or Self-Guided Tour of Bilbao?
While Bilbao's compact layout makes it ideal for self-guided exploration, joining a guided tour can provide deeper insights into its rich history and culture. The Bilbao Historical Area Small Group Walking Tour offers an intimate experience, leading visitors through the city's most iconic locations. Participants will explore the Old Town, discover the La Ribera market, and uncover the secrets of this vibrant city. With knowledgeable guides and a small group setting, this tour ensures a personalised and enriching experience.
Your Walking Tour of Bilbao
This blog highlights Bilbao's key attractions, but depending on your interests and pace, you might choose to delve deeper into specific areas or indulge in the city's renowned culinary scene.
1. Guggenheim Museum and the Arts District
Where better to start a tour of Bilbao than looking at the imposing Guggenheim Museum, located at the heart of the Arts District. One of the most popular destinations on Bilbao, it is also one of the most convenient to access! It is located on the banks of the river, all shiny with its titanium and glass. The magnificent museum will take you all the way from the Middle Ages to the modern day.
The area also hosts Bilbao Museum of Fine Arts, The giant Puppy and the slightly scary giant spider like creature Mamon.
| Hours: 24 Hours | Price: Free | Website
Read more about Bilbao Art District
2. River Nervion
Walk along the river on the same side as the Museum. Until you come to the foot Bridge that looks like a sail.
This is the image called to mind by the Zubizuri (in the Basque language “zuri” translates to white and ‘zubi’ to bridge), and also known as the ‘Calatrava bridge’ in reference to the famous Spanish architect who designed it. This arching white structure connects the two banks of the estuary at the level of the Paseo de Uribitarte and the Campo Volantín.
Inaugurated in 1997, at the same time the Guggenheim Museum opened, both instantly became the symbol of the ‘new’ Bilbao.
Location: Zubizuri 48001 Bilbo Bizkaia Spain | Hours: 24 Hours | Price: Free
Read more about River Nervion & Zubizuri Bridge
3. Take a bird’s-eye view of Bilbao
We now head up the green hill just northeast of the city’s Castaños district. Cross over the Puente Zubizuri, make a left on Paseo Campo de Volantin and take the next right on C/ Múgica y Butrón. Plaza Funicular is two blocks straight ahead.
The train, which covers 770m in three minutes, runs every 15 minutes until 10 pm on weekdays and 11 pm on weekends. You can just as easily walk up the hill from the plaza, though that three-minute rail jaunt will be more like 20 minutes on foot.
Location: Funicular de Artxanda Ko Funikularra, Funikularreko Plaza, S/N, 48007 Bilbao, Vizcaya, Spain | Hours: Every 15min 7.15am-10pm Mon-Thu, to 11pm Fri & Sat, 8.15am-10pm Sun Jun-Sep, 7.15am-10pm Oct-May | Price: adult/child one-way €2/0.31 | Website
Read more about Artxanda´s Funicular
4. Grand ayuntamiento
After your ride up the mountain, head back to the riverbanks and carryon walking until you see the imposing grand ayuntamiento (town hall).
Established in 1892, this Baroque-style building occupies the site of a former convent. Architect Joaquín Rucoba designed this local institution which sits just steps away from the Nervión river and the Puente del Ayuntamiento. To visit the City Hall, make sure to schedule a tour in advance.
Location: Ayuntamiento de Bilbao - Bilboko Udaletxea, Ernesto Erkoreka Plaza, Bilbao, Spain
Read more about Bilbao Ayuntamiento
5. Plaza Nueva
Head back through the Areatzako parkea along the El Paseo del Arenal before heading towards the Plaza Nueva.
Location: Plaza Barria 6, Bilbao, 14 48005 Spain | Hours: Mon-Fri 7am-11pm, Sat 8.30am-10.30pm, Sun 8.30am-3pm
Read more about Plaza Nueva de Bilbao
6. Visit the Seven Streets of the Old Quarter
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. Since 1979, this area has been a pedestrian precinct, effectively becoming a shopping centre of 240,000 square metres, with hundreds of commercial establishments, bars and restaurants.
The 1983 floods were the greatest catastrophe to hit the city of Bilbao in living memory and devastated and destroyed the Old Quarter. Despite the devastation, the Casco Viejo or Old Town managed to re-emerge and become one of the leading tourist and commercial areas of the city.
Location: Casco Viejo Bilbao Biscay Spain
Read more about Bilbao Casco Viejo
7. Catedral de Bilbao
While in the Old Quarter, you might visit the Catedral de Santiago, Plaza Santiago, which was built in the 14th century and then restored in the 16th century after a fi re. The cathedral’s facade was rebuilt in the 19th century. It is open daily 11am to 1pm and 4 to 6:30pm.
Location: Bilboko Donejakue katedrala Done Jakue Plazatxoa, 1 48005 Bilbo Bizkaia Spain | Hours: Monday to Saturday from 10:00 AM to 6:30 PM and Sunday from 1:00 PM to 6:30 PM. | Price: €10 | Website
Read more about Catedral de Bilbao
8. Mercado de la Ribera
To the south of the Old Quarter on the riverbank lies the Art Nouveau Mercado de la Ribera.
Ribera Market, located beside the river estuary in Bilbao, is a reference in terms of shopping for the whole of Biscay. One of its many merits is to have been recognized in 1990 as the most complete municipal food market by the Guinness Book of Records, at that time being the largest in terms of traders and stalls and the biggest covered market as regards space in the whole of Europe, with a surface area of 10,000 square metres.
Refurbishment work began in 2009 aimed at renewing its structure, stalls and services in order to remain a reference for shoppers in the 21st century. Not in vain, life and business have never stopped in this space where more than 60 merchants manage to provide customers with the finest produce at the best price: meat, fruit, shellfish, cheeses, cooked meats, frozen food, mushrooms and fungi…
Location: Mercado De La Ribera 48005 Bilbao BI Spain | Hours: 8am-2.30pm Mon & Sat, 8am-2.30pm & 5-8pm Tue-Fri | Website
Read more about Mercado de la Ribera
9. Teatro Arriaga
Head back through the Old Quarter to Plaza del Arriaga and Teatro Arriaga.
The Arriaga Theatre is a very beautiful building. Inspired in the Paris Opera, it was the work of the municipal architect Joaquín Rucoba and was opened in 1890. In 1902 it was named in honour of the Bilbao musician Juan Crisóstomo Arriaga, known as the Spanish Mozart because of his talent (at 13 he composed his first opera and shortly before the age of 20 he died of tuberculosis). Today, the Arriaga continuously hosts the city’s programmes of music and theatre. Like other buildings in the Old Quarter of Bilbao, it was badly damaged in the floods of 1983.
Location: Arriaga Plaza, 1, 48005 Bilbao, Bizkaia, Basque Country, Spain | Website
Read more about Teatro Arriaga
10. Gran Vía
Cross the bridge and head back towards the Guggenheim.
Stroll through the most iconic lane in Bilbao and, as sunlight streams in through the trees and highlights the quaint and colourful buildings at the side, watch the how the olden day culture of the city has merged with modernity. Fancy shops, eateries, big banks and pharmacies accompany 19th century buildings at the Gran Via de Don Diego Lopez de Haro, a road filled with history as well as contemporary comforts.
Location: Federico Moyua enparantza Federico Moyúa Plaza, 5 48009 Bilbo Bizkaia Spain
Read more about Gran Vía
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