Things to Do in Bilbao, Spain: Walking Guide

Bilbao is a city of Gothic churches, industrial heritage, modern art and riverfront architecture in the Basque Country of northern Spain. The best things to do in Bilbao range from exploring the Seven Streets and historic churches to visiting the Guggenheim Museum and following the Nervión estuary. Neywo has a free audio guide for Bilbao with 39 narrated places.

What to see in Bilbao

Bilbao’s sights are spread between the Old Town, the central avenues and the riverfront. The following places show how the city’s religious, cultural and industrial history developed side by side.

Casco Viejo and the Seven Streets

Bilbao’s historic core is the Casco Viejo, or Old Town, where the Seven Streets form a network of traditional urban lanes. The area brings together churches, palaces, museums, cafés and cultural spaces, making it a natural starting point for exploring the city.

Plaza Nueva is one of the Old Town’s central meeting places. Nearby, Yohn Jauregia, also known as La Bolsa, is a historic palace now used as a cultural house. The Municipal Library of Bidebarrieta and Teatro Arriaga add further architectural and cultural landmarks to this part of Bilbao.

St. James’ Cathedral

St. James’ Cathedral, or Catedral de Santiago, is one of Bilbao’s most important religious landmarks. Its origins are thought to predate the city’s foundation in 1300, while most of the present building was constructed between the last quarter of the 14th century and the beginning of the 16th century.

The cathedral is mainly Gothic, with a cloister, a main vault, three naves, an ambulatory and sixteen chapels. Later work added a Neo-Gothic façade and bell tower. The Puerta del Angel provides access from Correo Street.

Euskal Museoa

Euskal Museoa, the Basque Museum, combines archaeology and ethnography to explore Basque life and history. It opened in 1921 as the Basque Archaeological, Ethnographic and Historical Museum and expanded through adjoining buildings.

The museum is organized around a cloister and courtyard. At its center stands the Idol of Mikeldi, a zoomorphic sandstone sculpture depicting a bull with a solar disc between its legs, probably dating from the 4th century BC.

Church of San Antón and San Antón Bridge

The Church of San Antón stands in the Old Town beside the estuary and appears on Bilbao’s coat of arms together with San Antón Bridge. Archaeological traces beneath the church relate to the old walls of Bilbao and remains from before the city’s foundation.

The present building began as a Gothic hall-style church and became more complex in the 16th century, when three chapels were added. Gothic features remain visible in its plan, vaults, columns and arches, while the façade is a significant Renaissance work.

Museo Diocesano de Arte Sacro

The Museo Diocesano de Arte Sacro occupies the former Convent of the Incarnation in the Atxuri district. The Dominican foundation dates from 1513, and the building later reopened as a museum in 1995.

Its collection focuses on the religious heritage of Vizcaya, with ecclesiastical art and objects from the 12th to the 20th century. Sculpture, painting, metalwork and liturgical garments are arranged thematically and chronologically. One notable work is Luis Paret’s Martirio de Santa Lucía, or The Martyrdom of Saint Lucy.

Reproductions Museum Bilbao

The Reproductions Museum Bilbao, known in Basque as Bilboko Berreginen Museoa, presents carefully made replicas of famous classical artworks. Created in 1927, it occupies three floors of the restored former Church of the Heart of Mary, a Neo-Gothic building transformed between 2001 and 2005.

The collection includes reproductions of the Panathenaic Frieze of the Parthenon, Michelangelo’s Slaves and Moses, the Venus de Milo, the Winged Victory of Samothrace, the Laocoön Group, the Apollo Belvedere and other works associated with major museums.

Church of the Sagrado Corazón

The Church of the Sagrado Corazón is a late-19th-century Neo-Gothic church connected with the Jesuits’ Residence of San Ignacio. Designed by José María de Basterra, it was consecrated on 8 September 1890.

Its reddish brick and stone façade includes a rose window. Inside, richly decorated walls and Byzantine-inspired vaulting create a markedly different atmosphere from the exterior.

Church of San Vicente de Abando

The Church of San Vicente de Abando was built between the 16th and 17th centuries on the site of an earlier Gothic church. It is considered one of the finest examples of columnar Renaissance architecture in the Basque Country.

The interior has three naves of equal height, supported by eight smooth Tuscan columns. Its ribbed, nine-keyed vaults were designed by Martín Ibáñez de Zalbidea, while the monumental Renaissance portal was created in 1556 by the workshop of Juan de la Peña.

Palacio Olabarri

Palacio Olabarri is a mansion in the Campo de Volantín area. Commissioned by José María Olabarri Massin as a family residence, it was designed by architect Julián de Zubizarreta in 1894.

The palace stands out for its combination of French and English influences, a distinctive architectural detail within Bilbao’s urban landscape.

Molinos Vascos

Molinos Vascos, or Grandes Molinos Vascos, is a former flour mill in Bilbao’s Zorroza district. The building became a protected cultural asset in 1999, with a higher protection level granted in 2009.

Its L-shaped reinforced-concrete structure includes grain-storage areas, factory floors, two towers and faceted semi-circular silos. The complex preserves an important part of Bilbao’s industrial history.

Itsasmuseum Bilbao

Itsasmuseum Bilbao connects the city with its maritime and industrial past. It stands on the grounds of the former Euskalduna shipyards and was inaugurated on 20 November 2003.

The indoor exhibitions examine the transformation of the estuary, regional trade and the development of maritime and industrial life. Outside, the museum preserves the original dry docks, a restored pump house and the crane known as “La Carola”. Its collection includes traditional vessels such as the wooden fishing boat Nuevo Antxustegi, built in 1958, as well as shipyard models.

Bilbao Fine Arts Museum

The Bilbao Fine Arts Museum covers art from the 13th century to the present. Its collection contains more than 10,000 objects divided into five sections: Ancient Art, Modern and Contemporary Art, Basque Art, Works on Paper and Applied Arts.

The Spanish school forms the backbone of the collection, with works by El Greco, Murillo, Goya and Zurbarán. The museum also includes modern Spanish artists such as María Blanchard, Tàpies and Barceló, together with Basque artists including Zuloaga, Oteiza and Chillida.

Guggenheim Museum Bilbao and Puppy

The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao is dedicated to modern and contemporary art and opened to the public on 18 October 1997. Its building, designed with curving forms covered in limestone, glass and titanium panels, occupies a prominent position along the Bilbao estuary.

The museum covers 24,000 square metres, including 19 galleries and 10,540 square metres reserved for exhibitions. Its architecture helped reshape Bilbao’s public image and remains one of the city’s defining sights.

Outside, Puppy is Jeff Koons’s oversized floral sculpture of a West Highland White Terrier. Created in 1992 and placed in front of the museum in October 1997, it has a steel structure covered with natural plants. Its flowers are replaced twice a year, so the sculpture changes appearance over time.

Basilica of Begoña

The Basilica of Begoña is dedicated to the Virgin of Begoña, the patroness saint of Biscay. Local tradition connects the basilica with sailors returning to Bilbao, who would greet its steeple and pray; the nearby area is known as La Salve, meaning “The Salutation”.

Construction of the present church began in 1511. Its architecture is predominantly Gothic, with a Renaissance-inspired entrance. A clock tower with 24 bells was added between 1902 and 1907.

Explore Bilbao with a self-guided audio tour

A Bilbao self-guided walking tour lets you explore the city without joining a group or following a fixed timetable. Neywo offers three walking tours, one bus route and one bike route, covering 39 narrated places in total.

The walks include:

• Casco Viejo: the Siete Calles and the cathedral — 1.49 km, 89 minutes and 12 stops.
• La Ribera market and San Antón — 0.94 km, 36 minutes and 5 stops.
• The Ultimate Bilbao: old town to the Guggenheim — 4.2 km, 155 minutes and 15 stops.

There is also Bilbobus 77: Gran Vía Palaces to the Old Town, a 3.1 km route of 13 minutes with 6 stops, and The Ría Ride: Itsasmuseum to the City Hall, a 2.5 km bike route of 12 minutes with 4 stops.

Download Neywo to explore Bilbao at your own pace. The app tells the story of each place as you reach it, with no group and no schedule. Narration is available in 11 languages, making it a practical [Bilbao audio guide] for discovering the Old Town, the estuary and the city’s museums and churches. Bilbao is also a useful base for exploring the wider Basque Country, including nearby San Sebastián and Vitoria-Gasteiz.