AccommodationBarcelona

A description of holidays and events in Bilbao, Spain.

Jan 1st, Año Nuevo (New Year’s Day)
Jan 6th, Dia de los tres Reyes (when Christmas presents are given)
Mar 19th, San Jose (Father’s Day)
Variable, Viernes Santo (Good Friday)
Variable, Dia de Pascua (Easter Sunday)
Mar 31st, Dia de Patria Vasco (Basque national day)
May 1st, Dia del Trabajo (Labour Day)
Jun 24th, San Juan (St.John’s Day)
Variable (mid June), Corpus Christi
Jun 25th,  In lieu of San Juan
Jun 29th, San Pedro y San Pablo (St.Peter & St.Paul)
Jul 25th, Santiago (St.James, patron saint of Spain)
Jul 31st, San Ignacio Day
Aug 15th, Asuncion (Assumption)
Aug 24th, Semana Grande
Oct 12th, Dia de la Hispanidad (Columbus Day)
Nov 1st, Todos los Santos (All Saints Day)
Dec 6th, Dia de la Constitucion (Constitution Day)
Dec 8th, Immaculada Concepcion (Immaculate Conception)
Dec 25th, Navidad (Christmas Day)
Dec 26th, Boxing Day

On St. Aguedas Day, February 4th, there is a historical festival, with a childrens choir who sings in the streets wearing traditional outfits. In mid February, for Carnaval, there are parades and festivals though out the city, which creates a party atmostphere over the entire center of city. Semana Santa, easter week in April, there are many events such as slow parades with drums, as well as reenactments of the final days of Christ. There are many events and activites through out the year in Bilbao, which celebrate theses holidays.  There are also many other events which include activities  such as music, cooking, paella contest, dancing, sports, puppet shows and bull fighting. The majority of holiday’s fall between the month of April and November. On public holidays, all shops, banks, and museums are closed. So if you are going to be in Bilbao during a public holiday, make sure you do not plan to go shopping on these days, because the majority of shops and restaurants will be closed. Many different districts have their own holidays which they celebrate. Majority of taxi’s will charge a small fee on holidays, and the metro will run less frequently.

Museums:

Where: c/ Conde Mirasol, Bilbao
Phone: +34 944 157 673
Here you can see the world most famous works of art in full-scale reproduction. If you are interested of Classical, Greek or Renaissance art, this is the place for you. What makes this museum special is that they have painting and model making classes. They also boast a videoteque, audio-visual room, workshop and photographic laboratory.
Basque Museum

Where: Plaza Miguel de Unamuno, 4, Bilbao
Phone: +34 944 155 423
Opening Times: Tuesday to Saturday: 11:00 to 17:00
Sundays: 11:00 to 14:00
Mondays & Public Holidays: Closed
Entrance: Adults: €3, Groups & Students: €1.50, Seniors & children under 10: Free Thursdays: Free
This museums gives a very detailed and extremely interesting overview of history, life, culture and traditions in the Basque country. It’s definitely worth a visit.
Bilbao Bullfighting Museum

Where: Vista Alegre Bullring
Phone: +34 944 448 698
Opening Times: Monday to Friday: 10:30 to 13:00 & 16:00 to 18:00 Saturdays, Sundays and Public Holidays: Closed
Entrance: €1.20
The museum contains an extensive array of Bullfighting memorabilia: costumes, capes, swords and even the stuffed heads of famous bulls. It also chronicles the history of Bullfighting in Spain.
Bilbao Fine Arts Museum

Where: Plaza del Museo 2, Bilbao
Phone: +34 944 396 141
Opening Times: Tuesday to Saturday: 10:00 to 20:00
Sunday & Public Holidays: 10:00 to 14:00
Closed: Mondays
Entrance: Adults: €4.50, Groups, Students & Seniors: €3 Wednesdays: Free
This museum is full is some superb art from different eras and varying places…well worth a visit.
Diocesan Museum of Sacred Art

Phone: +34 944 320 125
Opening Times: Tuesday to Saturday: 10:30 to 13:30 & 16:00 to 19:00
Sundays & Public Holidays: 10:30 to 13:30 & Closed on Mondays
Entrance: Adults: €2, Students, Seniors & Children under 18: €1, Groups: €6 Thursdays: Free
If you want to know more about the works related to religious art in Bizkaia, this is the right place for you! The building is the old Convento de la Encarnacion, which opened to the public as a museum in 1995. The collection contains: religious silverware, sculptures and the sacred vestments dating from the 16th to the 20th centuries.
Guggenheim Museum Bilbao

Where: Abandoibarra Et. 2, Bilbao
Phone: +34 944 359 080
Opening Times: Tuesday to Sunday: 10:00 to 20:00
Entrance: Adults: €7, Students & Seniors: €3.50, Children under 12: Free
This special museum is designed by the architect Frank O. Gehry and is one of the most famous designs in the world today, you may remember it from the opening scene of ‘James Bond: Tomorrow Never Dies’. It was built on a 32,500 square meter site in the center of Bilbao. This gives the museums a phenomenal eleven thousand square meters of exhibition space which is distributed in 19 galleries! So if you are an art lover you really have to visit this museum where you can study the most representative art and artists of our time.

Bilbao Airport is around 12 km from the city centre. You can connect to most of  Europe’s major airports, as well as with most continental and transcontinental airports.
Bilbao Airport
Airport Code: BIO
Address: Bilbao Airport, Spain, E-48180 Loiu/Vizcaya
Phone: +34 944 869 663/4

Transportation from the Airport

Car Hire:
Bilbao airport has four main car hire companies.
Avis – +34 944 869 649
Europcar – +34 944 869 780
Hertz – +34 944 869 897
National Atesa – +34 944 869 899
Taxis:
These can be found outside the main arrivals hall. A ride to the centre of Bilbao will set you back around €20.
Buses:
Buses going into the city centre start operating at around 06:15 am. They run every 30 minutes until midnight. The journey takes about 15 minutes and costs €1.15.

Public Transport in Bilbao

Metro

METRO BILBAO

starts operating at 06:00 am and stops at 11:00 pm. On Fridays, the service is extended until 2:00 am and luckily, for the more adventurous party goers, on Saturdays the Metro operates every 30 minutes all through the night.
Phone: +34 944 254 025
Website: http://www.metrobilbao.com
Email: info@metrobilbao.net

Trains

RENFE
Address: Plaza Circular 2 – 3j 48008 Bilbao
Destinations: Madrid, Barcelona, Levante, Galicia Andalucia Proximities: Llodio, Orduña, Margen Izquierda.
Phone: +34 944 238 623
Website: www.renfe.es
Email: clientebilbao@renfe.es

FEVE
Ferrocarriles de Vía Estrecha, also known as FEVE or Narrow Gauge Railways, operates and reopens some narrow gauge lines along the Spanish northern coast. One of the more picturesque trips is from: Bilbao to Santander and then onto Oviedo. Destinations: Santander, Oviedo, El Ferrol, Balmaceda
Address: Bailen 2 – 48003 Bilbao
Phone: +34 944 232 266
Website: www.feve.es

EUSKOTREN
Address: C/ Atxuri 6 48006 Bilbao
Destinations: San Sebastian, Durango, Bermeo, Sondika, Derio, Lezama
Phone: + 34 944 339 500
Website: www.euskotren.es

Buses

THE BILBAO BUS STATION
Address:Garellano (next to the Trade Fair & the San Mames Stadium)
Phone: +34 944 395 205

EUSKOTREN BUS
Address: C/ Atxuri 6 48006 Bilbao
Phone: + 34 944 339 500
Website: www.euskotren.es

BIZKAI BUS
Address: Iparragirre 21 48009 Bilbao
Website: www.bizkaia.net

Taxis

RADIO TAXI BILBAO
Address: Xalbador 1
Phone: +34 944 448 888
Website: http://www.galeon.com/radiotaxibilbao

RADIO TAXI GETXO
Phone: +34 944 915 353
Route: Solo Getxo

RADIO TAXI IRRATIA
Address: Viewpoint of Lamiako – Leioa
Phone: +34 944 800 909
Route: Berango, Sopelana, Urduliz, Leioa, Derio. Sondika, Zamudio, Lezama

RADIO TAXI NERVION
Phone: +34 944 269 026 / + 34 944 222 411
Route: Territory of Bizkaia
Alternative Forms of Transport

Funicular

FUNICULAR OF ARTXANDA
Phone: +34 944 454 966 or +34 944 454 958
Fax: +34 944 455 743
Normal Ticket: € 0.78
Reduced Ticket: € 0.34

TRANVIA DE BILBAO
Destination: Atxuri, Ribera, Arriaga, Abando, Pío Baroja, Uribitarte, Guggenheim, Abandoibarra, Euskalduna, Sabino Arana, San Mames and Basurtu
Phone: +34 902 543 210
Website: http://www.euskotren.es/euskotran
Normal Ticket: € 1
Whole day: € 3
Weekends: € 5

Bilbao is very big on its sport, especially football. Here football is more an obsession and is strongly liked to politics. If Athletic Bilbao, the main local team of Bilbao has a win over Madrid in the league, it carries meaning far beyond the pitch. They also place a lot of importance on traditional Basque sports, which mainly revolve around tests of strength, like wood chopping or stone lifting.

Here strong and stocky harrijasotzaileak lift weights that can exceed 300 kg. In order to see these sports you should attend village fiestas. A well known Basque sport is pelota or jai alai. This is played on a three sided court, with two teams of two hitting the ball with their hands against the walls looking to prevent the other team from returning it. They do have some variations of the game, like pelota a pala where they use bats and cesta punta, where they use a wickerwork glove that propels the ball at a very fast rate. Bullfighting is mainly big during the summer fiestas. Tickets to watch a bullfight are quite difficult to come by during the fiestas. The small towns do however have junior events during this time.

The terrain in Bilbao is more suitable for outdoor pursuits like cycling, horse trekking and walking. Cycling is very popular and when the professional circuit comes to town, the roads become full of enthusiastic cyclists that race each other through the rural landscape.

The nightlife in Bilbao has something to suit all ages and budgets. The town has many bars, restaurants, discotheques, clubs and cabarets, with a wide variety of different atmospheres. Most of them are located in the city centre, making it easy to walk from one to another.

Bilbao nightlife starts late, as in the rest of Spain. The night often begins with tapas and beers at some of the numerous bars along Calle Garcia Rivero and is followed up with dancing at the city’s top clubs. One of them is the Cotton Club, which is a must for jazz fans. It is decorated with about 30,000 beer caps and on Sundays people come here for some low-key grooving. Another one is High Club which is Bilbao’s gay venue.

At the restaurant Gaminiz, just outside of town, chef Aitor Elizegui plays with colors, textures, and ingredients to compose ornate menus featuring dishes like chicken spiked with licorice and onion ice cream with potato foam, caviar, seaweed tempura and pig’s skin. He is a true culinary innovator and some kind of a local hero.

Another popular chef is Josean Martiza Alija. He makes sublime—yet simple—dishes at the Guggenheim Museum’s Restaurant. Look for nouvelle Basque dishes such as lomo de bacalao (loin of cod in fig oil) followed by chilled liquid bitter chocolate with anise.

One of the best places to hang out in Bilbao is Moana Beach. There it is possible to have almost everything, breakfast, lunch and there is also a restaurant with low-calorie tropical dishes or international cuisine. This place is something very different compared to other places in Bilbao. At night, Moana Beach becomes a disco, with theme parties, performance art and fashion shows. Another very trendy and pleasant place to relax is A Votre Sante. It is a typical Baroque style café where you can drink your favorite coffee and be surrounded by stone, all sorts of antique furniture, and a really romantic atmosphere.

Bilbao has its roots in the sea and in the river mouths. This tiny port town first appeared on the map in 1300 AD.

In 1315 Bilbao was included along the path of the Camino de Santiago and this was a good opportunity for the town’s economy and it started growing steadily. It benefited from the arrival of pilgrims on their way to Santiago de Compostela and the new cultural input.

Bilbao has also seen a lot of fighting and war, and it still continues. There has been The French occupation, the War of Independence, the first and second Carlist Wars and finally the Spanish Civil war in 1936.

The industrialisation arrived in the 19th century. As a consequence the rivers were lacking life and the air became polluted. This led to Bilbao becoming known as a place to avoid.

Luckily Bilbao’s modern history includes the birth of many cultural societies. The city has produced authors like Unamuno, painters such as Zuloaga and musicians such as Juan Crisostomo Arriaga.

Projects are constantly going on in the city. The centerpiece is, of course, the Guggenheim Museum. But other projects are for example the Metro line system, new bridges, trams, towers, and luxury hotels. Today there is not much left of the depressing industrial wasteland that ruined its character for most of a century.