Will be ending our Rick Steve’s Basque tour in May in Bilbao. Due to flight changes will be there 2 days after tour ends. Want to stay in the area and did not want to rent a car. Any suggestions on what to do for the 2 days.
Posted by
Washington DC
27166 posts
I enjoyed walking around Bilbao a lot, but you may be able to cover a lot of in your half-day free during the tour. I assume the Fine Arts Museum is worthwhile, but it was closed at the time of my visit to the city in 2016. I'm interested in linguistics, so for me a trip to the Basque Language Center was a must; that would be an odd choice for a typical tourist, though. It's about the language; it's not an ethnographic museum (there is one of those in the Casco Viejo, but it is closed for remodeling).
Two worth-visiting coastal towns to the east are Bermeo and Lekeitio. I believe public-bus transportation is available. I haven't been to Lekeitio, but it's recommended in all the guidebooks I've read.
The Vizcaya Transporter Bridge between Portugalete and Las Arenas in Getxo would be a good destination for those interested in engineering and odd forms of transportation.
Vittoria-Gasteiz, the capital of the inland part of the Basque Country, has a lovely hilltop historic district that sees very few foreign tourists. There are outdoor escalators to take care of most of the uphill transport. There's a playing-card museum up there. Elsewhere in the city are two art museums. The public buses in Vittoria-Gasteiz use the same rechargeable Barik card (rechargeable smart card) as public transport in Bilbao, so if you end up getting a card in Bilbao, don't toss it. I believe there's a fee for the card, and some hotels accept leftovers from departing guests and give them to new guests (at least my little budget hotel did that back in 2016), so it's worth asking.
The Rioja wine district is south of Bilbao. This is a subject about which I know nothing, and I don't know that a daytrip would be practical without a car. I did enjoy a daytrip by bus to the very atmospheric hilltop village of Laguardia in that area, but I approached from a different direction.
Posted by
Bilbao
650 posts
I´d walk the city, it´s very agreable and its old quarter is really worth the visit, as well as the Ribera food market, the 1915 funicular train to Artxanda for the best views of the city (walk left on top) and Azkuna Zentroa, for a beautiful transformation of a former wine warehouse into a cultural center. The Gran Via and its classic buildings, the river promenade, the Fine Arts Museum and the Guggenheim are also a must.
And next day you may want to take the metro (very clean and very safe) to Getxo to Bizkaia Bridge (amazing and unique) and the walk towards the old fishing port of Algorta and the beach promenade. Easy to get there and a very nice and also easy walking, and plenty of restaurants in a non-touristy area.