Berlitz Pocket Guide Bilbao (Travel Guide eBook)

By Berlitz

Berlitz Pocket Guide Bilbao

The world-renowned pocket travel guide by Berlitz, now with a free bilingual dictionary.

Part of our UEFA Euro 2020 guidebook series. If you're planning to visit Estadio de San Mamés in Bilbao to watch Euro 2020 matches, then this pocket guidebook provides all the information you need to make the most of your trip, from ready-made itineraries to help you explore the city when you're not at the game, to essential advice about getting around.    

Compact, concise and packed full of essential information about where to go and what to do, this is an ideal on-the-move guide for exploring Bilbao. From top tourist attractions like Plaza Nueva, Catedral de Santiago and the iconic Guggnheim, to cultural gems, including the cheerful Art Nouveau Bilbao Santander, a visit to the culturally rich Semana Grande festival and a stroll along the picturesque Arenal bridge, plan your perfect trip with this practical, all-in-one travel guide. 

Features of this travel guide to Bilbao:
- Inspirational itineraries: discover the best destinations, sights and excursions, highlighted with stunning photography
- Historical and cultural insights: delve into the city's rich history and culture, and learn all about its people, art and traditions
- Practical full-colour map: with every major sight and listing highlighted, the full-colour maps make on-the-ground navigation easy
- Key tips and essential information: from transport to tipping, we've got you covered
- Dictionary: quick-reference bilingual language guide to help you with vocabulary 
- Covers: Casco Viejo; Ensanche (Plaza Circular and Plaza Moyua); Around the Guggenheim; The Basque Coast; Gernika; San Sebastian; Vitoria; Rioja

Get the most out of your trip with: Berlitz Phrasebook and Dictionary Spanish

About Berlitz: Berlitz draws on years of travel and language expertise to bring you a wide range of travel and language products, including travel guides, maps, phrase books, language-learning courses, dictionaries and kids' language products.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Insight Guides
• Release date: Mar 1, 2020
• ISBN: 9781785732713

Berlitz

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How To Use This E-Book

Getting Around the e-Book

This Pocket Guide e-book is designed to give you inspiration and planning advice for your visit to Bilbao, and is also the perfect on-the-ground companion for your trip.

The guide begins with our selection of Top 10 Attractions, plus a Perfect Itinerary feature to help you plan unmissable experiences. The Introduction and History chapters paint a vivid cultural portrait of Bilbao, and the Where to Go chapter gives a complete guide to all the sights worth visiting. You will find ideas for activities in the What to Do section, while the Eating Out chapter describes the local cuisine and gives listings of the best restaurants. The Travel Tips offer practical information to help you plan your trip. Finally, there are carefully selected hotel listings.

In the Table of Contents and throughout this e-book you will see hyperlinked references. Just tap a hyperlink once to skip to the section you would like to read. Practical information and listings are also hyperlinked, so as long as you have an external connection to the internet, you can tap a link to go directly to the website for more information.

Maps

All key attractions and sights in Bilbao are numbered and cross-referenced to high-quality maps. Wherever you see the reference [map], tap once to go straight to the related map. You can also double-tap any map for a zoom view.

Images

You’ll find lots of beautiful high-resolution images that capture the essence of Bilbao. Simply double-tap an image to see it in full-screen.

About Berlitz Pocket Guides

The Berlitz story began in 1877 when Maximilian Berlitz devised his revolutionary method of language learning. More than 130 years later, Berlitz is a household name, famed not only for language schools but also as a provider of best-selling language and travel guides.

Our wide-ranging travel products – printed travel guides and phrase books, as well as apps and ebooks – offer all the information you need for a perfect trip, and are regularly updated by our team of expert local authors. Their practical emphasis means they are perfect for use on the ground. Wherever you’re going – whether it’s on a short break, the trip of a lifetime, a cruise or a business trip – we offer the ideal guide for your needs.

Our Berlitz Pocket Guides are the perfect choice if you need reliable, concise information in a handy format. We provide amazing value for money – these guides may be small, but they are packed with information. No wonder they have sold more than 45 million copies worldwide.

© 2020 Apa Digital (CH) AG and Apa Publications (UK) Ltd

Table of Contents

Bilbao’s Top 10 Attractions

Top Attraction #1

Top Attraction #2

Top Attraction #3

Top Attraction #4

Top Attraction #5

Top Attraction #6

Top Attraction #7

Top Attraction #8

Top Attraction #9

Top Attraction #10

A Perfect Day in Bilbao

Introduction

The Guggenheim Effect

Looking Down

Meet the Basques

Strangers welcome

Beyond Bilbao

A Brief History

Founding of Bilbao

Commercial development in the 15th to 18th centuries

Wars of the 19th century

Industralisation

The Haves and the Have Nots of Progress

20th century

The Transformation of Bilbao

History Landmarks

Where To Go

The Casco Viejo

Into the Casco Viejo: Plaza Nueva

Two Basque Museums

The Cathedral and the Library

The Market and the riverside

Bilbao La Vieja

Begoña and Beyond

The Ensanche

Around the Plaza Circular

Detours from the Gran Vía

The Gran Vía East

Around the Alhóndiga

The Gran Vía West

Abandoibarra

Museo Marítimo Ría de Bilbao

A walk through Contemporary Bilbao

Museo Guggenheim

On From the Guggenheim

The North Bank

City Hall

Up Artxanda

The University and Downstream

A lesson in Basque

Rivermouth/port and beaches/the seaside

Portugalete and Santurtzi

Bilbao’s beaches

The Basque Coast

San Juan de Gaztelugatxe

Guernika (Gernika)

Back to the coast

On the way to San Sebastián

San Sebastián

Casco Viejo

Monte Urgull

Playa de La Concha and Monte Igeldo

Rioja Alavesa

Vitoria-Gasteiz

What To Do

Shopping

Shopping areas

Department stores and shopping centres

What to buy

Markets

Entertainment

Opera, Classical Music, theatre and cinema

Live Music (Pop and rock and other genres)

Nightlife bars (for drinking not for eating) and nightclubs

Sports and activities plan

Cycling and other wheels

River cruising

Hiking

Watersports

Adventure Sports

Golf

Whale Watching

Spectator Sports

Bullfighting

Activities for children

Transport

Museums and other sights

Parks and other spaces to run around

Bilbao’s Seaside

Escape Rooms

Day trips

Fiestas

Calendar of Events

Eating Out

Eating hours

Where to eat

Menus

Fish and Seafood

Vegetarians and vegan cuisine

Cold Drinks

Hot Drinks

Reading the Menu

To Help You Order

Useful words

To read the menu

Restaurants

Casco Viejo

Ensanche

Abandoibarra

Santurtzi

Basque Coast

Gernika

San Sebastián

Vitoria

A–Z Travel Tips

Accommodation

Airports

Bicycle rental

Budgeting for Your Trip

Car Hire

Climate

Clothing

Crime and Safety

Driving

Electricity

Embassies and Consulates

Emergencies

Getting There

Guides and Tours

Health and Medical Care

Language

LGBTQ Travellers

Media

Money

Opening Times

Police

Post Offices

Public Holidays

Religion

Telephones

Time Zones

Tipping

Toilets

Tourist Information

Transport

Travellers with Disabilities

Visas and Entry Requirements

Websites and Internet Access

Recommended Hotels

Casco Viejo

Ensanche

Abandoibarra

North of the River

Basque Coast

Gernika

San Sebastian

Rioja

Vitoria

Dictionary

English–Spanish

Spanish–English

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Bilbao’s Top 10 Attractions

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Top Attraction #1

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Museo Guggenheim

The symbol of the regenerated city. For more information, click here.

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Top Attraction #2

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Puente Bizkaia

Take the high level walkway across the river. For more information, click here.

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Top Attraction #3

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Casco Viejo

A dense cluster of old streets around the cathedral. For more information, click here.

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Top Attraction #4

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Artxanda funicular

Take this quaint inclined railway up the hillside. For more information, click here.

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Top Attraction #5

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Azkuna Zentroa

Warehouse-turned-arts-and-entertainment-centre. For more information, click here.

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Top Attraction #6

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Pintxos bars

Tapas are taken to another gourmet level in the city’s innumerable bars. For more information, click here.

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Top Attraction #7

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San Juan de Gaztelugatxe

The most spectacular sight on the Basque Coast. For more information, click here.

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Top Attraction #8

Corrie Wingate/Apa Publications

San Sebastián

An elegant holiday resort built around a perfect crescent shaped beach. For more information, click here.

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Top Attraction #9

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Café Iruña

Drop into this classic Bilbao bar. For more information, click here.

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Top Attraction #10

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Museo de Bellas Artes

The city’s celebrated fine arts has a huge collection of art here. For more information, click here.

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A Perfect Day in Bilbao

8am

Breakfast with the best view

Many bars and cafés don’t open early and your best option for breakfast is in a hotel. If money is no object, have breakfast on the terrace of the Gran Hotel Domine, with its incomparable view of the Guggenheim. If you want something cheaper, go up to Alameda Mazarredo to Sua San at No 79.

10am

River cruising

Spend the morning actively getting a feel for Bilbao. The best way to do that is to make for the waterside, the ria. Visit the Maritime Museum and then take to the water itself either in a canoe, a self-drive motor boat or on a guided river tour. Alternatively, hire bikes or ebikes and cycle down one river bank, cross over and poodle back along the other.

2pm

Lunchtime

Whether you choose wheels or water, that should see you nicely to lunchtime – which you can put off until 2 or 3pm. Etxanobe Euskalduna has tremendous views and excellent food for high prices. If you want less fuss, you can eat just as well in the Ensanche where there are plenty of restaurants, notably El Globo, which will serve you pintxos or something more substantial.

4pm

Afternoon in the Old Quarter

Walk or catch a bus or metro to the Casco Viejo. Stroll along small streets, browse in interesting shops and take time in particular to visit the cathedral and the Basque Museum.

6pm

Merienda

Tea-time in Spain is called merienda: a late afternoon pause for coffee and a cake. Café Bizuete is a good place to stop for a respite.

7pm

Pintxos in the Plaza

When you have done enough walking and sightseeing retreat to Plaza Nueva for the pintxos you have earned. Ideally you’ll get there before the after-work crowds and find a seat or standing room in Víctor Montes. If that is full, almost any other bar will do – Gure Toki for instance or Café Bar (for more information, click here). Serious tapas-hoppers would do all three.

9:30pm

Dinner

Plaza Nueva is a good place to stay for dinner (which you will have reserved). If you want to shift location, Mandoya is not far away, and is good for either modern or traditional Basque cuisine.

11pm

Night out

At 11pm the night is only just beginning and it is time to seek out some entertainment. Bilbao has bars galore offering cocktails and live music. The Casco Viejo is one good place to be, or you could cross the bridge beside the church of San Anton to see if there is a band playing at Bilborock.

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Introduction

Few cities in the world have undergone a metamorphosis as dramatic as that of Bilbao. For centuries, this was an industrial city characterized by the grime, smog and residues of heavy industry; but when the shipbuilding yards and steel mills became uncompetitive and fell into decline at the end of the 20th century, the decision was taken to reinvent Bilbao as a city of services and art. A time traveller from even 30 years ago wouldn’t recognize the vibrant, cosmopolitan, cultural city of today.

The Guggenheim Effect

Emblematic of the transformation of Bilbao is one unmissable building, the Museo Guggenheim, which transformed a dockside wasteland into a cutting edge contemporary art space and major tourist attraction. The arrival of Frank Gehry’s extraordinary structure at the end of the last millennium triggered a string of visionary projects that have led to Bilbao becoming a showcase of international avant garde architecture. At the same time, old Bilbao was treated to a facelift. The atmospheric Casco Viejo underwent its own renaissance as buildings were cleaned and streets were pedestrianized; and museums were brought up to date. What characterises contemporary Bilbao is the exciting way that the ancient meets the cutting edge; the traditional mercantile interacts with the digital age. Nowhere is this seen to better effect than in the Alhondiga, a warehouse re-baptised as Azkuna Zentro, an arts, entertainment and sports centre where people of all ages like to hang out. All of this redevelopment stimulated – and continues to – an exciting, entrepreneurial human atmosphere which has resulted in Bilbao being a favourite place for creative types to set up shops, bars, restaurants and boutique hotels.

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Colourful apartments

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Looking Down

If you want an overview of the city, it is surprisingly easy to walk out of the busy streets with their high-rise modern architecture and discover open, green spaces with a view. The most convenient way to do this is to take the quaint funicular railway up to the summit of Mount Artxanda (300m).

Looking down from this point, the first thing you notice is that on three sides the urban area is hemmed in by low but steep-sided green hills, creating the effect of its tower blocks and other buildings being enclosed in a natural bowl. For this reason, Bilbainos affectionately refer to their city as El Botxo (the hole).

You also can’t help but notice that the city straggles down river as a conurbation that stretches for 10km to the sea at Santzurzi,