We park in Indautxu and pay more than that for a 24 hr. period. Mikelg or cova will know for sure, but I doubt if you can beat that 15 euro 24 hr. rate anywhere else in an underground car park that's convenient to the Casco Viejo.

From the bus station to the Petit Palace Arana you'd need to add the expensive of a taxi. The Abando train station would be closer, but I don't know how much they charge per 24 hrs.

Hi Cathy,
I don´t really drive when I am in Bilbao, using public transport, but the price doesn´t sound too bad. There is a public parking near my parent´s house, and when my sister parked there last summer I think that she paid more than 20 euro per day.
There are some free parking options near metro stops on Line 1 and Line 2, but the car can only stay there from 6:00 to 23:00 aprox (opening times of the metro), and if not, you would be charge as a normal parking. There is one near the BEC ( Trade Fair area ) and there are another two in the Line 1. Mikel will know the stops, probably, but they are too far away from the Casco Viejo.
Bye, Cova
for a day or more, and even more

Cathy, sorry for those strange words at the bottom of my post. I sound like Poe´s raven ...

Cova

It sounds like the 15 euro rate isn't bad.

I just don't think it's worth parking way out and taking a bus into town - it is vacation after all and valuable time!

cova- you're writing did remind me of a poem....I was wondering about it!

Thanks for the help.

Well, it really depends on when you´re going to be in Bilbao. If in August, you may park on the street for free in the afternoon (15:00 to 09:00 next day), and leave the car in the public parking opposite the hotel in the morning(check rates, in any case, on arrival). If in any other month, there´s no cheap option other than parking near San Ignacio metro station (meter free zone) and take a 10´ ride to the city centre.

Do you really need a car while in Bilbao?

If we were spending only 3 nights in Bilbao we wouldn't need a car.

The reason we'll have a car is we're actually picking it up the week before and visiting Olite, Vittoria and Logrono first. Then on to Bilbao. We planned on visiting Elorrio as a daytrip from Bilbao and stopping in Axpe at Etxebarri for lunch. After Bilbao we're heading to Getaria for 2 nights. On the way to Getaria we wanted to stop at the enchanted Forest of Oma. We visited there last year and were enchanted by it! During our stay in Getaria we also planned to visit one or two txakoli bodegas nearby. We're dropping the car off when we get to San Sebastian - I grabbed a renfe webfare of 20.1 euros from SS to Madrid so it doesn't warrant keeping the car.

Long winded answer but the only alternatives we could think of not keeping the car in Bilbao for the 3 day were: 1) droppiing the car off in Bibao when we arrived and re-renting after 3 days. This wasn't cost effective (cheaper to keep the car and pay for parking in Bilbao) and also meant dropping the lunch at Etxebarri. (We could have still visited Elorrio on the bus from Bilbao). OR 2) dropping the car in Bibao and not having it for the remainder of the trip. This would mean also dropping the enchanted forest (unless we wanted to bus to Gernika and possibly get a taxi?)and would have also been less convenient to get to Geteria from Bilbao and visited the txakoli bodegas.

So, long answer but that's why we decided to keep the car in Bibao for our 3 days. It sounds like the 15 euro rate offered by the hotel is as good as we're going to get without going a great deal out of our way.

There´s a very good parking (public) in front of the hotel, its rates may be cheaper than those offered by the hotel, you may want to check on arrival.

May I recommend Lekeitio as a must see on the day you visit Oma? And on your way to Logroño there´re several "must sees" towns, can´t miss Briones and its wine museum (Dinastia Vivanco) or Labastida (going to Jose Mari for roasted lamb this weekend, Maribel), Haro, Urizaharra, and of course, Laguardia. And while in Bilbao, the Hanging Bridge and Getxo.

mikelg-
Thanks for the advice. Perhaps we'll drop our bags off at the hotel and check out the public parking across the street first. If it doesn't look good we'll go to the area around San Ignacio metro station.

We actually spent 3 nights in Lekeitio last year and also in 2005 so we're using Getaria as our smaller village base on the Basque coast this year. We visited Briones and the wine museum last year in addition to Laguardia (also in 2005) - but who knows we may end up returning this year. The new wine-oil spa at the Villa de Laguardia is luring me to visit. Labistida is on my radar for this trip along with Elciego. The Asador Arino looks charming and I'd love to dine there. I visited the Marques de Riscal bodega in 2005 when it wasn't completed so I'm eager to see the finished project. Now's the best part of trip planning - the bodegas and restaurants!

I'm excited to be spending 3 nights in Bilbao this trip. I've only visited Bilbao twice before on 1/2 day trips and I know this only scratched the surface.

Thanks again, Cathy

Mikel, you are talking about the parking at the Arenal, right ?
I don´t know if the rates will be better. I asked my sister, and she paid more than 20 euros per day last summer at the public parking in Santutxu (and it is not the city center).
I have tried to find the prices, but the Bilbao website is really difficult, and I won´t be in Bilbao until the end of the month.

Bye, Cova

Yes, it´s the parking at the Arenal. Same for me, I´ve been unable to find any indication on prices.

Cathy, don´t miss this time the Puente Colgante at Getxo, it`s easy to get there from Bilbao (15´ by car), and if you have time, go to Plentzia, for a ignored by foreign tourists but beautiful seaside town, just 20 kms from Bilbao.

In Bilbao I heartily recommend Restaurante Mina, across the river on the Old Town, for a memorable dining experience.

Hi all,

I was going to recommend Bitoque to CathyM for a gourmet pintxos experience, but when we went on Sunday it was closed (checked the web page beforehand, which indicated it opens on Sun. until 3:30 pm)
The shades were drawn with no note about a July closing and the front window had been broken. We emailed them later, but no response.

Do you all know if it's still in business? Web page indicates so...

So we went to the Casco Viejo and hit Bar Gatz and our other usual haunts instead since El Globo and La Viña del Ensanche were both closed.

It´s open, I´ll have to check but it won´t probably open until fiestas of Bilbao. It´s the most "in vogue" pintxos bar in Bilbao right now.

Thank you all for your responses.

I didn't expect to get hardly any answers on the parking questions but now I even have bonus suggestions on restaurants and not to miss sites

I will try to check out all the tapas places you've mentioned - already started the diet so I can gain all the weight back in Spain!