97 Best Sights in Bilbao and the Basque Country, Spain

Officially named the Centro-Museo Vasco de Arte Contemporáneo, this former bus station is regarded as the third corner of the Basque modern art triangle, along with the Bilbao Guggenheim and San Sebastián's Chillida–Leku. The museum's permanent collection—including 20th- and 21st-century paintings and sculptures by Jorge Oteiza, Eduardo Chillida, Agustín Ibarrola, and Nestor Basterretxea, among others—makes it one of Spain's finest treasuries of contemporary art.

Dating to the 14th century, this once-crumbling cathedral has been undergoing renovations for more than two decades—but it's open to visitors, which is its unique selling point. Guided tours begin in the bowels of the building, where the transition from Romanesque to Gothic styles is evident in the square pillars topped with cylindrical ones. The tour culminates in a visit to the bell tower followed by a hyperrealistic light show that gives visitors a sense of the cathedral's formerly colorful painted exterior through the ages. A prominent and active supporter of the project is British novelist Ken Follett, whose novel World Without End is about the construction of the cathedral. The renovation is slated to be completed once and for all within the next three years.  Call ahead to book an English-language group tour, or use the free audio guide on the standard tours, which depart every 30 minutes or so.

In Hernani, a 10-minute drive south of San Sebastián (close to both Martín Berasategui's restaurant in nearby Lasarte and the cider houses of the Astigarraga neighborhood, like Sidrería Petritegi), the Eduardo Chillida Sculpture Garden and Museum, in a 16th-century farmhouse, got a face-lift after years of neglect and finally reopened in 2019. It is a treat for anyone interested in contemporary art. The indoor-outdoor restaurant on the premises punches above its weight.

The Flysch is the crown jewel of the Basque Coast Geopark, a 13-km (8-mile) stretch of coastline distinguished by spectacular cliffs and rock formations. Taking its name from the German word for "slippery"—a reference to the slipping of tectonic plates that thrust the horizontal rock layers into vertical panels—the Flysch contains innumerable layers of sedimentary rock displaying some 20 million years of geological history. One such layer is black and devoid of fossils; it was identified by scientists as marking the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, which caused the extinction of the dinosaurs. 

San Sebastián's shell-shaped main beach is one of the most famous urban beaches in the world. Night and day, rain or shine, it's filled with locals and tourists alike, strolling and taking in the city's skyline and the uninhabited Isla de Santa Clara just offshore. Several hotels line its curved expanse including the grande dame Hotel de Londres y de Inglaterra. The beach has clean, pale sand and few rocks or seaweed, but only a bit of shade, near the promenade wall. Lounge chairs are available for rent. The calm surf makes it a favorite pick for families. Amenities: lifeguards; showers; toilets. Best for: sunrise; sunset; walking.

This renovated triple-decker ocean liner, with its prow facing down the estuary toward the open sea, houses one of the best markets of its kind in Europe—and one of the biggest, with some 400 retail stands that run the gamut from fish markets to pintxo bars to wine shops. This is a good place to stock up on culinary souvenirs while indulging in a pintxo or three.

On the western side of the bay, this promontory is a must-visit. You can walk, drive up, or take the funicular (around €4 round trip), with departures every 15 minutes. From the top, you get a bird's-eye view of San Sebastián's gardens, beaches, parks, wide tree-lined boulevards, and Belle Époque buildings. There's also a small amusement park. 

It's hard to overstate the importance of the Guggenheim museum, Frank Gehry’s architectural masterpiece of undulating titanium and chaotic, nature-inspired forms built on the riverfront. It all began when Guggenheim director Thomas Krens set out to find a venue for a major European museum and came up dry in Paris, Madrid, and other major cities. Having glumly accepted an invitation to Bilbao, Krens was out for a morning jog when he found what he was looking for—an empty riverside lot once occupied by shipyards and warehouses. He had a vision of a building that would symbolize Bilbao's macro-reconversion from steel to titanium, from heavy industry to art—and one that would be a nexus between the early-14th-century Casco Viejo and the 19th-century Ensanche, between the wealthy right bank and working-class left bank of the Nervión.

Frank Gehry's gleaming brainchild opened in 1997 and was hailed as "the greatest building of our time" by architect Philip Johnson and "a miracle" by Herbert Muschamp of the New York Times. At once suggestive of a silver-scaled fish and a mechanical heart, Gehry's sculpture in titanium, limestone, and glass echoes the Contemporary and Postmodern artworks it contains. The smoothly rounded jumble of surfaces and cylindrical shapes recalls Bilbao's shipbuilding and steel-manufacturing past, while transparent and reflective materials create a shimmering, futuristic luminosity. With the final section of La Salve Bridge over the Nervión folded into the structure, the Guggenheim is both a doorway to Bilbao and an urban forum: the atrium looks up into the center of town and across the river to the old quarter and the tranquil green hillsides of Artxanda, where livestock graze. Gehry achieved his goal of building a structure in which "you [could] feel your soul rise up."

The free audio guide offers an excellent synopsis of modern art, contemporary art, and the Guggenheim.

The collection, described by Krens as "a daring history of the art of the 20th century," consists of more than 250 works, most from the New York Guggenheim and the rest acquired by the Basque government. The second and third floors reprise the original Guggenheim collection of abstract expressionist, cubist, surrealist, and geometrical works. Legendary artists of the 20th century (including Kandinsky, Picasso, Ernst, Tàpies, Pollock, and Calder) are joined by more contemporary figures (Bruce Nauman, Txomin Badiola, Miquel Barceló, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and others). The ground floor is dedicated to large-format and installation work, some of which—like Richard Serra's Snake—was created specifically for the space. Claes Oldenburg's Knife Ship, Robert Morris's walk-in Labyrinth, and pieces by Joseph Beuys, Christian Boltanski, Richard Long, Jenny Holzer, and others round out the heavyweight division in one of the largest galleries in the world.

Expect lines on holidays and weekends, especially late morning through early afternoon. Cut the wait time by buying tickets ahead of time online or around closing time for the following day.

This town, southeast of Santo Domingo de la Calzada, has two jaw-dropping monasteries on the UNESCO World Heritage Sites list. There's Monasterio de Yuso, where a 10th-century manuscript on St. Augustine's Glosas Emilianenses contains handwritten notes in what is considered the earliest example of the Spanish language, the vernacular Latin dialect known as Roman Paladino. And then there's the Visigothic Monasterio de Suso ( www.monasteriodesanmillan.com), where Gonzalo de Berceo, recognized as the first Castilian poet, wrote and recited his 13th-century verse in the Castilian tongue, now the language of nearly 600 million people around the world.

Laguardia's architectural masterpiece is this church's Gothic polychrome portal—the only one of its kind in Spain. Protected by a posterior Renaissance facade, the door centers on a lovely, lifelike effigy of La Virgen de los Reyes (Virgin of the Kings), sculpted in the 14th century and painted in the 17th by Ribera. Guided tours are available by pre-booking only; email the Laguardia tourist office, and be sure to specify your language ( [email protected]). 

This extraordinary 19th-century transporter bridge suspended by cables ferries cars and passengers across the Nervión, uniting the bourgeois Arenas and working-class Portugalete districts.  Portugalete is a 15-minute walk from Santurce, where the quayside Hogar del Pescador Mandanga serves simple fish specialties like besugo and grilled sardines.

For a stroll through and under some 6,000 marine animals—ranging from tiger sharks to sea turtles, with one participative pool where kids are encouraged to touch and try to pick up fish—the aquarium is a great rainy-day activity. The illustrated history of Basque whaling and boatbuilding is also fascinating.

This Rafael Moneo–designed monolith of glass and stone, ingeniously contained within a Romanesque palace, is Pamplona's architectural pièce de résistance. With papers and parchments dating to the 9th century, the archive holds more than 75,000 linear feet of documents and has room for more than 55,500 feet more. The library and reading rooms are lined with cherrywood and crowned with a gilded ceiling, and there's a 12th-century crypt that you can visit for free.

Pamplona's most remarkable civic building is the ornate town hall on the Plaza Consistorial, with its rich ocher facade setting off brightly gilded balconies. The interior is a lavish wood-and-marble display of wealth, reinforcing Navarra's historic status as a rich kingdom in its own right. The present building was erected between 1753 and 1759. You can appreciate it from the outside, but the building is not open to visitors.

In the early 20th century, this was a municipal alhóndiga, or storage facility, used by Bilbao's Rioja wine barons. Now, the city-block-size, Philippe Starck–designed civic center has shops, cafés, restaurants, movie theaters, and nightlife venues. The complex regularly hosts film festivals and art exhibitions, and it's a cozy place to take refuge on a rainy afternoon.

Haro's century-old bodegas have been headquartered in the Barrio de la Estación (Train Station District) since the railroad opened in 1863 and together make a fantastic wine route, since they're within walking distance of one another. They were built around the train station for streamlined export to France, whose wine industry at the time had been devastated by the phylloxera plague. Guided tours and tastings, some in English, can be arranged at the facilities themselves or through the tourist office. 

Bilbao's most cherished religious sanctuary, dedicated to Bizkaia's patron saint, can be reached via 313 stairs from Plaza de Unamuno or by the gigantic elevator (Ascensor de Begoña) looming over Calle Esperanza 6. The Gothic nave was begun in 1519 and was completed in 1620 with the economic support of dozens of shipbuilders and merchants, whose businesses are commemorated on the inner walls. The high ground the basilica occupies was strategically important during the Carlist Wars of 1836 and 1873, and as a result La Begoña suffered significant damage that was not restored until the beginning of the 20th century.

The 1525 Palacio de Bendaña and adjoining bronze-plated building are home to one of Vitoria's main attractions, the Bibat, which combines the Museo Fournier de Naipes (Playing-Card Museum) with the Museo de Arqueología. The palacio houses the 15,000 playing-card sets of Don Heraclio Fournier, who founded a famous playing-card factory in 1868. One of the largest and finest such collections in the world, it features hand-painted cards from Japan, round cards from India, and other ancient specimens dating to the 12th century. The Museo de la Arqueología, in the newest building, has Paleolithic dolmens, Roman art and artifacts, medieval objects, and the famous Stele del Jinete (Stele of the Horseback Rider), an early Basque tombstone.

This historic library and intellectual club was originally called El Sitio (The Siege) in memory of Bilbao's successful resistance to the Carlist siege of 1876. (Carlists were supporters of Fernando VII's brother, Don Carlos, over his daughter Isabella II as rightful heir to the Spanish throne.) Now a municipal library, the Bidebarrieta has a music auditorium that is one of Bilbao's most beautiful venues and a spot to check for the infrequent performances held there. The reading rooms are open to the public and are a good place to read newspapers, make notes, or just enjoy the historical echoes of the place.

This family-run bodega is famed for its down-to-earth, approachable tours, which explore the 16th-century caves below Laguardia and are followed by a tasting of three fruity carbonic-maceration wines for €15.

This sleek, modern winery is an architectural wonder of glass and steel with floor-to-ceiling windows that overlook the vineyards and a state-of-the-art multilevel wine cellar. The two-hour morning tour ends around 2 pm—the perfect time to settle in for lunch at the upstairs restaurant. The tasting menu pairs the three-course menu with four signature wines for around €50 and is highly recommended.

This sprawling, prestigious bodega offers visits, tours, and tastings (pre-book online) as well as a wine bar and restaurant. The standard fee includes a tasting of three wines. Segway and hot-air-balloon tours with partner companies can also be arranged ahead of time. 

Laguardia's oldest civil structure, the 15th-century Casa de la Primicia is where tithes of fresh fruit were collected in medieval times. Visit the restored underground bodega, where tours culminate in a range of wine tastings, one of which samples four local varietals (Tempranillo, Graciano, Mazuelo, and Garnacha).

The fragile gabled Gothic arches of this 14th-century cloister make it one of the finest of its type in the country. Inside are the tombs of Carlos III and his wife, marked by an alabaster sculpture. The well-preserved kitchen is one of just three surviving Gothic kitchens of Spain. The Museo Catedralicio Diocesano (Diocesan Museum) houses religious art from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Call in advance for guided tours in English.

Bilbao's oldest church was a pilgrimage stop on the coastal route to Santiago de Compostela. Work began in 1379, but fire delayed completion until the early 16th century. The florid Gothic style with Isabelline elements features a nave in the form of a Greek cross, with ribbed vaulting resting on cylindrical columns. The notable outdoor arcade was used for public meetings of early governing bodies. In 2023, this cathedral garnered headlines as the first in Spain to hold a service apologizing to victims of pedophilia on behalf of the Catholic Church.

You can see the facade of this 19th-century cathedral from the river, across town. With the tallest church spire in the province, the Catedral del Buen Pastor was constructed in the neo-Gothic style. It's worth a glimpse inside for its beautiful stained-glass windows.

The oldest standing church in Logroño, San Bartolomé was built between the 13th and 14th centuries in a French Gothic style. Highlights include the 11th-century Mudejar tower and an elaborate 14th-century Gothic doorway. Some carvings on the stone facade depict scenes from the Bible. This is also a landmark on the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage path.

The doorway to this 12th-century church, across the Ega River from San Pedro, has fantastic relief sculptures of St. Michael the Archangel battling a dragon.

Take an evening paseo alongside locals through this central park with promenades and pools on the site of an ancient fortress.

Noted for its twin baroque towers, the present-day cathedral was rebuilt in the 16th century in a Gothic style atop ruins of a 12th-century Romanesque church.