16 Best Sights in Bilbao and the Basque Country, Spain

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.

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]). 

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 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.

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.

The Basque Gothic architecture of this early-16th-century convent, church, and museum gives way to Renaissance and baroque ornamentation high on the main facade. The Museo Diocesano de Arte Sacro (Diocesan Museum of Sacred Art) occupies a carefully restored 16th-century cloister and turns into a bake sale come Christmastime. The inner patio, ancient and intimate, is alone worth the visit. On display are religious silverwork, liturgical garments, sculptures, and paintings dating back to the 12th century. The convent is across from the Atxuri station just upstream from the Puente de San Antón.

Honoring the patron saint of mariners, San Nicolás de Bari, the city's early waterfront church was built over an earlier hermitage and consecrated in 1756. With a striking baroque facade over the Arenal, originally a sandy beach, the church weathered significant damage at the hands of French and Carlist troops in the 19th century. Sculptures by Juan Pascual de Mena adorn the interior. Look for the oval plaque to the left of the door marking the high-water mark of the flood of 1983.

Just in from the harbor, in the shadow of Monte Urgull, is this baroque church with a stunning carved facade of an arrow-riddled St. Sebastián flanked by two towers. The interior is strikingly restful considering the bustling area. Note the sculptures The Harmony of Sound, by Maximilian Peizmann, to the right of the entrance, and By the Cross to the Light, by Eduardo Chillida, in the baptistery.

A jasper niche in the lateral facade of this Gothic church contains the Virgen Blanca (White Virgin), Vitoria's patron saint.

This 11th-century church is known as La Aguja (The Needle) for its pyramid-shaped 135-foot Romanesque-Gothic tower.

Note the equestrian statue of the saint Santiago Matamoros (aka St. James the Moorslayer) presiding over the main door of this church, which was reconstructed in the 16th century.

The architectural highlight of Haro, this single-nave Renaissance and late-Gothic church was completed in 1564. It has an intricately sculpted plateresque portal on the south side and a gilded baroque organ facade towering over the choir loft.

Distinguished for accumulating the deepest water of any building in the casco viejo during the disastrous 1983 flood, as can be witnessed by the water mark more than 14 feet above the floor in the back of the church (to the left as you come in), this simple baroque church was the first Jesuit building in Bilbao, built in 1604. Originally the home of the Colegio de San Andrés de la Compañía de Jesús (St. Andrew's School of the Order of Jesuits), the original school is now divided between the Museo Vasco and the church dedicated to both St. Johns—the Evangelist and the Baptist. The church's most important relic is the Relicario de la Vera Cruz (Relic of the True Cross), a silver-plated cross containing what is widely believed to be the largest existing fragment of the cross used at Calvary to execute Jesus in AD 33.