We took a 65 minute flight from Valencia to Bilbao since it seemed faster than the train. I made some mistakes re: carry on etc. because I am inexperienced with low-cost, short-hop European carriers. Lesson learned, many euros later, we and our bags arrived.

We found a taxi stand and a very short while..15 minutes?..later we were rounding a curve and got a glimpse of the sparkling, shiny, silver, swooping exterior of the Guggenheim. Wow! I as thrilled. It did not disappoint. Built in 1997, it was part of a multi-part strategy to reinvigorate the city…and it worked. I spent the rest of our stay, peering at it from multiple vantage points and taking more photos than I ever had.

We checked into our hotel, that was directly across the street from the museum. In fact, it is the hotel that is closest to the museum. It is the 5-star Artist Hotel. Now is the time to mention, I was directed to it by a Fodor Forum commenter, with gratitude to her, to Mikel, and everyone else who helped me plan. Our room was large. Despite a window, it tended to be dark. The bathroom was huge and included double sinks. Breakfast on the rooftop terrace ( indoor and outdoor seating) was as good as you’d expect. I included it in our booking.com reservation. there is a lovely gym I did not use after walking 16,000 steps a day, but no pool. The hotel is larger than boutique hotels but smaller than convention hotels.

I loved this hotel! But I noted the locations of other hotels and would be glad to share. The Artist was not expensive for its quality and location, but the others cost less. All of these are on the Abando side of the river, not Old Town. It was a 20 minute walk to Old Town or a10 minute taxi ride. Uber charges three times as much. I preferred this side.

i am sure we had dinner in the neighborhood but am not sure where. We ate casually ( no reservations) and returned to places repeatedly for sandwiches or salads. These included Mirano and BertiZ in Abando and Terra Kafe in the old town. There was plenty of Coke Zero, although I prefer Coke Light. There were a few gelato shops and many bakeries. I would return to each happily. there are also at least three supermarkets in the nearby streets which I recommend for sightseeing and souvenir buying…jamon chips, anyone? We don’t drink and don’t devour pintxos so your choices may vary.

The first full day we had signed up for a freetours.com walk. It, and the one we took subsequently, were great, particularly to seethe Teatro, RiberaMarket, Plaza Nuevo which really is quite old and not Nuevo, and the 7 Streets. both guides, Ander and Miguel, provided historic insights and practical tips.

We had reserved tickets to the Guggenheim and the interior really works for art. It is enormous. I liked the temporary exhibit, Frankenthaler, and the permanent exhibit, Serra. It was fabulous but I realize my husband and I like both modern/contemporary art as well as museums more than many.

There did not seem to be many Americans in town and we noticed no anti-American sentiment. It was Holy Week, which meant some shops were closed Thursday and Friday. This did not affect our visit, but better to avoid.

What else did we do? I know we went to the Museum of Fine Arts, which was fine. It required much less time than the Guggenheim and it was far less exciting for me.

We criss-crossed bridges and walked along both sides of the river, taking photos. I felt perfectly safe. Cyclists would have great baths there, too, and Citibike equivalents are available. One of the bridges we walked was the white one designed by Calatrava. It is rare to find a city without one. This one, with a glass walkway, is slippery in the rainy climate so was covered with black rubber matting! We had a good view of Calatrava’s work when in Valencia.

Amazingly, we had no daytime rain in Bilbao. We were exposed this trip, our third to Spain, with three languages, the Valencia, the Basque and Spanish. For me, Bilbao required at least two full days. We toyed with taking a day trip to San Sebastián, but didn’t. Cabs to/ from airport averaged 30 euros. I am sure there are ways to travel by public transportation, but we never used it, although we do at home all the time. We are both over 65 so there was at least one discount (Guggenheim). We don’t speak much Spanish. There were several moving parts to plan because I found no nonstop flights between NYC and either Valencia or Bilbao, our specific points of interest.

Paths for cyclists not baths…sorry for typo.

Thank you for your words on my hometown! But i´m surprised to see that you did not mention any of the Basque Fest activities or the colourful Holy Week processions, you did not see any of these?

I think we saw two processions…no Basque Fest activities.

Sounds like a great trip! Thanks for the report.

Hi, I have a couple of questions about your experiences in Bilbao. You said it didn't rain but I'm wondering what the temps were in April. And I see you came there from Valencia. We were just in Valencia in March - our 4th time there. How did the weather in the two places compare?

We were in Bilbao probably ten years ago and I agree it is a vibrant city and the food scene is great. Nowadays we have to pay attention to the topography. My husband has knee problems and has trouble walking distances; he particularly likes Valencia because it's flat. What about Bilbao? Any other thoughts about how the two cities compare?

Thanks!

Bilbao is the fourth most walkable city in Europe, so your husband should not have issues. The center is flat, although the city is surrounded by mountains. Public transport is excellent and very easy to use (and extremely cheap). Distances are short, you can cross Bilbao on foot in 40min. Weather is unreliable, much rainier than Valencia, and temperatures cooler, but mild.

Bilbao was ten degrees cooler than Valencia. It, too, was pretty flat and axis were available. The historic center of Bilbao seemed more compact than that of Valencia. The dialects differ a bit between the two cities. Prices seemed similar. I liked both but preferred Valencia.

You may have seen many signs written in Basque, not a dialect but a very ancient language, with practically nothing in common with any other language or dialect.

I have BIlbao in mind for next August to see the Solar eclipse. I've already started to look so it's nice to see you posting about what you saw and did. I too am coming g from the NYC area so know what you mean about getting there.

Bilbao was on our visit planned for May 2020, also Santiago de Compostela. Of course the trip didn’t happen, but hopefully we’ll get there in the next some years… I was particularly looking forward to visiting/seeing the Guggenheim.

Thank you, Mikel and Sassy. The Guggenheim is worth looking forward to and to enjoying. It is visually stunning. It is a much better showcase for art than the NYC Guggenheim, another striking building. I should note wall labels included English.