16 Best Shopping in Bilbao and the Basque Country, Spain

Donezar is a beloved confitería (candy shop) and cerería (chandlery) that rang in its 170th anniversary last year. Behind its weather-worn wooden countertops, the store stocks some of the finest artisanal jams in Spain as well as peanut guirlache (brittle), turrón (nougat), yemas (eggy bonbons), and sugar-dusted almond cookies (polvorones). The top-quality candles are made by hand and come in various sizes and neutral tones.  

This well-curated boutique run by young designers is the city's top spot to buy handmade jewelry and accessories, kitchenware, couture garments, and eye-catching stationery.

Embodying Bilbao's electric urban pulse, this Casco Viejo concept store sells ceramics, textiles, accessories, and other up-to-the-minute statement pieces designed by its three young owners. 

This century-old purveyor that supplies top restaurants in the area is a great place to stock up on premium conservas (preserved and canned foods) and sacks of mottled alubias de Álava (Álava pinto beans). Tinned vegetables are Victofer's forte with piquillo peppers and white asparagus tips being particularly exceptional. 

This is the best city-center shop for Basque-made artisan items such as patterned tablecloths and linens, goatskin jai alai balls, ceramics, and traditional dress.

Owned by a former Camino pilgrim, this small store stocks everything and anything a hiker embarking on the Camino de Santiago could need, from backpacks, boots, hiking socks, and walking sticks to smaller but equally necessary items like blister ointment, rain ponchos, and sporks.

Visit this milliner to buy a boina, or traditional felt hat. The Leclerq family has been hatting (and clothing) the local male population since 1838.

This bookstore is one of the city's best. There's a decent selection of English-language books as well as CDs, games, and stationery.

Try on handmade, one-of-a-kind jewelry at this tranquil boutique, whose Basque owner finds inspiration for her organic designs in nature. Prices range from approximately €40 to €300 per piece.

Come here to buy delicacies from across Navarra, including wines, sweets, cured meats, and cheeses, as well as a variety of bull-themed T-shirts and paraphernalia.

This chain is famous for colorful pop-art T-shirt prints with San Fermín and Basque themes. There's another outpost at Mercaderes 19.

Here you can buy La Cafetera toffee, a local café con leche–flavored sweet. The shop also sells Navarran wine and other delicacies.

This posh gourmet food and wine shop also hosts Basque cooking classes and popular food tours.

You can buy botas in most Navarrese towns, but Pamplona's Olentzero gift shop sells the best brand, Las Tres Cetas, written "ZZZ."

This highly regarded conservas company might be most famous for its anchovies, which are always plump and expertly packed, but you can also stock up on oil-packed bacalao and Idiazabal cheeses plus local wines and patxaran, a local digestif made with sloe berries.

Cy Schnabel, son of the American "plate painting" artist Julian Schnabel, is the curator of this buzzy new (est. 2020) gallery on Mount Igeldo that displays thought-provoking works by emerging artists, many of them local. Visits are by online booking only.