Bilbao is a full city day trip built around two very different halves: the Guggenheim Museum, Frank Gehry's titanium-clad building on the Nervión river that reshaped the city's economy after it opened in 1997, and the Casco Viejo, the old town's tight grid of seven streets (Siete Calles) with its own separate, older character. The contrast between the two is the actual appeal — glass-and-titanium contemporary art on one side of the river, arcaded 19th-century streets and pintxo bars on the other.
| Distance | 90 km from Logroño |
|---|---|
| Travel time | 1 hour by car; 1.5 hours by bus |
| Getting there | Alsa bus from Logroño Bus Station (Avda. de España 1) to Bilbao (~90 min, €8–€12/$9–$13, multiple daily). Car on AP-68. |
| Address | Avenida Abandoibarra 2, 48009 Bilbao, Basque Country, Spain |
How to get there
- Alsa bus (logroño to Bilbao, 6+ departures/day, book at alsa.com)
- Car on AP-68 motorway
- Train (indirect, via Miranda de Ebro)
Location
Avenida Abandoibarra 2, 48009 Bilbao, Basque Country, Spain
43.2687, -2.9340 View on map
Highlights
- Guggenheim Museum Bilbao — Gehry's building and its rotating contemporary art exhibitions
- Jeff Koons' 'Puppy' — the flower-covered terrier sculpture outside the museum's entrance
- Casco Viejo (Siete Calles) — Bilbao's original old town core, good for a pintxo crawl
- Mercado de la Ribera — a large riverside food market on the edge of the old town
- Catedral de Santiago — the Gothic cathedral that gives the city its name (Bilbao means roughly 'the beautiful ford' near the church of Santiago)