Weekend in Bilbao with entrance to the Guggenheim Museum

Once you settle in your hotel in the center, take advantage of the time to take a walk around the city, its beautiful streets and bridges, which are located along the Bilbao Estuary. Immerse yourself in the life of Bilbao by trying their many "pintxos" in the Casco Viejo (the old part of the city). Plaza Unamuno is a good place to start. Among its cobbled streets, you will find restaurants and bars where you can enjoy pintxo and txikito (a small glass of wine). We recommend that you during your weekend you stop trying the pintxos as they are an integral part of the Basque culture plus the fact they are delicious, it is a very lively tradition. one we are sure you will enjoy

We start the day in the Casco Viejo or seven streets, the heart of the city. The first stop is the Mercado de la Ribera, a traditional market that entered the Guinness Book of Records in 1990 as the most complete municipal food market, be, the largest in Europe with no more and no less than 10,000 square meters and a multitude of product stalls you name it they sell it. When leaving the market, go through the San Antón gate and you will come across the most emblematic Gothic church in Bilbao, the Church of San Antón, beautiful inside and out and as it is next to the estuary it is the most photographed place of interest in Bilbao. It is so popular among the people of Bilbao that it is portrayed on the city's coat of arms. If you want to enter, the ticket is purchased in the same venue and you can also buy the ticket to the Cathedral of Santiago, our next stop. This Gothic cathedral was built between the 14th and 15th centuries, although its beautiful façade, later rebuilt, is neoclassical in style. With three naves, of which the main one is the tallest at 22.5 meters high, with beautiful stained glass windows, the celestial vault of the Sacristy and the cloister. At the end of the visit, head towards the estuary and, from there, you will quickly arrive at the Arriaga Theatre. A beautiful neo-baroque theater from the 19th century and built in honour of Juan Crisóstomo de Arriaga, a young musical prodigy from Bilbao who, when he died at the age of just 19, had already composed more than 20 works. This building stands out for its main façade and its decorative elements, which take the Paris Opera House as a reference. , it is a good time to continue the walk until you reach the Plaza Nueva, >a meeting place for Bilbao residents and, of course, a good place to eat and try some of the region's famous pintxos with their corresponding txakoli, the Basque wine par excellence. One of the most emblematic bars is the Café Bar Bilbao, with its characteristic blue entrance. Other recommended establishments are the Gure Toki, the Urdiña, and the Charly. After replenishing our energy, we continue our route along the Paseo Campo de Volantín, next to the estuary, to reach the Ayuntamiento de Bilbao, famous for its large square and its iron sculpture, work of the Basque sculptor Jorge Oteiza. This sculpture, eight meters high, six meters in diameter and weighing 16 tons, is called the Ovoid Variant. Although it is popularly known as the “half-side txapela” due to its shape, which resembles this Basque accessory, it is an empty geometric body made of corten steel, a material with which the hulls of ships that sailed the Bilbao estuary. If you want to have a drink or dinner on the other side of the estuary, cross the Town Hall Bridge and you will reach the area of restaurants and bars where you can have a pintxo or sit down to have a good steak or enjoy a cod cooked as only the Basques know how.