Bilbao is the largest city in the Basque Country, Spain, with about 347,000 people in the city and around 865,000 in the wider Greater Bilbao area. Founded in 1300 on the Nervión estuary, it grew from a medieval port into one of Spain’s major industrial and shipbuilding centres before its late-20th-century reinvention as a design, culture and tourism city. Today Bilbao is best known for the Guggenheim Museum, the regenerated riverside, Basque food culture and the compact Old Town, Casco Viejo, whose “Seven Streets” form the oldest part of the city. Key sights include the Guggenheim, the Fine Arts Museum, the Arriaga Theatre, Santiago Cathedral, Plaza Nueva, La Ribera Market, Azkuna Zentroa and viewpoints from the Artxanda funicular. Getting in and around is straightforward via Bilbao Airport, Abando railway station, Metro Bilbao, trams, buses and walkable central districts.

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