Attractions and Places To See around Gran Bilbao - Top 20

quiet day

Neoclassical square in the heart of Bilbao's Old Town (Casco Viejo). • The square was laid out in 1821 and completed in 1851. • It is surrounded by arcades and columns, beneath which are numerous pintxos bars and restaurants. • Plaza Nueva is a popular meeting place and considered the heart of the old town. • A flea market takes place in the square on Sundays.

The enormously beautiful theatre building with Renaissance elements is named after the musician and composer Juan Crisostomo de Arriaga, who in his time was also known as the Spanish Mozart. Arriaga wrote his first opera at the age of 13 and died of tuberculosis shortly before his 20th birthday. The Arriaga theatre was rebuilt in 1985 after the severe damage from a severe flood in August 1983.

Via the Zubizuri in Bilbao, also called Puente del Campo Volantin, you literally walk from the old to the new city. Together with the Guggenheim Museum, the bridge is the figurehead of the more modern, renovated Bilbao. The Zubizuri was built between 1994 and 1997. In Basque, its name means ‘White Bridge’. The Spanish architect Calatrava developed the modern metal construction with a glass floor, which later turned out to be not very practical. As a result, the city of Bilbao had to spend more than a quarter of a million to cover the bridge with carpet.

The Plaza Nueva is a beautiful neoclassical square that was built in 1821. This square is the lively heart of the Casco Viejo, the old district of Bilbao. Plaza Nueva is surrounded by buildings, where the lower floor consists of arches. Under these arches you will find numerous pintxos bars and restaurants. The square is therefore ideally suited to grab a terrace at the end of the afternoon and watch the Basque life while enjoying pintxos, the Basque form of tapas.

Plaza Nueva is now a landmark in the old town of Bilbao and has become one of the most important hubs of the city's social life. The colonnades of this neoclassical building complex alternate between bars, restaurants and cafés, which visitors should definitely visit to enjoy the lively atmosphere of the square. Every Sunday there is a street market for collectors with used books and records, minerals and fossils, coins and stamps, handicrafts and much more. And on December 21st, St. Thomas' Day, the square provides the backdrop for a remarkable agricultural market with countless typical products from all over the Basque Country. The square was inaugurated in 1851 after a long construction period of 65 years.

The Mercado de la Ribera, which entered the Guinness Book of Records in 1990 as the largest urban market in the world, is located in the now defunct Plaza Vieja in Bilbao. Located on the right bank of the Nervión, its central location makes it a vantage point for centuries of history. The famous Seven Streets of the Casco Viejo, which border the market, retain their lively medieval spirit. The nearby Estación de Atxuri train station and the bourgeois urban palaces on the opposite bank, on the other hand, are a reminder of the industrial growth that the city experienced in the 19th century. The writer Emiliano de Arriaga mentioned this square in one of his Costumbrist stories: "a well-stocked market that could please even the most demanding restaurateur". However, these words, referring to the old market, which was replaced by the current one in 1929, have not lost any of their value and reflect reality as never before. Traditional stalls offering a wide range of fish, meat, fruit and vegetables, mostly brought from nearby farms, compete with the ten gastrobars in a place where, thanks to a new initiative, people shop and eat to the rhythm of jazz every day.

The Arriaga Theatre is a theatre in Bilbao, capital of the province of Biscay, in the Basque Country (Spain). It is a neo-baroque building from the late 19th century, designed by the architect Joaquín de Rucoba and dedicated to the Bilbao composer Juan Crisóstomo de Arriaga, who was called the "Spanish Mozart". It was inaugurated on May 31, 1890. It is one of the most important theatres in Bilbao and also one of the most remarkable buildings in the city. It has suffered various blows of fate that forced it to be rebuilt and renovated, from the fire of 1914 to the floods of 1983.