The Incredible Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, an Unheralded and Wonderful Spanish City

By Max Hartshorne
GoNOMAD Editor

The Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain – you can’t prepare for how it hits you – this swirl of titanium shimmering in the sunlight, a building that seems to defy gravity, curves spinning in all directions.

Frank Gehry did something here. You get the sense that Bilbao had been waiting for this moment, for someone to come along and shake it up, say, Let’s do something wild.

He designed it on a napkin, and it looks like it… but that’s the fun of seeing it up close. It’s like the Cybertruck: you can’t stop looking at it.

Before the Guggenheim in 1997, Bilbao was a river city on the north coast of Spain that felt worn-out: heavy on industry, light on flash. Shipyards, factories, smoke – those were the images that used to define this place.

But then the European Union and a rich foundation teamed up to fund the Guggenheim Museum, and suddenly Bilbao was on the map, a must-see for anyone with an eye for design, or at least an interest in seeing how art can reshape a whole city.

Bilbao’s New Identity

Gehry didn’t just design a museum; he gave Bilbao its new identity. The local guide told me that the difference between before and after the “Big G” is remarkable, and it put both Bilbao and its very stylish neighbor, San Sebastian, on the tourist map big-time.

Inside, the museum is just as jaw-dropping. You feel dwarfed by the space – those sweeping forms are even more intense up close. It’s almost like the building is alive, and you’re moving through it like a visitor in a massive, moving sculpture.

The exhibits are heavy hitters: Richard Serra’s massive steel sculptures in what seems like a football field-sized gallery curve and twist in ways that mess with your sense of balance.

Jeff Koons’s giant flower-covered Puppy greets you outside like an oversized, blooming canine guardian. The art feels bold and experimental, like the building itself.

Still, I was more impressed with the building.

Bilbao’s Museum of Fine Arts

Bilbao has another museum that will open soon in a beautifully restored building, the Museum of Fine Arts.

This collection combines the old with the new in a historic building inside a city park.

A lot more low-key than the busy, bustling Guggenheim if you want to see more art while you’re visiting.

There’s a soul to this city that goes deeper than the Guggenheim, a mix of old-school Basque pride and new-school energy. After a few hours of wandering the galleries, I hit the streets to soak in the rest of what Bilbao has to offer.

New and Old Together

A long walk to the Old Town, Casco Viejo, is worth it. The Old Town is the heart of Bilbao. This is where you find those cobbled streets and tiny pintxos bars. Pintxos, the Basque version of tapas, is a whole experience involving centuries of tradition and Spanish tastes.

I ducked into a local spot, El Globo,  the kind of place where you stand at the counter, sip a glass of txakoli (the local white wine), and help yourself to a selection of small bites. The pintxos are piled high on the bar: anchovies, jamón, peppers, all arranged like little works of art. It’s casual, but it feels special – a way to get a taste of everything, all while chatting with locals who are more than happy to point you toward their favorite bites.

Although you can’t go wrong with any of these, my choice was in Plaza Nueva, for the usual assortment of flavors that blast off the counters!

There are so many places to discover in the narrow pedestrian-only streets of the Old Town.

Bilbao is full of these contrasts – cutting-edge modernism sitting right next to centuries-old traditions. A perfect example is the Azkuna Zentroa. It used to be a wine warehouse, but now it’s a massive cultural center with a cinema, a gym, and art exhibitions. The architecture is a little wild – brick columns that look ancient, but they’re all different styles. It’s playful and surprising, a place where Bilbao’s new creativity shines.

You can go swimming here, too, and the visitors look up at the bottom of the swimming pools on the second floor!

La Ribera Market

At La Ribera Market, another great stop, vendors still sell the freshest seafood and vegetables, keeping Bilbao’s food culture alive and thriving.

It’s old-school Bilbao, a reminder that even as the city moves forward it hasn’t forgotten its roots.

This is a city that’s reinvented itself without losing its soul. The Guggenheim may be the spark that lit the fire, but it’s the way Bilbao blends the old and the new, the industrial with the artistic, that makes it such a compelling place to visit.

You come for the museum, but you stay for everything else – because Bilbao isn’t just a city you see, it’s a city you feel.

Outside of Bilbao

We took a 30-minute ride through the mountains outside the city one morning to Galdames, where we discovered the stunning Museo De Coches Antiguos Y Clásicos Torre Loizaga.

This nondescript series of garage halls holds an impressive collection of antique and modern cars, including one huge building with only Rolls Royce cars. Wandering around the grounds you find a magnificent tower, hence the name, and a small, romantic inn where honeymooners can stay.

The car museum was a bit different and unexpected. The next stop was even more so, in the small town of Balmaseda, where we visited a former textile factory where they once made berets. The hats.

A trail through this part of Spain features industrial locations you can visit and learn how things used to be made.

Making Basque Berets

At La Encartada, you can see the whole process of how they began in 1892 making boinas, and Basque berets. It is a fascinating tour in English and it’s fun to watch the spinning looms and carding machines in the big factory.

A Peculiar Bridge

One thing we wanted to see before we left was an oddity…there are only eight of these bridges like this, that use a moveable car to transport people and vehicles across the river. It’s called the Vizcaya Transporter Bridge and it connects the towns of Portugalete and Las Arenas.

Riding up on top in the transporter car, the view of the river shows you where Bilbao’s industrial sites were relocated eight miles closer to the sea after the Guggenheim was built in the 1990s.

A Cheap Way to the Airport

When I came to the end of my visit and needed to get to the airport, I walked 200 feet to a bus stop and the fare to the airport was one euro!

Bilbao is encouraging its citizens to use the convenient fare cards, so they provide a massive discount, which comes out to be about 3 euros for a whole day of rides.