Things to do in Bilbao

Bilbao is located in the Basque country (in the north of Spain), it has great wine and even better cuisine. If you are around here, don't miss the following:

Places

• The Guggenheim Museum: great architectural work by Frank Ghery; it's quite impressive and it just looks lovely by the river. If you live there, it's a really nice place to go jog. You can also sit at the coffeehouse nextdoor and admire the view.

• Bilbao Fine Arts Museum: I haven't been inside yet, but I intend to go one of this days. From the outside, it looks really nice. It's near a park (complete with water fountains, playground and an ice cream shop).

• Alhóndiga Bilbao: This is a reformed space turned into a sort of community space, it has library, gym, movie theater, workshops, coffeeshop, conference rooms, even 1 hour free wifi. The architecture is fantastic, the pool is in the top floor, you can actually see it from below when you walk in. If you are an architect or city planner, this is a MUST.

• The Calatrava bridge: you just have to walk down the Ria from the Guggenheim to see it, worth the walk ;)

Shopping

If you are looking for fashion, go to Gran Vía and Ercilla Kalea (you'll find the line marked in the map). If you're looking for cool-local-humor tshirts, go to Kukuxumusu.

Food

• If you are there on a Sunday, you must go to Casco Viejo (the Old Quarter) and eat "rabas" (fried squid), and have a glass of wine (the usual is called Rueda) or a glass of beer (they call it a "caña").  I recommend the Gran Café Bilbao, located in Plaza Nueva.

• Another thing to definitely try are the pintxos (called tapas elsewhere in Spain). The two places for designer pintxos I like are the Santa Maria:

And the Gure Toki (also located in the Plaza Nueva)

• If you haven't tried the Spanish Chocolate&Churros, go to either of the places marked on the map, the first one has better chocolate, the second one has better churros; either way, you'll enjoy.

• If you are into pastries, try the traditional "Carolina".

Here's the map:

View Bilbao in a larger map

The best dates to go are the last week of August, to catch the "Big Week" Festival (Aste Nagusia or Semana Grande), it's one week of parties, music, fireworks and fun all over the city. And the 21st of December, when they celebrate Santo Tomás and have a fair with local produce and traditional food and wine in the city center, and the Carnival Weekend (when locals wear a costume, there's a parade, a carnival and parties), which is the last weekend of February or the first one in March.