Bilbao Travel Forum

We will be going to Bilbao on the P&O mini cruise from Portsmouth on 15th August. (It's really just to see whether I have sea legs...) We will only have a Friday morning to spend in the area. Does anyone have any tips about the excursion that P&O offer to Bilbao, or if there is anything else of interest in the area that we can do in about 3 or 4 hours?

Hello Melanie

I have crossed several times to Bilbao - as part of our journey to Spain rather than as part of the mini cruise so I don't know what the excursion offered by P&O includes.
We made a separate trip by air to Bilbao, primarily to visit the Guggenheim which would be the obvious attraction to head for. Allowing for time spent between the ship and the town you will not have a lot of time so a dash round the galleries would use up a lot of it. However the building is well worth seeing from the outside and the approach bridge across the river gives some great views of it.

The Guggenheim is close to the old town of Bilbao which is a nice place to wander around, do some window, or real shopping, have a coffee and just absorb the atmosphere.

I do hope you find your sealegs - next time you could try Brittany Ferries mini-cruise, Plymouth to Santander!

Have a good trip

Hi Melanie,

Not familiar with the options in the tours, but here are a few of my favorite things in Bilbao:
- See the Santiago Cathedral. The Cathedral is beautiful, and the area around the Cathedral is great to walk around, have a bite to eat, etc. Right across the Cathedral there was a building with the most beautiful flowers!
- The Guggenheim of course, but considering the time you have I really would not spend time going in, just spend some time outside, because going in the museum would pretty much preclude most other activities.
- Take the funicular up the hill if you have time ... this is a little ways down the river from the museum.
- I personally love the train station - Bilbao Abando.

One last thought - Bilbao is in the western side of Basque Country. While you're going to Spain, there is a definite wonderful Basque feel to the city - sometimes subtle, sometimes not so subtle.

I hope your tour has some time to spend by yourself, as being able to walk around is wonderful. Stroll in a bar at lunch, have a glass of wine with some pintxos, and enjoy this wonderful place.

Nomad

Being honest you donīt have too much time, what I would do is go to the hanging bridge (www.puente-colgante.com) is very close from the quay, you can cross the bridge and walk along the sea in Las Arenas, itīs a very nice area, if you want to try some pintxos (small typical tapas from the region) I suggest you to go to a bar called Irrintzi (http://www.atapear.com/guia-de-bares-de-tapas/opiniones/getxo/irrintzi) If you do this you will not be in a rush, if yo go to Bilbao to see the Guggenheim youīll be quite stressed.
Las Arenas is a neighbourhood of Getxo a city of 80.000 inhabitants.
http://www.getxo.net/inicio/idioma.asp
You can have a look also in my tips.

I have now found details of the 3 excursions offered in Bilbao by P&O in one of their Brochures. It is not a current one but if the trips are still in the region of Ģ10 it might be a good idea to choose from one of

One excursion was a coach trip to Castro Urdiales - a nice little town on the coast, we stayed a couple of nights there some years ago.
However I see you have already seen some of the coast around Santillana so you might prefer to see something of the city as suggested a by Jontxu who knows the area well.
Or take the P&O Guggenheim option, or the third - a walking tour of the old town.
Whatever -enjoy!

Thanks for the great tips. Sounds like we will have to go back for a longer stay in order to see everything!