Bilbao was founded by charter in 1300 on a river bend, then rebuilt by iron money, besieged four times by Carlists, and bombed in 1937. Its museums, churches and hillside cemeteries hold the whole 700-year argument about who the Basques are.
Bilbao's Gothic cathedral, built 14th–15th century on a pilgrim route to Santiago, rebuilt after the 1571 fire. The Renaissance cloister and Puerta del Ángel survive. Open Tue–Sat 10:00–20:00, Sun 10:30–14:00; audio guide included.
Three floors covering Bizkaia from Palaeolithic cave dwellers through Roman coastal trade to the medieval Lordship. Housed in a 16th-century convent on Calzadas de Mallona. Open Tue–Sat 10:00–14:00 and 16:00–19:30.
The seven streets laid out after Diego López V de Haro's 1300 founding charter: Somera, Artekale, Tendería, Belosticalle, Carnicería Vieja, Barrenkale and Barrenkale Barrena. Somera was the first, walled until the 1400s.
The 15th-century church on the riverbank, built over the old fortress that guarded the river crossing. Its bell tower and the adjacent San Antón bridge appear on Bilbao's coat of arms. Gothic portal, Baroque tower added 1774.
Founded 1908 and merged with the Modern Art Museum in 1945, holding Basque painting from the 19th-century iron boom: Zuloaga, Regoyos, Iturrino, plus El Greco and Goya. Open Wed–Mon 10:00–20:00, closed Tuesdays.
The 1900 provincial government palace on Gran Vía, built in eclectic Beaux-Arts style by Luis Aladrén at the height of iron-ore wealth. Seat of Bizkaia's foral administration and a statement of Basque provincial autonomy under Restoration Spain.
Built on the Euskalduna shipyard slipways that closed in 1988 after violent strikes. Covers the Ría de Bilbao's wool and iron export trade, shipbuilding, and the dredging that made the river navigable. Outdoor dry docks included.
The world's first transporter bridge, opened 1893 by Alberto Palacio, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2006. Its gondola still ferries cars and passengers across the Nervión mouth every eight minutes, as it has for 130 years.
The 16th-century basilica of Bizkaia's patron saint, on the hill the Carlists shelled during the sieges of 1835, 1836 and 1874. Reach it by the 313 Mallona stone steps from Plaza Unamuno, the old pilgrim ascent.
Forty minutes by Euskotren from Atxuri. The Casa de Juntas holds the assembly hall where Bizkaia's foral parliament met under the oak; the town was bombed by the Condor Legion on 26 April 1937, market day.
Built on the bombing's ground zero, the museum reconstructs a Gernika house at the moment of the raid, then documents the Basque government-in-exile and Franco-era denial. Open Tue–Sat 10:00–19:00, Sun 10:00–14:00.
The left-bank district where Andalusian and Galician mine workers settled from the 1880s, packed into boarding houses beside the iron seams. Its Muelle de Marzana quay loaded ore for Welsh and English steelworks.