What you should know
Bilbao, capital of the province of Bizkaia, is the centre of a metropolitan area of more than one million people. It is located on the banks of the Nervión river, which joins the Cantabrian sea 11 kilometres further downstream. The river has been protagonist of its industrial and economic development since the city´s foundation in 1300. Bilbao, together with the towns located on both sides of the river until it reaches the sea, form the Greater Bilbao area.

Bilbao is one of the main economic and cultural hubs in northern Spain, and has gained international recognition as an architectural point of reference. Certainly, the Guggenheim Museum has acted as its main calling card. But Bilbao has plenty of other interesting sites to offer, in and around the city. And its strategic location makes it an ideal port of entry to other parts of the northern Iberian peninsula, and to the southwest of France.