This guide covers seven places in Bilbao that line up along one walk beside the Nervión river: Doña Casilda Park and the Guggenheim on the modern bank, the Zubizuri footbridge, and then the Casco Viejo, the old town, with its opera house, arcaded square, archaeology museum and cathedral. Together they show both sides of the city: the 19th-century merchant town and the one that reinvented itself after 1997.
Doña Casilda Iturrizar Park
Bilbao's best-known park is named after Casilda Iturrizar (1818–1900), a philanthropist whose donations to the city made her one of its best-remembered citizens; the land for the park was her gift. Laid out from 1907 in the Ensanche, the 19th-century extension of the city, it covers about 8.5 hectares, and the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum stands inside it. Locals usually call it the Parque de los Patos, the Duck Park. It is the first stop of our Bilbao scavenger hunt.
- The pond with its ducks and other waterfowl, which gave the park its nickname.
- The large fountain ringed by a shaded pergola walkway, which puts on sound-and-light shows on holidays.
Guggenheim Museum Bilbao
Frank Gehry's museum of modern and contemporary art opened in October 1997 and changed how the world saw Bilbao: a struggling port and industrial city became a place people travel to, and urban planners still talk about the 'Bilbao effect'. The curving walls are clad in thin titanium sheets that change colour with the light and the weather, and one end of the building reaches under the La Salve road bridge. It is the second stop on the scavenger hunt route.
- Puppy, Jeff Koons's giant West Highland terrier covered in living flowers, on the square in front of the entrance.
- Maman, Louise Bourgeois's huge bronze spider, standing on the riverside walkway behind the museum.
Zubizuri
Zubizuri means 'white bridge' in Basque. Santiago Calatrava's footbridge over the Nervión opened in 1997, the same year as the Guggenheim, and its curved walkway hangs from a single tilted white arch. The deck was originally made of glass bricks, which proved slippery in Bilbao's frequent rain, so a non-slip covering was later laid over it. Zubizuri is one of the scavenger hunt stops.
- The tilted arch and the fan of steel cables that hold up the curved deck, and the view downriver to the Guggenheim.
Teatro Arriaga
At the edge of the old town, facing the river, the Arriaga Theatre opened on 31 May 1890 with Ponchielli's opera La Gioconda. Its architect was Joaquín de Rucoba, who also designed Bilbao City Hall, and its ornate front shows a strong French influence. The theatre is named after Juan Crisóstomo de Arriaga, a composer born in Bilbao in 1806 who died in Paris before he turned twenty and is often called 'the Spanish Mozart'.
On 26 August 1983, torrential rain flooded Bilbao and the water inside the theatre rose as high as the second floor. After long repairs it reopened in December 1986. Today it hosts opera, theatre and dance, and it is a stop on the scavenger hunt.
Plaza Nueva
Plaza Nueva is the old town's neoclassical square: a closed rectangle of matching arcaded buildings, designed in 1821 and inaugurated in 1851. Its main building housed the provincial government of Biscay until 1890 and is now the seat of Euskaltzaindia, the Royal Academy of the Basque Language. The arcades are lined with bars, and the square is one of the classic places in Bilbao to go out for pintxos. It is also on the scavenger hunt route.
- The arched passages leading into the square, which locals call 'cuevas', caves.
- The Sunday morning flea market, with old books, coins, stamps, birds and flowers.
Arkeologi Museoa (Archaeological Museum of Bizkaia)
Beside Plaza Unamuno, at the top of the old town, the Arkeologi Museoa opened in 2009 in the former station of the old railway from Bilbao to Lezama. Over two floors of permanent exhibition, more than 500 objects tell the story of Bizkaia from the Palaeolithic to the modern age. The museum itself is not a scavenger hunt stop, but Plaza Unamuno, right outside its door, is.
- Finds from the Santimamiñe cave, one of the most important prehistoric sites in the Basque Country.
- The Urbieta wreck, a 15th-century boat found in 1998 in the Gernika estuary, about 12 metres long.
- Finds from Barrika and Lemoa that are more than 75,000 years old.
Santiago Cathedral
Bilbao's cathedral, dedicated to St James, is a Gothic church built mostly in the 14th and 15th centuries, when Bilbao was a young trading town. It became a cathedral only in 1949, when the diocese of Bilbao was created, and its main front and spire are neo-Gothic additions from the late 19th century. The church lies on the northern coastal route of the Camino de Santiago, so you may meet pilgrims carrying the scallop shell. It is a stop on the scavenger hunt.
How to see them in one walk
Start in Doña Casilda Park and follow the riverside walkway to the Guggenheim, then on to the Zubizuri footbridge. Cross the river and walk upstream along the bank, past the City Hall (another scavenger hunt stop, finished in 1892 to a design by Joaquín de Rucoba, the architect of the Arriaga), to the Arriaga Theatre at the entrance to the Casco Viejo. From there it is a short walk to Plaza Nueva, then up to Plaza Unamuno and the Archaeological Museum, and back down through the narrow old streets to Santiago Cathedral. If you still have energy, the Ribera market and the church of San Antón, both by the river, make a natural finish.
See Bilbao with World City Trail
Our Bilbao scavenger hunt turns the city into a game you play on your phone. The route links 10 stops, from Doña Casilda Park to the church of San Antón, and six of the places in this guide are among them: Doña Casilda Park, the Guggenheim, Zubizuri, the Arriaga Theatre, Plaza Nueva and Santiago Cathedral.
If you prefer a different format, there is also a self-guided walking tour and an outdoor escape game in Bilbao.
Play the Bilbao scavenger hunt →
Take the self-guided walking tour of Bilbao →
Play the outdoor escape game in Bilbao →
Facts checked in October 2026.