Bilbao Scavenger Hunt and Self-Guided Tour

The route: Doña Casilda Park, the Guggenheim, Zubizuri, Plaza Nueva and San Antón

10 stops · about 52 min walking · start: Doña Casilda Iturrizar Park · finish: Church of San Antón

The hunt starts in Doña Casilda Iturrizar Park and follows the river to the Guggenheim Museum, then crosses the Zubizuri footbridge to the City Hall. From the Teatro Arriaga you enter the Old Town for Plaza Nueva, Plaza Miguel de Unamuno and the Cathedral of Santiago, continue to La Ribera Market and finish at the Church of San Antón beside the old bridge. Coming from the Old Town side, you can let the app open the game at Plaza Nueva or San Antón and reorder the rest, and because every riddle is solved in front of the buildings rather than inside, neither the Guggenheim nor any other stop needs an entry ticket for the game.

Open the route map ↗

1. 

   1Doña Casilda Iturrizar ParkStart

   This English-style park in the Ensanche district was laid out in the early 1900s and is named after Casilda de Iturrizar, a widow who left much of her fortune to charities in Bilbao. Locals call it the Park of the Ducks, after the birds on its large pond.

2. 

   2Guggenheim Museum Bilbao

   Frank Gehry's museum of modern and contemporary art opened in 1997, its curved forms clad in titanium, glass and limestone beside the Nervión river. Jeff Koons' Puppy, a giant dog covered in flowering plants, guards the entrance, and Louise Bourgeois' giant spider Maman stands by the water.

3. 

   3Zubizuri

   Santiago Calatrava designed this footbridge over the Nervión, opened in 1997, and its Basque name means white bridge. A tilted white arch holds the curved walkway with steel cables, and the original glass-brick deck proved so slippery in the rain that it was later covered with a non-slip mat.

4. 

   4Bilbao City Hall

   The city hall on the right bank of the Nervión was inaugurated in 1892 to designs by Joaquín Rucoba, who also built the Teatro Arriaga. Its eclectic, baroque-inspired façade looks onto the river, and in front of it stands a large abstract sculpture by the Basque artist Jorge Oteiza.

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5. 

   5Teatro Arriaga

   Bilbao's main theatre opened in 1890, designed by Joaquín Rucoba in a neo-baroque style inspired by the Paris Opera. It is named after Juan Crisóstomo de Arriaga, a composer born in Bilbao who died in 1826 aged only 19 and is often called the Spanish Mozart.

6. 

   6Plaza Nueva

   This enclosed neoclassical square in the Old Town, with 64 arches around its arcades, was completed in the mid-19th century after decades of building. Its arcades are lined with pintxo bars, and on Sunday mornings collectors gather here to trade stamps and coins.

7. 

   7Plaza Miguel de Unamuno

   This Old Town square honours the writer and philosopher Miguel de Unamuno, born in Bilbao in 1864, whose bust stands here. From the square the Mallona stairs climb towards the Basilica of Begoña, and the Basque Museum and the Archaeological Museum are right beside it.

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8. 

   8Cathedral of Santiago

   This Gothic church dedicated to St James was largely built in the 14th and 15th centuries and only became a cathedral in 1949, when the Diocese of Bilbao was created. Its neo-Gothic façade and tower were added in the late 19th century, and pilgrims on the northern Way of St James pass by.

9. 

   9La Ribera Market

   The Mercado de la Ribera stands on the bank of the Nervión, where Bilbao's market has been held for centuries. The current building, designed by Pedro Ispizua and opened in 1929, has art deco details and large stained-glass windows, and it is one of the largest covered markets in Europe.

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10. 

    10Church of San AntónFinish

    This Gothic church stands next to the San Antón bridge, at the old river crossing where medieval Bilbao grew up. The church and the bridge both appear on the city's coat of arms, together with two wolves.

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