Over Bilbao 13/06/08
Bilbao, the best option
Bilbao is the heart of a metropolis that has a population of over 1 million people. Since it was founded 700 years ago, it has been the main centre of economic and social development and a fundamental factor behind the modernisation of the area around the Bay of Biscay.
Historically, Bilbao has been a conferences city that has been the venue of many meetings of all sectors. The Euskalduna Conference Centre and Concert Hall has been the mainstay of the City of Bilbao’s conference activities since 1999. At the same time, Bilbao has a wide and diverse range of hotels, of which there are 29 in all, with over 5,500 beds and more than 3,000 rooms.
The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, one of the 20th Century’s architectural masterpieces, has helped Bilbao to become a point of interest in the international art world. The Bilbao Fine Arts Museum has Spain’s second most important collection of classic art behind the one in the Prado Museum in Madrid. The collection has more than 6,000 pieces which include paintings, sculptures, drawings, engravings and decorative art that cover the period from the 12th Century to the present day.
Bilbao is a hospitable city with a lifestyle that makes it welcoming to visitors. Its people are open and are renowned for their friendly ways, as can be seen while taking a walk around the city.
Bilbao has top quality shopping, its bars and restaurants are second-to-none and there is an intense nightlife that gets going once the many restaurants in the city have closed. There is a never-ending list of places to go for nightlife that cater for all kinds of tastes and pockets: bars, pubs, disco-bars, clubs and dance halls. Most of these places are in the centre and it is easy to get from one to the other on foot.
Bilbao has most of the Basque Country’s best restaurants and restaurateurs. They range from the more select ones which have “Michelin Stars”, to those which are more traditional such as the rustic carveries, the cider houses, the taverns, the open-air barbecues and the local “txakolis”, where grilled T-bone steaks are top of the menu.
