Tourist Information
Basque Parliament
The main entrance to the parliament building is in Florida Park. This entrance leads to a hall where you can observe the light streaming through the windows, reflecting on the marble from the Duranguesado quarries, on the glass, on the white walls, and on the gilded aluminium.
Virgen Blanca Square
This square used to be the marketplace in medieval times and was renamed in 1901 in honour of the patron saint. It has been renovated recently to make it larger. In the centre, you can view the monument (by Gabrel Borrás) to the Battle of Vitoria against Napoleon's troops. For centuries this was - and still is - the main meeting place in the city.
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Santa María Cathedral
EA 13th-century Gothic temple. A visit to the restoration work is highly desirable. Santa María Cathedral, a World Heritage Site, stands on the ruins of a primitive church in the town of Gasteiz. It was used as a fortress to defend the city (which explains its walls, which are up to 20 metres high). The building has been altered many times over the years. Now, the restoration work can be visited and you can also walk along its medieval corridors, the parapet walk, and the suspended walkways.
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New Cathedral
The Cathedral of Mary Immaculate or the New Cathedral is the most significant Neo-Gothic building in Vitoria-Gasteiz. It stands opposite Florida Park. The initial construction project dates from 1907. The cathedral’s ambulatory houses the Diocesan Museum of Sacred Art of Alava.
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Florida Park
This is the most emblematic garden in the city and is located in the centre of Vitoria-Gasteiz. La Florida was planned as a great romantic botanical garden, in the style of 19th-century French gardens. It features hundred-year-old trees of 95 different species. There is also a pond, a grotto, a music kiosk, and bars.
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Provincial Council of Álava
Designed by the Vitorian architect, Martín Saracíbar, this building was erected in two phases between 1833 and 1858. It is a building made of ashlar stone. The main body is quadrangular. The building is quite sober except for the ornamentation on the pediments of the balconies. It is noted for its staircase and the atrium with large columns.
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Europa
The Europa Palace in Vitoria-Gasteiz is a spacious, modern, versatile, and comfortable building that, after its full renovation, has become an example of sustainable architecture. The centre can now accommodate more than 20 working groups at the same time and has a functional capacity four times greater than the original building (from 1,499 to 5,700 people).
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Green Route
The Green Belt of Vitoria-Gasteiz is the result of an ambitious environmental recovery plan affecting the periphery of the city, which basically seeks to recover the ecological and social value of this area by creating a continuous natural belt around the city based on several enclaves with a significant ecological and landscape value.
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Atxuri
The current building of the Bilbao-Atxuri station was erected in 1913 to replace the original station that dated from 1882, which was too small to cater for the constant increase in traffic on this line. It was designed by the architect Manuel Maria Smith in the neo-Basque style. In addition to being the departure point of the railway services to San Sebastian and Bermeo, it is the headquarters of Euskotren.
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Ribera
Ribera Market, like a ship in the old harbour, is loaded with stalls offering everything imaginable to make cuisine an art in Bilbao. A stroll under the arches of La Ribera reveals the pulse of the city: market and shops, cars and trams. The streets go by on one side... Artekale, Tendería, Belostikale, and the Arana Palace is on the corner.
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Arriaga
Inspired by the Paris Opera House, it was designed by the municipal architect Joaquin Rucoba and opened in 1890. In 1902, it was named Arriaga as a tribute to the local musician, Juan Crisóstomo Arriaga, known as the Hispanic Mozart for his talent (by the age of 13, he had composed his first opera and died of tuberculosis just before his 20th birthday). Today, the Arriaga offers theatre and music performances in the city.
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Pío Baroja
Pio Baroja Square is a small triangular area in the city of Bilbao where Uribitarte Street and Pio Baroja Street meet. It is noted for the former Bilbao Customs building, next to the Aznar building and opposite the city hall. The extension of the harbour and the transfer of the containers beyond the river freed up land for new iconic landmarks, such as the Guggenheim Museum, the Deusto University Library, the UPV-EHU Auditorium, or the Iberdrola Tower. The ancient docks are now landscaped areas around large buildings and are used for recreational and leisure purposes.
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Guggenheim
Distinguished as the most outstanding building in the 20th century, the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao has completely transformed the city, bringing it to the attention of the world and radically changing its image. Visitors can contemplate the different tones of light reflected off the titanium sheets throughout the day. The spectacular nature of the building contributes to an area in which the Nervión River is a key element with its pleasant riverside walk.
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Abandoibarra
The Museum of Fine Arts can be found close to Abandoibarra Station. This museum’s collection is the result of the merger of the collections of Bilbao’s first Museum of Fine Arts, founded in 1908, and Museum of Modern Art, which opened in 1924. The combined collection has continued to grow thanks to many acquisitions, private donations, and contributions of various institutions. Including paintings, sculptures, drawings, engravings, and decorative pieces, there are currently more than 6,000 works of art ranging from the 12th century to today.
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Euskalduna
The Euskalduna Conference Centre and Concert Hall was the second building erected in the urban area of Abandoibarra after the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao. It opened in 1999 and was designed in CRES by the architects Dolores Palacio and Federico Soriano to symbolise the last ship built in the ancient Euskalduna shipyards that used to occupy this site decades ago. Today, it offers a complete programme of concerts, opera, and theatre.
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San Mamés
This is considered one of the legendary football stadiums in the world and is known by its nickname: “The Cathedral”. It opened in 1913 on the same site where it still stands. One hundred years later, the ancient stadium has given way to the new San Mamés with capacity for 53,000 spectators and that has been designed following the strictest standards required for top-level stadiums by the UEFA.
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