Tour through Guggenheim and the Doña Casilda Park (30 minutes)

If you will spend a weekend in Bilbao or you are just passing by and do not have much time for sightseeing, this tour will let you get to know Bilbao’s most modern side in half an hour. In it, we will traverse a portion of the Abando neighborhood on a Segway, a zone that incorporates most of the surprising new buildings that have reshaped the village: the Guggenheim Museum, the Iberdrola Tower, the Palace of the Music, the Isozaki Towers…

We will start the tour in our installations, located in the Ajuriaguerra Street, from which we will move to the famous Euskadi Square, located at the feet of the enormous skyscraper of 165 stories that governs the city’s skyline: the Iberdrola Tower. The square, of more than 6,000 square meters, is a key location for the urban architecture lovers, because it is surrounded not only by the enormous building, but also by several luxury home blocks of different styles (the Artklass Building and the Ferrater Homes) and by the important Museum of Fine Arts, a centenarian art gallery that contains more than 10,000 works of art.

We will continue our route entering the Doña Casilda Park, also called the Park of the Ducks because of its center pond, which is full of birds. In this place, an authentic green belt of Bilbao, we can see some of the more than 70 tree species that embellish its gardens—some of them of distant origins, such as the Argentine Ombu or the Asian camphor.

We will go across the green zone from one side to the other, ending up in the majestic Euskalduna Palace. This magnificent architectural work, which is home to some important social and cultural events all year long, was built in 1999 on the space where the old Euskalduna Shipyards used to be. Outside of it, we can enjoy urban works such as the Bosque Metálico de Árboles (Metallic Tree Forest) or the sculptures

Going around the palace and crossing under the Euskalduna Bridge, we will reach Ramón de la Sota’s Dock, where the Ría de Bilbao Maritime Museum is located. In this place, we can see the last remnants of the important shipyards that used to be there decades ago: the Casa de Bombas and the Grúa Carola, an enormous 30-ton naval crane built in 1957. In the same way, we can pas by its reconstructed dock and see the boats in exposition, including the famous Gabarra that led the historic celebration of the last Athletic Club League.

We will continue our route through the Evaristo Churruca Dock, which goes along the southern riverbank of the Estuary of Bilbao from the Palace of the Music to the Guggenheim Museum. In this section, we will cross under the Euskalduna Bridge and the Deusto Bridge and in front of the Pedro Arrupe Walkway—the structures that join the city center with the Deusto neighborhood. During the walk, we will see the famous University of Deusto, an impressive campus located in the middle of the city core, and modern constructions such as the Zubiarte Mall or the University of Deusto Library.

After reaching Bilbao’s Guggenheim Museum, the most important touristic point in the city, we will take some pictures on the Campa de los Ingleses dock, located in its back. To finish, we will go around to the front of the museum to visit Puppy, a flower statue more than 12 meters tall which was designed by the artist Jeff Koons to guard the museum’s main entrance. From this likeable mascot, we will return to our base, finishing our tour.