Shopping in Bilbao

If you love shopping, then you’ll be spoilt for choice in Bilbao. Whether you prefer atmospheric surroundings and classy boutiques, the top high street names or a modern shopping centre with great restaurants, there’s something for everyone.

The main shopping street is Gran Via, which runs from Abando station across the city centre, through Plaza Moyua. There you can find all the big brands such as H&M, Zara, Stradivarius and Pull and Bear. Gran Via is also home to Bilbao’s main branch of El Corte Inglés, a huge department store which covers 10 floors and sells just about everything, from clothes to jewellery to lighting to textiles, as well as having its own supermarket on the top floor. If that’s not enough, the books, stationery, music and DVD department is just a few doors down on the other side of the road.

Casco Viejo is another great place to go for shopping, with a mixture of high street names (H&M, Zara) and independent boutiques, all in the historic and picturesque surroundings of Bilbao’s old quarter, with its labyrinth of medieval streets. It’s also a great place to stop for lunch, with literally dozens of cafés and bars.

If you want to get out of the city, take the metro to Portugalete and head to Ballonti, a brand-new shopping centre which only opened in April 2008. As well as several fashionable outlets for clothes, shoes and jewellery, an enormous Eroski supermarket and a pet shop, it is most notable for being home to one of only six Spanish branches of Primark, which we recommend as the best place to go for some amazing bargains on clothes. If you need a rest from carrying all your bags, there is a variety of cafes and restaurants on the first floor of the shopping centre, as well as a cinema and an indoor karting centre.

You could also visit Megapark in Barakaldo. It is an enormous retail park, covering 137 000m2, with an Ikea, Decathlon, El Corte Inglés, Toys ‘R’ Us, and many more. It also has an IMAX cinema and a gym, as well as several restaurants and bars. The nearest metro stop is Bagatza, a 15 minute walk away, or you can go by bus – Bizkaibus services A-3136 and A-3144 both run from Bilbao to within a 5 minute walk of the retail park.

Back in the city, one of the biggest shopping centres is Zubiarte, which is near the Guggenheim. It also has a cinema, and there are restaurants upstairs with a great view across the river. You could also wander over to Deusto, where there is another shopping centre, Bidarte.

The shopping centres are open from around 9am to 9pm (Ballonti stays open until 10pm, and its restaurants until 2am at weekends), but smaller shops tend to close for the siesta at about 2pm and don’t usually open again until at least 4.30pm, so places like Casco Viejo tend to be very quiet in the afternoons. In the evenings the shops usually stay open until about 8pm, sometimes later. Everything closes on a Sunday though, even the big shopping centres (though some of their restaurants may stay open).