48 hours in Bilbao

WHY GO NOW?

Don't believe any of those fairy tales about the Spanish rain falling on the plain. Mainly, it falls right here – about 200 days a year of it – where the mountains meet the Atlantic. That's what keeps the Basque lands so green. July and August can be crowded, as elsewhere, but at least you won't need your umbrella (much). Another reason would be to see the brilliant laser-light constructions and video installations of Korean-American artist Nam June Paik, in a special exhibition at the Guggenheim until 23 September. But don't come on a Monday – the Guggenheim and just about everything else is closed.

BEAM DOWN

British Airways (0845 77 333 77; www.british airways.com) has two daily flights from Gatwick; Iberia (020-7830 0011; www.iberia.com ) goes once a day from Heathrow; and Go (0845 605 4321; www.go-fly.com) flies each afternoon from Stansted. Fares are around £120 return, or more during busier weekends. The city's Loiu Airport (formerly called Sondika) has a shiny new terminal, and an airport bus, which runs from it every half-hour from 6.45am to 10.45pm for only Ptas145 (£0.60). In the city centre, it stops at the Paseo del Arenal (1), and Plaza Moyua (2). A taxi from the airport costs about Ptas3,000-4,000 (£12-£18) to the centre of Bilbao.

GET YOUR BEARINGS

Paseo del Arenal (1), a shady plaza on the banks of the Nervion, is the best place to start, and the city has thoughtfully put its main Tourist Office there (weekdays 9am-2pm and 4pm-7.30pm, Saturdays 9am-2pm, and Sundays and holidays 10am-2pm). The streets to the south are Bilbao's refurbished old town, the Casco Viejo – only a half-kilometre square. The bridge at Paseo del Arenal takes you to Ensanche, the elegant new city begun in the booming 1870s, when industrial money rolled in. You'll find the banks and shops here, on a broad loop of the river cut into segments by radiating boulevards. The rest of Bilbao straggles up and down the river for 30km, squeezing into narrow spaces between the hills. Fortunately, everything you'll want is in the centre, because once you leave it, there's no better place in Spain for getting lost.

CHECK-IN

Bilbao is only just realising that it is a tourist destination, and much of its accommodation is still grim chain hotels for businessmen. But there are alternatives, mostly in the Casco Viejo. The most colourful is the blue-and-yellow Iturriena Ostatua (3) on Calle Santa Maria, (00 34 94 416 15 00), where beautiful rooms cost Ptas9,000 (£36) for a double. The cheaper places are in the same area, such as the Hostal Roquefer (4), Calle Loteria 2 (00 94 415 07 55) – ask for a balcony – Ptas 6,000 (£24) for a double. To see the city from a different angle, stay in Getxo, part-posh suburb, part-resort, and a quick hop from the centre by bus or on the new metro. The belle époque Hotel Igeretxe (Playa Areaga, 00 34 94 491 00 09) is on the beach, and offers salt-water therapy and algae baths; Ptas15,200 (£61) for a double.

TAKE A HIKE

Bilbao is intelligently building its future around its riverfront, and even if much of it is a work-in-progress, this is the best place to get a sense of what this city's ambitious transformation is all about. Start at the Guggenheim (5); the vast freight yards behind, where you can still see ship containers being sorted, are already being crowded by new development. Walking along the river, down Muelle de Uribitarte, the next modern icon is a delight: the Puente Zubi Zuri (6), a new gleaming white suspension bridge for pedestrians. At the next bridge, turn up Calle Buenos Aires for Plaza Circular, heart of the business district. Here begins the Gran Via de Don Diego Lopez de Haro, a swanky boulevard that is being pedestrianised. Shopping and other delights are never far – note the mosaics that cover the El Corte Ingles store (7). Halfway down, the Gran Via passes through Plaza Moyua, the central plaza of the Ensanche. At number two, the Hotel Carlton (8) was the seat of the first Basque government during the Republic and the Civil War.

TAKE A RIDE

Part of the Bilbao buzz is the new metro, with stations designed by Sir Norman Foster (entrances are fondly called fosteritos). There's only one line so far, and the end of the line is Plentzia, a fishing village and resort (a mile from the station). But the oddest ride you can take begins on Calle Esperanza. An unassuming shopfront marked Ascensor (9) leads to an elevator (Ptas40) that shoots 80m into the air. At the end, a walkway leads to the cliffs in Begoña. The view's great.

LUNCH ON THE RUN

Whether you have cooking facilities, or are just looking for ingredients for a picnic, you can find your every desire at one of Spain's biggest covered markets, the palatial Mercado de la Ribera (10), on the riverfront at the southern end of the Casco Viejo. One floor is for fruit and vegetables, one for meat, and one is devoted to a colourful array of seafood.

CULTURAL AFTERNOON

The city may be a child of the Industrial Revolution, and a bit short on fine old churches and monuments, but there is more to see in Bilbao than just El Goog. You can learn more about your enigmatic hosts – all the way back to the Iron Age – at the fascinating Basque Museum, the Museo Vasca (11), set in a quiet cloister on Calle Cruz open daily except Monday, 11am-5pm; Ptas400 (£1.60). In the Ensanche, next to the Doña Casilda Park, is the Museo de Bellas Artes (12), open Tuesday to Saturday, 10am-8pm, Sunday and holidays 10am-2pm; Ptas600 (£2.40). Here, the emphasis is on Basque artists, but you'll also find medieval Catalan art, Breughel and Van Dyck, El Greco, Zurbaran and Velazquez, and sweet surprises from Goya to Gauguin.

THE ICING ON THE CAKE

That would mean the Guggenheim (5), of course, the reason most people come to Bilbao in the first place – open every day except Monday, 10am-8pm; Ptas1,000 (£4). Frank Gehry's free-form, titanium-skinned building, more sculpture than architecture, is merely the talk of the planet. El Goog, as the Bilbaoans call it, doesn't have much of a permanent collection as yet, but it pulls in the crowds with special exhibitions. Currently on offer, besides the visual trips of Nam June Paik, are some 400 designs of Giorgio Armani. The museum also has a restaurant so good that you'll need a reservation (drop by when you enter), and a bar with some of the best pintxos in Bilbao.

A WALK IN THE PARK

Bilbao isn't a great city for parks, but you can have a picnic or a rest after El Goog at the gracious and popular Parque de Doña Casilda de Iturrizar (18), a short walk down the Alameda de Mazarredo. There is a light-and-colour "cybernetic fountain", and you can also mug up on ducks: they have a few dozen varieties in the pretty lagoon, with each one's story told on signboards.

BRACING BRUNCH

Fortunately, you are in the company of a people that likes to eat all day long. While you're visiting the Sunday market, stop in at Victor Torres (17) at Plaza Nueva 8, a beautifully decorated Bilbao institution since 1864. Good for an inexpensive lunch, or just fill up on pintxos (Basque tapas on bread) at the bar, surrounded by an imposing array of old whiskies and spirits.

SUNDAY MORNING GO TO CHURCH

After admiring the Gothic cathedral at Santiago, join half of Bilbao at the city's "living-room", Plaza Nueva (15) in the Casco Viejo. Besides its many restaurants and cafés, this is home to Bilbao's Sunday market – originally for books and stamps and suchlike, it now features everything from buckets to birds. The other half will be on the funicular train up to Monte Artxanda (16), which begins across the river from the Guggenheim on Calle Castaños (every 15 minutes, 8.15am-10pm). Up on top there is a park with restaurants and cafés, and all Bilbao spread at your feet.

DINNER WITH THE LOCALS

Should include seafood: few take it more seriously than the Basques. In the Casco Viejo, one of the best is the unpretentious and popular Amboto (14), at Calle Jardines 2; about Ptas4,000 (£16).

AN APERITIF

In a city hell-bent on reinventing itself, it's good to see how determined the Bilbaoans are that some things never change. Take your copa, along with a tapa or two or three at the wonderful Art Deco Café Boulevard (13), on Calle Arenal between the Paseo del Arenal and the Arriaga Theatre.

WINDOW SHOPPING

The department stores and the big-name shops are all in the Ensanche, on and around the main drag, the Gran Via. But everything that's new and trendy is rapidly colonising the narrow streets of the Casco Viejo, especially the Siete Calles area between the cathedral and the market. Here you will learn that in Spain, bright pastel colours from the depths of the Fifties are just the thing.

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