Restaurants
trendy and expensive:
• La Despensa del Etxanobe
• Abando
• Basuki
• Bilbao Berria
• Zapirain (fish)
more reasonable prices:
• La Viña del Ensanche
• Goizeko Izarra (meat)
• Amaren (meat)
• La Casita de Sabino (fish)
Tapas
La calle Diputación, la calle Heros and la calle Ledesma are areas with always a nice atmosphere to enjoy copas y tapas in one of the many good bars:
- La Viña del Ensanche and El Globo on calle Diputación
- The Corkscrew and Mr. Marvelous, on calle Heros
- El Puertito (oysters and wine) on la calle Ledesma
- Café Iruña
Also the Old Town area is nice to go for an aperitivo. All the arcades of the Plaza Nueva are full of bars with tapas. They are all fine, such as Victor Montes and La Olla.
Rio-oja on la calle del Perro is a good place, simple and cheap, to try the typical local cazuelitas (small casserole dishes) like squid (chipirones), cod (bacalao) in its different ways, snails (caracoles), tripe (callos), morros (cheeks) ……
Bars
For drinks only you may stroll down la calle Astarloa at La Mula de Moscú or Bar Antigua Cigarrería and la calle Lersundi, Singular or cocktail bar GIN FIZZ.
Hotels
All depends on the rates you are willing to pay. Recommended Five Star hotels include Domine and Meliá but you may also consider Carlton, Ercilla, Ercilla Lopez de Haro, Miro, and Abando. All these hotels are in the city centre of Bilbao, where there are no distances.
