The medieval old town on the east bank of the Nervión, built around the Siete Calles — the original Seven Streets the whole city grew out of. Stone underfoot, balconies overhead, and the smell of txakoli and grilled bread leaking out of every doorway. This is where Bilbao keeps its appetite.
Daytime
(7)Mercado de la Ribera at the water's edge for the morning catch and the cured meats. The arcaded Plaza Nueva, busiest on Sundays when the market spills under the arches. Santiago Cathedral and the tight grid of the Siete Calles — Calle Somera, Artekale, Tendería — lined with shops that have outlasted everything.
Café Bar Bilbao
Opened in the early 20th century and lined with tiles that have watched the square change around them, Café Bar Bilbao is the comfortable, unpretentious anchor of Plaza Nueva. The counter runs long with a generous spread of traditional pintxos, and the tiled interior gives it a warmth that the more formal neighbours lack. This is where you start a txikiteo without thinking too hard about it.
Stamped$$
Order: The classic cold pintxos along the counter — tortilla, the anchovy-and-pepper gilda, and the croquetas. It's a point-and-eat bar, so survey the spread before you commit.Best: Late morning to midday for the easy aperitivo crowd, or Sunday during the Plaza Nueva market when the whole square is alive.
Gure Toki
Under the arches of Plaza Nueva, Gure Toki has spent generations turning out pintxos that win the city's competitions and then quietly keep selling them off the counter. The family behind it treats the small plate as a canvas — modern, technical, but never showy for its own sake. It is the bar that proved Bilbao could do creative pintxos without surrendering its appetite for the traditional.
Stamped$$
Order: Look for their award-winning creative pintxos at the far end of the counter — the duck and the slow-cooked egg preparations rotate but reliably impress. Pair with a glass of txakoli poured from a height.Best: Sunday late morning when the Plaza Nueva market is on and the square fills with locals doing the txikiteo. Otherwise early evening, around 7:30pm, before the after-work crowd packs the arcade.
Mercado de la Ribera
The grand covered market on the river's edge in the old town — one of the largest in Europe — rebuilt in the 1920s in a striking Art Deco style with stained glass and ship-like lines. Downstairs is the working market of fish, meat, and produce; upstairs a gastronomic floor turns the catch into pintxos and plates. It is both Bilbao's larder and one of its finest buildings.
Stamped$
Order: Browse the fish stalls downstairs in the morning, then eat upstairs on the gastronomic floor — pintxos and a glass of txakoli or wine with the river through the windows.Best: Morning for the working market at full tilt, or midday on the upper floor for lunch. Closed Sunday; quieter Monday.
Río-Oja
A no-frills old-town canteen that has been ladling out traditional Basque and Riojan stews from earthenware cazuelas for generations. The counter is lined with steaming clay pots — tripe, snails, squid in its ink, salt cod — and you order by pointing at what looks good. It is one of the most honest, unchanged eating rooms left in the Casco Viejo.
Stamped$$
Order: Point at the cazuelas — the callos (tripe), the caracoles (snails), and the chipirones en su tinta (squid in ink) are the classics. Cheap, rib-sticking, and authentic.Best: Lunch, when the full range of cazuelas is bubbling on the counter. It's a midday institution more than a dinner spot.
Bar Charly
A long-running bar on the arcaded Plaza Nueva that locals fold into the old-town crawl without a second thought. The pintxos lean traditional and generous, the beer is cold, and the crowd is the after-work neighbourhood rather than the postcard set. It's the kind of dependable corner that holds a square together.
Inked$$
Order: The classic counter pintxos — tortilla, croquetas, and the fried preparations. A caña (small draught beer) is the right pour for the pace of the square.Best: After-work hours on a weekday, or the weekend crawl when Plaza Nueva fills under the arches. Sunday morning brings the market crowd.
El Txoko Berria
On Calle Bidebarrieta, the handsome street that runs up from the Arenal into the heart of the Siete Calles, El Txoko Berria is the kind of neighbourhood bar bilbaínos defend with conviction. The counter is dense with carefully built pintxos, the staff move fast, and the clientele is local rather than touring. This is the old town eating the way it actually eats.
Inked$$
Order: The made-up hot pintxos behind the counter — ask what just came out of the kitchen. The mushroom and the cod preparations are reliably good.Best: Friday and Saturday evenings when Bidebarrieta and the surrounding Siete Calles hum with the txikiteo. Weekday lunch is quieter and easier.
Evening & Night
(7)The txikiteo begins after work, glass of txakoli in hand, moving bar to bar through Plaza Nueva and the Seven Streets. Pintxos under the arches, gilda and txakoli, no rush and no plan. The crowd thickens toward midnight and the noise stays warm rather than loud.
Víctor Montes
A Plaza Nueva institution with marble counters, dark wood, and bottles climbing the walls to the ceiling — the kind of room that has been serving the bourgeoisie of Bilbao for well over a century. The pintxos are classic and generously cut, the ham is serious, and the whole place carries an old-world formality rare in a pintxos bar. It is as much a piece of the square's furniture as the arches themselves.
Stamped$$$
Order: The cured Iberian ham carved behind the bar and the classic counter pintxos — the cheese and anchovy preparations are reliably excellent. A glass of rioja suits the room better than beer.Best: Midday for the aperitivo, when the light comes through the arches and the counter is at its fullest. It also runs a proper restaurant in the back if you want to sit down.
Baster
A craft-leaning bar near the edge of the old town where the beer list runs longer and more curious than the txakoli-and-caña norm. It draws people who want a properly chosen pint alongside their pintxo, in a relaxed room that bridges the traditional Casco Viejo and a more contemporary drinking scene. Easygoing and well-stocked.
Inked$$
Order: Whatever's interesting on the rotating craft taps — ask the bartender for a local Basque brew if one's pouring. A few pintxos to go with it.Best: Early-to-mid evening before the old-town crowds peak, when you can actually study the beer list.
Berton
On Calle Jardines in the thick of the Siete Calles, Berton is a serious modern pintxos house with a long counter and a kitchen that takes the format seriously. The hot, made-to-order pintxos are the draw, and the wine list runs deeper than most bars in the quarter. It sits a notch above the point-and-grab crowd without losing the standing-room energy.
Inked$$
Order: Ask for the hot pintxos cooked to order rather than only grabbing from the counter — the foie and the mushroom preparations are standouts. The wine selection rewards a glass of something local.Best: Evenings during the txikiteo, when Calle Jardines fills with people moving bar to bar. Earlier is calmer if you want the counter to yourself.
Gatz
A Casco Viejo bar-restaurant known for award-winning pintxos at the front and solid Basque home cooking in the dining room behind. Gatz bridges the standing crawl and the sit-down meal better than most, with a kitchen that's won the city's pintxo competitions and a menu that delivers the classics without fuss.
Inked$$
Order: Start with the award-winning pintxos at the bar, then sit for the grilled fish or a plate of croquetas. The mushroom and foie pintxos are the competition winners.Best: Pintxos at the bar in the early evening, or book a table for a sit-down dinner on Calle Santa María. Weekends are busy.
Irrintzi
A colourful, design-conscious pintxos bar on Calle Santa María that leans more creative than its old-town neighbours, with bright décor and a counter of inventive small plates. It pulls a younger crowd into the txikiteo and proves the Casco Viejo isn't only about tradition. Lively, modern, and a little louder than the classics.
Inked$$
Order: The creative warm pintxos rather than the standard cold counter — the vegetarian options here are unusually good for Bilbao, and worth asking after.Best: Evening, as part of the Calle Santa María crawl. It draws a younger, busier crowd as the night gets going.
Kasko
A relaxed, art-filled restaurant on Calle Santa María with a piano in the corner and a kitchen that does creative market cooking without straying too far from its Basque roots. Kasko has long been a favourite for an unhurried dinner in the old town, the kind of place that often has live music and an easy, convivial mood.
Inked$$$
Order: The market menu — the fish and the seasonal vegetable dishes are the strengths. Ask whether there's live piano on the night you visit.Best: Dinner, especially on nights with live music. Reserve on weekends. Quieter and more romantic than the surrounding pintxo bars.