There are cities that tell their story through their museums. Bilbao prefers to tell its story through its bars.

Here, gastronomy isn’t just one aspect of the journey: it’s the language in which the city converses. Basque cuisine, produce from the Cantabrian Sea and that daily ritual of the pintxo – which you don’t order but choose with your eyes – are all part of the daily pulse of its streets. And the best way to learn that language is to stay where it’s spoken: in the city centre, at the bar.

Starting from Tayko Bilbao, right in the heart of the Old Town, this guide can be explored entirely on foot. It’s our selection – from someone who lives here and knows exactly when to arrive at each place.

A pintxo tour of the Old Town: the Seven Streets

The gastronomic heart of Bilbao beats in the Casco Viejo, known as ‘Zazpi Kaleak’ in Basque, meaning ‘The Seven Streets’. In this neighbourhood, a pintxo isn’t just a tapa: it’s a school of miniatures, an exercise in precision that each bar interprets in its own way. These are the places we recommend to anyone who asks us at reception:

El Globo. A classic without any frills. Their prawns in batter, also served on a skewer, are the sort of pintxos that show why something simple, when done well, needs no introduction.

Café Iruña. Over a century of history lies beneath its Neo-Mudéjar-inspired tiles. People come for the veal snout in sauce and the squid rings, but they stay for the place itself: few bars hold so many memories of the city.

Gure Toki, in Plaza Nueva. Cutting-edge cuisine on a small scale. Its veal cheek taco is, quite rightly, one of Bilbao’s most celebrated pintxos.

Sorginzulo, also in Plaza Nueva. The perfect balance between tradition and contemporary cuisine. Their foie gras with caramelised apple is proof that both can be combined in a single bite.

Víctor Montes. The most elegant spot on the route, where pintxos sit alongside full-course meals. His foie gras with a Pedro Ximénez reduction is already a house speciality.

Plaza Nueva is the natural centrepiece of this route. At midday, it buzzes with the energy of those in the know; at dusk, the light transforms any bar into a place to linger over a drink.

Mercado de la Ribera: from farm to fork

All authentic cuisine begins at a market. In Bilbao, it begins at the Mercado de la Ribera, Spain’s largest covered market, overlooking the estuary just a few minutes’ walk from the hotel.

Here, the Cantabrian coast reveals itself in all its unadulterated glory: fish from the local coast, seafood, cured meats and the local produce that underpins all Basque cuisine. It’s well worth a visit even if you don’t buy anything. And if the stroll works up your appetite, its food stalls offer a chance to grab a bite to eat in a relaxed setting, amidst the hustle and bustle of the market.

Contemporary Bilbao: Abando and the Gran Vía

Beyond the Seven Streets, the city has written a new chapter in recent decades. In Abando and around the Gran Vía, restaurants specialising in local produce, creative cuisine and establishments that reinterpret traditional Basque recipes using contemporary techniques all coexist. It is the very same approach that has defined Bilbao for the past thirty years: respecting our heritage whilst daring to put our own spin on it.

Haute cuisine in Bilbao: Ola Martín Berasategui

And then there’s the table you should take your time getting to.

Ola Martín Berasategui, at the Tayko Bilbao Hotel itself, is the most refined expression of this dialogue between Basque cuisine and the present day. With one Michelin star, tasting menus that change with the seasons, and a cuisine that operates in the same way as the building that houses it: starting from the essence of the ingredient to present it in a new light.

As Berasategui himself writes, it is the market that dictates. We would simply add one practical recommendation: reservation in advance. The tables, like good pintxos, are snapped up in no time.

To eat in Bilbao is to understand Bilbao

From the bar to the tablecloth, from the market to the tasting menu, gastronomy is the thread that weaves together all the stories of this city. If you’re coming to Bilbao to eat, start your journey right where it begins: in the Old Town, with the Siete Calles as your larder and Ola waiting for you downstairs.

Tayko Bilbao. The start of your story in the city.