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Bilbao, Guggenheim and Gaztelugatxe from San Sebastian

Badge of ExcellenceSan Sebastian, Spain

Full day Bilbao Tour Gaztelugatxe Bilbao from San Sebastian all included

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From $260.34

Price varies by group size

Select Date and Travelers

up to 24 hours before the experience starts (local time)

9 hours (approx.)
Pickup offered
Mobile ticket
Offered in: English

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Overview

Explore the Basque Country beyond San Sebastian on this full-day tour. Get picked up at your hotel and set out to see the 10th-century hermitage of San Juan de Gaztelugatxe. Stroll through the old town of Bilbao and along the riverbank to see the striking Guggenheim Museum. Lunch in a traditional restaurant is included.

See the historic hermitage of San Juan de Gaztelugatxe
Explore Bilbao on foot, including the old town and the Guggenheim
Relax over lunch at a traditional restaurant

What's Included

Hotel Pick up and Drop off
Transport by private vehicle
Local guide
Guggenheim Museum and Gaztelugatxe Admission Ticket
Lunch

Rain clothes and umbrellas
Gratuities

Meeting and Pickup

Pickup points

Select a pickup point

Start time

09:00 AM

Pickup details

We offer pick up in all San Sebastian hotels. Please provide your hotel name or apartment adress for pick up.

What To Expect

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking
Not wheelchair accessible
Stroller accessible
Service animals allowed
Near public transportation
Infant seats available
No heart problems or other serious medical conditions

Travelers should have a moderate physical fitness level
Children and infants must be accompanied by an adult.
Vegetarian option is available, please advise at time of booking if required.
We strongly recommend to bring sport shoes and a spare Tshirt in case you want to climb the stairs all the way to the top of San Juan de Gaztelugatxe hermitage.
A minimum of 2 adults per booking is required. If the minimum group for carrying out the activity would not be reached, an alternative date or full refund would be offered. If your booking was below this number we will contact you at least 2 days in advance to inform you in case the minimum group size was not covered by this stage. Please feel free to contact us anytime to confirm the total amount of bookings for your tour date.
Operates in all weather conditions, please dress appropriately
This tour/activity will have a maximum of 15 travelers

Cancellation Policy

You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.

For a full refund, you must cancel at least 24 hours before the experience’s start time.
If you cancel less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time, the amount you paid will not be refunded.
Any changes made less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time will not be accepted.

Cut-off times are based on the experience’s local time.
This experience requires good weather. If it’s canceled due to poor weather, you’ll be offered a different date or a full refund.
This experience requires a minimum number of travelers. If it’s canceled because the minimum isn’t met, you’ll be offered a different date/experience or a full refund.

Traveler Photos

Featured review

Sarah_R

We had a fabulous day with Ida as our Guide! We were lucky enough to only be a total group of 4 so we had a completely private experience for the entire day. First stop was Gaztelugatxe which is a must see for the view and natural beauty. Be prepared…this is a STEEP walk down and an even more taxing walk back up! We didn’t go out to the actual Islet (stopped at the first big lookout spot) and this was plenty for us! It is about an hour and 1/2 round trip. Next stop was Bilbao which was wonderful - beautiful and interesting architecture and Aida shared tons of history as we walked through the city. Lunch was traditional Basque…several of the dishes were not to our liking, but we tried everything to really get the full experience of the visit. Dessert was definitely the highlight! 😋 The Guggenheim was on our Must See for our trip and it didn’t disappoint. The building itself is the star and just magnificent! We didn’t need the entire time allowed to see the interior and works and Ida was nice enough to pick us up a tad early which we really appreciated. Ida was just perfect - we enjoyed getting to know about her personal life and experiences in her social services focus…she is a joy as a Guide and we couldn’t recommend her highly enough!

Reviews

4.5

104 reviews

Total review count and overall rating based on Viator and Tripadvisor reviews

Reviews by Viator travelers.

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Showing 1-10 of 104 reviews

Awesome day but definitely room for improvement

Brown_C, May 2024

The Guggenheim and visiting San Juan Gaztelugatxe were highlights and well worth the trip. The driver was unfortunately only that, a driver. We received limited information on everything we did and were literally dropped off and collected later, which was actually a good thing at the Guggenheim. The lunch was terrible. Food was dripping in Oil and most left food. The driver drove way too fast and when several of us asked him to slow down he got quite nasty and took it personally. It was wet and he hit 150 kms an hour at one stage although he did make more of an effort on the return journey. Personally, I was terrified at one stage as were others as we discussed when we got to Bilbao. I’d recommend the trip but with a different lunch venue and driver

Glimpses of the Basque country

SHALINI_D, Dec 2023

I have traveled widely with many guides but Aida is easily one of the top 3 guides who I have traveled with. She had a wonderful way of explaining the history and was so knowledgeable and interesting. All places visited were very good and the lunch was also excellent.

Unforgettably awestruck

Jessica_T, Nov 2023

Our guide and tour was amazing! She was so knowledgeable about the region and had a fun personality! The walk to the chapel at Gaztelugatxe was supposed to be closed but when it unexpectedly opened she let us go down and get the full experience. Overall it was an incredible experience we won’t forget. Book it!!

Ida is fantastic!

Sarah_R, Oct 2023

Great tour

Katie_F, Oct 2023

Loved this! Begonia was great and we learned a ton from her. Hike was highlight of the day for us. Definitely should have dressed for a hotter, harder walk than we did but it was worth the views. Bilbao was great too, we wish we could have stayed longer!

Overall great tour

smattsonmail, Oct 2023

Juan was an excellent guide - I had him all to.myself. He showed me his favorite places and our time in the Guggenheim was amazing! Thoroughly enjoyed the trip, and would recommend it.

Exciletating

David_G, Sep 2023

A fantastic day and a fantastic tour. Joselu was the best guide we have ever had, on any tour! Could not recommend this tour any higher.

Great way to see other parts of Basque Country!

Annalee_F, Sep 2023

Great experience with Joselu from start to finish. Prompt pick up time and was very quick to collect all other guests throughout San Sebastián. We had a safe onward journey to the gaztelugatxe location very early before it got too crowded. He ensured those who wanted to hiked safely up to the church and back. Our journey to Bilbao was just as fantastic with great food and plenty of time in the museum. He gave us a great mix of history and his personal perspective being native to the Basque Country. Highly recommend. All the best on your next adventure to the US!

Cliffs, cities and Art

Christine_M, Aug 2023

Had an amazing day touring some amazing places. The tour guide was excellent. Would highly recommend.

Beautiful, challenging and educational!

Michael_H, Jul 2023

My wife and I took the tour with her 74 year old father and his brother. They both found the Gaztelugatxe hike challenging but rewarding to complete. The amazing views made it all worth the effort! Drone there we enjoyed lunch in and a tour or the old town of Bilbao. Our guide was very knowledgeable of the Basque history and culture which made our experience complete! We managed to leave enough time for a quick tour at the Guggenheim which left us wanting a return to this great museum in the beautiful town. Definitely a recommended day!

Great Daytrip

Terry_W, Jul 2023

Great trip! The natural beauty of Gaxtelugatxe was stunning. (A must see for Game of Thrones fans). Bilbao was very educational, interesting with great architecture. Overall a great day and experience for the entire family.

Perfect balance of nature and culture

janelle_f, Jul 2023

The trip was a perfect balance of nature and culture. The hike is exerting, but completely doable. Bring a shirt to change into after. Bilbao was full of great sites with the perfect amount of information. The amount of time at museum was just right. Our guide was lovely, informative and like being with a friend. Excellent

Guggenheim & Gaztelugatxe

christina_C, Jul 2023

My kids and I had a great time. Our tour guide Arri was so sweet and accommodating. She made sure we were comfortable and taken care of throughout the trip. I would do another tour with her again!

Amazing fun-filled Day

LORI_M, Jul 2023

The guides were fantastic! Patient and knowledgeable and shared fascinating facts about everything we saw. The guides Joselu and Eva really made the experience!

Amazing visit to the Guggenheim!

Christine_C, Jun 2023

We enjoyed our day very much despite some bad weather. Our guide, Iker, was a lot of fun and a lot of interesting information to share. We had some delicious pintxos in Bilbao and walking through the old city center was interesting. The highlight was the Guggenheim museum though! Definitely worth a visit.

Terrible

SueAnne_T, Jun 2023

It is not worth the money - take the bus yourself and have a nice lunch in Bilbao and take a guided tour of the Guggenheim. That will be much better and about a quarter of the cost of the ‘tour’. This tour is really just transport in a minivan to Bilbao.

Of course the Guggenheim...

Barbara_S, Jun 2023

Of course the Guggenheim was wonderful. But also the stroll through the old town and learning the history of the various buildings. Imanol was an excellent guide.And the lunch was very good.

Incorrectly advertised on Viator

William_T, Jun 2023

There was a mix-up and it was not the tour guide's fault. We had purchased the 'Bilbao, Guggenheim Museum & Gaztelugatxe from San Sebastian'. However, we were informed that the Guggenheim was closed on a Monday, so we could not have purchased that trip. There was another couple who had purchased the same as us and so, I knew I did not make a mistake. Begonia is a great guide. However, she had a smell of stale cigarette smoke about her which was annoying.

Response from Host, Jun 2023

Dear William, We are grateful for your feedback. I am sorry to inform that indeed the tour option offered for Mondays for "Bilbao, Guggenheim Museum & Gaztelugatxe from San Sebastian" specifies very clearly that the Monday tour option, "Minibus bilingual tour option", excludes lunch and the visit to Guggenheim museum. Also the price differs accordingly (you paid one third of the tour option that has these two inclusions among many others). It would be quite inefficient from our end to offer a tour that has no way of being completed as it is offered. However we already contacted with the Viator supplier support system to request a change in the information provided to our guests to prevent this from happening again in future bookings. We are far from aiming to have misleading information that would make it difficult for us to exceed our customers' expectations in our tours, which is the main goal we have in our company. We have been told that the info will be detailed more accurately from now on. We remain at your disposal and definitely look forward to hosting you again in the future. Many thanks!

Excellent tour of Gaztelugatxe

M_L, May 2023

This review is of the short version of the tour (9am-3pm) that does not include the Guggenheim. Begonia was an excellent guide. She was friendly, informative, engaging and energetic. She handled an issue with the van with grace and had us on our way with just a short delay. Begonia answered many questions along the way, even when they were not directly related to the tour. The visit to Gaztelugatxe was the highlight of the tour. Begonia provided historical background as well as come geological information. She let us know that the walk down was steep and would be the more difficult part on the return walk (compared to the 241 steps). The tour of Bilbao was short, but also informative. We had about 1 hour total in Bilbao. It would have been nice to have a longer stay with some time for independent exploration. The only issue I had was the pre-tour communication about that this being a shorter tour. The booked tour included the Guggenheim, lunch and hotel pickup. We were informed the day before the tour (after I reached out to confirm pickup/meeting) that this is a shorter tour (less $ than the longer tour) that included only Gaztelugatxe and a short tour of Bilbao. I understand this was a mixup with the information on Viator, but it affected planning the rest of the day. We were given the option to cancel, but it still fulfilled the stops I was most interested in. Overall, I highly recommend the tour itself and especially because Begonia was such a knowledgeable guide.

Good tour.

David_H, May 2023

The structure of the tour was good, but what made it memorable was our guide, Joselu. He was very knowledgeable and has a great personality. My wife left a package in the van and he was kind enough to personally deliver it to our hotel.