Casco Viejo Market

Mercado Casco Viejo keeps two sessions a week rather than the Monday to Saturday pattern of a larger food hall. Sunday opens an hour earlier, at 8am, and runs to 2pm; Friday runs 9am to 2pm. Those are the only two days it trades, so a Saturday visit to Itxaropen Kalea finds the doors shut.

The hall is indoors and wheelchair accessible throughout, which is worth knowing if the alternative is an open-air pitch on a wet Bilbao morning. Stalls take cash and mobile payment. Cards are not listed among the market's payment options, so bring notes and coins.

The counters cover a full weekly shop: fish and seafood, meat and poultry, fresh fruit and vegetables, cheese and dairy, and bread and bakery. In a Basque port city the fish counters are the reason most people walk in.

Everything is sold by weight at the stall, so you can buy one fillet rather than a supermarket tray. Nothing in the record lists bars or tapas counters inside, so treat it as a place to shop and take your pintxos in the old town afterwards.

Staying in the Casco Viejo itself puts you right on the doorstep of the market, and the narrow streets of the old town are full of character. Casco Viejo is the obvious choice, with plenty of small hotels and guesthouses within easy walking distance.

If you prefer something a little more polished, Gran Hotel Domine Bilbao sits just across the river in the Abando district and is easy to reach on foot or by metro. Abando also has good transport links if you plan to explore beyond the market.

The market is at Itxaropen Kalea 14, 48005 Bilbao, in the Ibaiondo district of the old town. Casco Viejo metro station is the closest stop, a short walk away through the historic quarter, and street parking here is scarce enough that arriving on foot or by metro is the easier option.