Street Markets in Bilbao

Thirteen product categories are traded across the city's street markets, and they split roughly in two. Fresh fruit and vegetables, bread and bakery, cheese and dairy, meat and poultry and organic produce cover the farmers' market side, most visibly at Gure Lurreko Merkatua on Saturdays. The rest is second-hand and made by hand: antiques, books and magazines, jewellery, handicrafts, flowers and plants, clothing and textiles, and footwear and leather. For Bilbao's covered food halls rather than the open-air stalls, see the municipal markets in this city.

Sunday is the busiest day, with 5 of the 9 markets trading, followed by Saturday with 3. Wednesday is the only weekday that carries a street market at all, and Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday have none. Opening hours cluster tightly around 10am to 2pm, so this is a morning outing rather than an afternoon one, and produce stalls sell down well before the antiques and clothing pitches do. Bring cash, since not every stall takes cards.

The Casco Viejo is the practical base for market mornings, putting the Sunday stalls and the Bilbao La Vieja flea market within walking distance, so a 10am opening does not mean catching a bus first. Abando, across the river, is quieter and just as well connected. A car is no help for the central markets; the metro and tram reach them, and all markets in this city shows how the street stalls and the halls sit alongside each other.