After the Biarritz Marathon: Bilbao
The Route: Biarritz → Bilbao Logistics: Coach (FlixBus runs the route directly), around 1h55 each way, roughly 147 kilometres. Long enough to feel like a proper trip away from the coast, short enough to manage without a flight. Marathon Month: April Duration: 2 nights
Biarritz ──(≈1h55 coach, FlixBus)──> Bilbao
The Marathon International de Biarritz – Pays Basque is a coastal and hillside race through resort towns and Basque villages; Bilbao is the opposite kind of Basque city, a working river port that spent the twentieth century on steel and shipbuilding before a deliberate, decades-long reinvention around culture and architecture. The crossing into Spain carries no border formality, since both countries sit inside the Schengen area, and the currency stays the euro throughout, so nothing changes hands or needs converting at the frontier. April in Bilbao runs cooler and often wetter than the coast at Biarritz, sitting slightly inland in a river valley; pack for rain rather than hope against it, and lean on the city's strong run of indoor museums and covered markets if a day turns wet.
FlixBus operates several daily direct services on the roughly 1h55 route between Biarritz and Bilbao. Confirm the current Biarritz departure point when booking, and check timetables at flixbus.co.uk before travelling, since the exact stop can vary by service.
Nights One and Two: Bilbao
Bilbao sits on the Ría del Nervión, the estuary that carried the city's iron ore and steel exports for well over a century before the local shipbuilding and heavy industry that built the city went into decline through the 1980s. The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Frank Gehry's titanium-clad building opened in 1997 on a former industrial riverside site, is the clearest physical marker of what followed: a museum widely credited with reshaping how the city is seen internationally, both for its Richard Serra-heavy permanent collection and for the building itself. Entry runs to around €19, and the riverside plaza and Jeff Koons's flower-covered Puppy sculpture outside are worth the walk even without going in.
The Nervión riverside walk, running from the Guggenheim down past the Zubizuri footbridge toward the old town, is flat, paved and entirely level for its full length, a straightforward recovery walk of three to four kilometres depending on how far it is followed, with the modern Isozaki Atea towers and Iberdrola Tower visible across the water for most of it. The Casco Viejo, Bilbao's old town on the river's opposite bank, is more compact and largely level within its core streets, centred on the arcaded Plaza Nueva; the Mercado de la Ribera, a large riverside covered market rebuilt in Art Deco style in the 1920s, makes a good indoor stop for a recovery lunch of pintxos and fresh produce stalls under cover.
For dinner in the Casco Viejo, Bar El Globo, a long-standing pintxos bar on Calle Diputación just south of the old town, is well known for its hot, made-to-order pintxos rather than the classic cold-topped style, a straightforward, unfussy option for a first night in the city. For something closer to the Guggenheim and the newer riverside district, several bars around Calle Ledesma in the modern centre offer a similar pintxos-bar culture without the walk across the river.
Where to stay: Hotel Abando, in the central Ensanche district close to Abando railway station, sits within flat walking distance of both the Casco Viejo and the riverside walk toward the Guggenheim, and its central position suits a two-night stay built around walking rather than taxis. Barceló Bilbao Nervión, on the river closer to the Guggenheim end of the walk, suits a traveller prioritising proximity to the museum and the modern riverside district over the old town's restaurant streets.
Getting Home
Bilbao has its own major international airport, Bilbao Airport (BIO), around 12 kilometres north of the city centre and served by a direct Bizkaibus shuttle from the centre, making it a genuine option to fly home from here rather than doubling back to France, particularly given its wider range of international routes than Biarritz. For travellers returning to collect belongings or a car in Biarritz, the same roughly 1h55 FlixBus service runs back to Biarritz Pays Basque Airport (BIQ), around 4 kilometres from central Biarritz. Check current schedules and fares at flixbus.co.uk before booking either leg.