Bilbao is a city in Spain, right in the middle of the Basque country. It has an international airport and is surrounded by amazing sites, activities, culture, and gastronomy!
I was travelling with a group of 12 people representing the LGBT community. We arrived on the 17th of September to begin our 5 days, transferring from the airport to the city centre took about a half hour. Our hotel was located in the old city, the location was perfect!
We stayed at the TAYKO HOTEL which was a gorgeous building facing the river in an elegant building overlooking the Estuary of Bilbao, this sleek hotel is a 2-minute walk from Arriaga tram station, a 4-minute walk from the lively Plaza Berria square, and 2 km from the Guggenheim Bilbao museum.The warm, industrial-chic rooms, most with furnished balconies, offer free Wi-Fi, flat-screen TVs and minifridges, as well as sitting areas, and tea and coffeemaking facilities. Some add claw-foot tubs and/or estuary views. Suites come with separate living space.
A breakfast buffet (surcharge) is served in an informal cafe/bar that has exposed brick walls. There’s also an airy restaurant and a 24-hour gym. Parking is available.
We checked into the hotel then met for dinner in the restaurant downstairs, where we had a preset menu of typical foods of the region. 3 of us were vegetarian (vegan, lacto-ovo, pescatarian), 1 was Jewish, so it was interesting to see how they adapted to the different diets. In general, Bilbao is a very vegan/vegetarian friendly city! There are a lot of great spots where the food is clearly marked as well, so even the Pintxos are easy to eat for any diet :-) (Just so you know, "pescados" is fish, "jamon" is ham...)
Bilbao is new to the idea of LGBT tourism, but the culture is there. With so many LGBT owned shops and businesses, drag shows and gay bars, and all around fun activities for everyone, the city showed it's inclusive nature without hesitation.
