Very few things in Bilbao are as they used to be. Some old bars, some ancient traditions, a chunk of a medieval wall, a handful of simple dishes. What has held strongest over generations is the intense connection Bilbainos feel to their Basque identity and passion for eating and sharing food with others. The image of local cuadrillas – groups of friends of all ages – eating pintxos and laughing over a glass of txakolí or cider is a daily constant. Bilbao is a phoenix of urban renewal, rising from a period of industrial decline to become a center of modern Basque cuisine that incorporates global influences with contemporary culinary quirks.

Since 2010, Paula has led the Culinary Backstreets Barcelona team as a writer and photographer, experience designer, and culinary walk leader. Born in Vigo, Spain, she left the world of advertising to become a writer, focusing on gastronomy and culture. Her work has been featured in USA Today and other major publications, as well as National Geographic’s show Top Tables, Top Cities. Paula is our go-to for all things Spain and helped us design our newest culinary walk in Bilbao, a city close to her heart. Born and raised in Getxo (Bizkaia), a coastal town near Bilbao, Gonzalo moved to San Sebastian in 2020 to get his master’s degree in gastronomic tourism at the Basque Culinary Center. As a tour guide focusing on food and wine in San Sebastian and Bilbao, he loves to help his guests come to love the Basque country and its gastronomy. As a self-described “craft beer geek and wine lover,” he also loves to show visitors the unique way Bilbao relates to its culinary culture and the city’s historical richness.

If you turn the corner onto Calle Pelota and see a swarm of people in the street, wine glasses in hand, dive right in. You have officially left the tourist pintxo routes in Bilbao's historic Casco Viejo neighborhood and entered the realm of the locals, who storm the streets daily in search of a good spot for a drink and a bite before lunch and before dinner. Many believe that the fame of Basque pintxos – small bites offered on the counter of almost every bar – is the result of a culinary phenomenon, but it really comes from a social one. When you step through the door of Taberna Basaras, you have found one of the best places to take part in it. This tiny tavern – barely a counter, half a dozen stools, and many, many bottles of wine – offers a concentrated essence of what the Basque people expect when they go out to potear – the habit of meeting with pals to go from bar to bar: Friendly atmosphere, rich wines, and simple but tasty snacks.

Pintxo bars abound in Bilbao, concentrated in the narrow streets of the Casco Viejo, the old town on the shores of the Nervion estuary. Known colloquially as Zazpikaleak (“seven streets” in the Basque language), this is where the city was born, and its streets are still full any day of the week with residents, shoppers, tradesmen and locals doing some old-fashioned poteo. If you plan on stepping foot in this Basque capital, you’d better learn what poteo is firsthand. The endurance required to barhop with a Basque is real, especially considering this social act consists of downing glass of wine after glass of wine in what is essentially a bar crawl. Fortunately, the Basques have invented their own coping mechanism – the pintxo.