Bilbao is situated in Spain’s Basque country in the region of Biscay. This city sometimes goes relatively unnoticed by tourists but is in fact Spain’s sixth largest city and largest of all ports. Bilbao is home to the incredible Guggenheim museum. It opened in 1997 and since then Bilbao has risen through the ranks of cultural art destination, before the Guggenheim being built in Bilbao was a heavily industrialized city and had little appeal for tourists. Today the Guggenheim often steals the limelight from the rest of the city. There’s so much more to Bilbao today than meets the eye.

In this part of Spain a hire car is definitely needed, by having a car you can fully take in the wonderful city and go out a little further and experience the beautiful countryside. A hire car from Bilbao airport can let you explore the region at your own speed in your own time. Local towns such as Pamplona and Vitoria are easily reached and definitely worth taking time to visit. Vitoria is only 66 kilometers away and very easy to get to via the new roads.

The Guggenheim building is a work of art on its own merits. Often visitors spend just as much time studying and taking in the outside of the building as they do actually inside of it. Frank Gehry’s magnificent creation should be top of you list of visits in Bilbao. An whole day can easily be spent exploring the galleries and enjoying a leisurely lunch by the river. For anyone who visited the Tate modern in the early days you will recognize Louise Bourgeois' giant spider which now towers above visitors to the Guggenheim entrance.

The building, sited as it is in a port town, is intended to resemble a ship. Its brilliantly reflective panels resemble fish scales, echoing the other organic (and, in particular, fish-like) forms that recur commonly in Gehry's designs, as well as the river Nervión upon which the museum sits.

Also in typical Gehry fashion, the building is uniquely a product of the period's technology. Computer aided design and visualizations were used heavily in the structure's design. Computer simulations of the building's structure made it feasible to build shapes that architects of earlier eras would have found nearly impossible to construct.

If you love visiting European cities, don’t worry, Bilbao has so much more to offer. The Guggenheim is with out doubt one of Bilbao’s most awesome pieces of architecture. Before it was built Bilbao was struggling, in the 1980s the large scale industrial trade which the city once thrived on was dwindling; the docks and steel works and ugly ship yards were left to decay.

Luckily city planners and leading architects took this opportunity to re design Bilbao and give it a whole new image. Today a state of the art metro system connects the classical and industrial past to all of the areas of modern building, the economic re-birth also improved the existing airport, making it bigger. It is now located just eight kilometers north of the city, now one of the biggest in the region makes it perfect to hire a car from.

The flight to Bilbao from London is 2 hours, once you arrive you will be able to collect your pre-booked hire car at the airport. All car hire offices are located in the same area making it easy to find the correct one.

If you have time during your stay in Bilbao there are 2 local towns which are well worth visiting: Pamplona and Vitoria.

Pamplona has a wonderful historical center involved in some of Spain’s most interesting folklore, surrounding Pamplona are the stunning Navarra mountain and the vineyards which produce the local wine.

One of the most famous festivals in all of Spain, the San Fermines and encierro or Running of the Bulls is a serious spectacle to behold. Ernest Hemmingway was a lifelong fan of bull fighting and popularized the event in ‘The Sun Also Rises’, he returned as often as he could to Pamplona to witness the craziness of the running of the bulls. This event really isn’t for anyone faint of heart! 13 people have been killed during the run since 1924 when records began some people consider it to be inhumane today. The tradition dates back to 1591 and involves the bulls running through the streets from holding pens to an arena where they are killed. In between the young men of the town jump into the streets and run with the bulls dodging horn and hoof to show off their bravado.

Vitoria is the capital of the Alava province and of the autonomous region of the Basque Country. Most visitors to Vitoria arrive at Bilbao airport if you wanted to hire a car from Bilbao and end your trip in Vitoria this would be possible. In fact Vitoria has two names it is officially Vitoria-Gasteiz. The Name Nuevo Victoria was given to the city by King Sancho VI of Navarre, who founded the modern city of Vitoria in 1181. Before this Vitoria as it stands today didn’t really exist, the closest inhabited area was the hamlet of Gasteiz which stood on the hill around which Vitoria grew. Vitoria was little more than a walled defensive outpost which belonged to the kingdom of Navarre.

Vitoria grew to the city we know today mainly because of its strategic position between the table lands of Castile and Northern Europe. The huge number of passing travelers meant it became an important trade center. In the 13th century three weekly markets took place and two very important annual fairs were held.

One of Vitoria’s most interesting historical elements was that the city held its own individual principals that became laws. All inhabitants of Vitoria were declared equal; there was no difference considered between nobility and the general public.