October is a decent shoulder option for Bilbao: fewer crowds, some trade-offs. Expect daytime highs around 21°C, nights near 12°C and roughly 12 rainy days across the month. Mild and increasingly wet near 21C as autumn sets in, the terrace season winding down. Prices fall back, the museums are quiet again, and the surrounding hills turn colour; keep a rain jacket handy for the Atlantic showers.
Day high
21°C
Night low
12°C
Rainy days
≈ 12
Verdict
Fair
October is quieter, which makes it the right month to afford the splurge picks.
Special occasions€€€Design hotel facing the Guggenheim · Abando and the Ensanche
A playful design hotel by Javier Mariscal set directly opposite the Guggenheim, its atrium built around a tall column of stacked pebbles. The rooftop terrace and many of the front rooms look straight across at Gehry's titanium museum.
from ~220 EUR/night
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First visit€€Grand belle-epoque hotel · Abando and the Ensanche
The historic 1926 grand hotel on the circular Plaza Moyua, crowned by a stained-glass domed lobby and once home to visiting artists and heads of state. It sits central to everything, a flat walk from both the Guggenheim and the old town.
from ~150 EUR/night
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Couples€€Old town design hotel · Casco Viejo (Old Town)
A design hotel carved out of a restored heritage building in the Casco Viejo, near the cathedral and the Ribera market. Exposed old stone and beams meet contemporary rooms, with the pintxos bars a step from the door.
from ~130 EUR/night
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Budget€Riverside design hostel · Bilbao la Vieja (San Francisco)
A bright, design-led hostel in the arty Bilbao la Vieja district by the river, mixing dorms with private rooms. The location puts the cheap ethnic restaurants and music bars of San Francisco on the doorstep and the old town over the bridge.
from ~24 EUR/night
Check pricesReal hotel photos · prices are indicative from-rates, not live quotes · booking links support the site at no extra cost
With 12 rainy days and highs of 21°C, build your October days around indoor anchors and treat sunny windows as a bonus.
Guggenheim Museum
TipGehry's titanium-clad museum is the reason most people come, wrapped in Jeff Koons's flower-covered Puppy at the entrance and Louise Bourgeois's giant Maman spider by the river. Book a timed ticket online to skip the queue, and note it closes on Mondays outside July and August; the outdoor sculptures, including Puppy and the fog and fire installations, are free to see from the terraces even if you skip the galleries.
Casco Viejo and the Seven Streets
TipThe Casco Viejo is the medieval old town built around the original Seven Streets, the Siete Calles, with the Santiago cathedral, arcaded squares and pintxos lanes packed into a compact grid. It is free and always open, best walked in the late afternoon before the bars fill; come by metro to the Casco Viejo stop, and expect the lanes to be loud and shoulder-to-shoulder on weekend nights.
Pintxos and the Txikiteo
TipThe Basque bar crawl, the txikiteo or poteo, means moving from bar to bar for one pintxo and a small drink at each rather than sitting for a meal. Order a couple of the pintxos laid out on the counter, pay as you go, and pair them with a small glass of txakoli or red; go from about 8pm, and in the busiest bars take what is on the bar rather than waiting for a hot pintxo to order.
Mercado de la Ribera
TipThis big riverside covered market, one of the largest in Europe, sells fish, meat and produce downstairs and has a run of pintxos and wine stalls on the upper floor. It closes on Sundays and shuts early on Saturday afternoons, so go for an early lunch on a weekday or Saturday morning; the market-hall bars upstairs are cheaper and less touristy than the main old-town squares.
Ready to plan the full trip? Start from the 2-day Bilbao itinerary.
October is a decent shoulder option for Bilbao: fewer crowds, some trade-offs. Expect daytime highs around 21°C, nights near 12°C and roughly 12 rainy days across the month. Mild and increasingly wet near 21C as autumn sets in, the terrace season winding down. Prices fall back, the museums are quiet again, and the surrounding hills turn colour; keep a rain jacket handy for the Atlantic showers.
Typical October days in Bilbao reach about 21°C, dropping to around 12°C at night. Layers work best.
Count on roughly 12 days with rain in October. Plan one indoor block per day and keep museum tickets as your fallback.