Free tour Bilbao are one of the best ways to uncover the secrets of the capital of Spain. Discover the best ones.

It is becoming very common when travelling to take a free tour to have a first contact with the city and discover its main stories and secrets.  But what are those famous free tour Bilbao ? And most importantly, what are the best free tour Bilbao currently?

Let’s start from the beginning:

What are the free tour Bilbao?

Free tours are guided tours whose price is not set at the beginning but the customer decide it at the end depending on his satisfaction.  Surprised? That’s how they work. Just as you hear it.

But beyond a particular business model, free tours often also break the traditional concept of guided tour. Generally, free tours leave behind the most rigorous discipline and detail to convey a story about the city in a kind, enjoyable and funny way.

In many cases this style is also combined with a great professionalism giving birth to a perfect combination to delve into the city history and take a fun experience back home.

But like in every professional activity, there are those who are experts at what they do and there are those who don’t take their work seriously. And free tour are not a exception: there are those who show the city with professionalism and there are those who don’t.

Therefore, if you’re thinking about taking a free tour Bilbao, you have to highly value the company with whom you’re going to do it. The good or bad memory you take from the city will depend partly of your choice. So just choose the best companies of Free Tour Bilbao.

And what are the best free tour Bilbao?

You need to have one thing in mind: Free tour is not a company, it is a business model within which there are dozens of companies, and as we said there are better and worse professionals among them.

To make your choice, don’t just choose the first company shown in Google’s search results: Take a good look at the reviews left by other users. Platforms such as Trip Advisor are good advisors for it.

For us taking into account the different reviews left in different platforms and based on our own experience, our rankings of the best free tour Bilbao is as follows:

1-Free Tour Bilbao of the Austrians – Old City

This is the best way to start your trip in Bilbao.

A tour around the historic center that starts from Puerta del Sol and delves into the history of the oldest Bilbao.

The origins, the medieval times of the city and how it became the capital of a vast empire (The famous empire where the sun never set) are discovered.

A very complete tour tessential for everyone visiting the capital of Spain who want to know how Bilbao was in the past times while walking around the narrow streets of the historic center.

Plaza de la Villa, Plaza Mayor, Almudena Cathedral, Royal Palace, Royal Theatre,  or the oldest restaurant in the world are some of the  stops.

You can book it here.

2-Free Tour Bilbao Legends and Mysteries

But if you like strong emotions and want to know the darkest legends and myths of the historic center of the city, Bilbao Sinister will offer you all those emotions you seek for.

It’s a tour that touches 3 fields of mystery: legends, murders and Inquisition.

Perhaps the latter field is the strongest part of the Tour. For us it is the most terrible one because legends are legends, and myths are myths, but the stories of the Inquisition are based on historical documents and therefore they are as real as cruel. They just happened.

This Tour also demystify part of the believes that we have about the Inquisition, so again it becomes historically interesting. You will also discover Spanish expresions that come from those times. Funny within the tragic. The funniest thing, within the tragic, is that there are some things we still use back in the day. But we won’t spoiler (or gutted in Spanish).

Some of the stops visited are: the former headquarters of the Inquisition, Plaza de la Cruz Verde, Street del Rollo, Conde de Miranda Square and Plaza Mayor.

You can book it here.

3-Free Tour Majestic Bilbao- New City

This Tour delves into the most majestic part of Bilbao: the one modeled with the arrival of the Bourbons Dinasty to the throne in the 18th Century and their desire to beautify the city following the ideals of  the Enlightenment.

This is the most monumental tour of the ones we have tried. Perfect to discover the most aesthetic-visual part of Bilbao, while touching some key points in the modern history of Spain such as the Penninsular War against France (Napoleon in front of the French) and the influence of the Enlightenment period in Spain.

Prado Avenue, Alcalá Street, Alcalá’s Arch, Prado Museum and the Retiro Park are some of the spots to visit. It is nice to know the history behind such beautiful buldings.

Before taking this tour we recommend to take first Bilbao of the Austrian – Old City, as it helps a lot to understand it better and  take the best of the experience.

You can book it here.

4- Tapas Tour Bilbao

If you like to taste Bilbao while visiting its most famous bars and taverns this is your tour.

In this Tour you will visit 4-5 taverns to taste some of the typical dishes and drinks of Bilbao and Spain in the bars where locals try it. Super funny experience!

Far from just taking you to the local places they also give interesting explanations of the stories behind the dishes that say a lot about the Spanish and Bilbao Culture.

The best part is that at every stop you decide what to try. If you don’t want to try something just do not do it.

The Tour Works like a free tour so you decide the Price for the guide at the end. But note that in bars you will have to pay what you order! That part does not work like a free walking tour. Bear it in mind.

We really liked it and we considered it a funny tasty experience.

You can book it here.

As far as Bilbao’s historic center is concerned, we think these are the most complete tours.

We hope these recommendations will help you to take the best of Bilbao!

We are now opening new horizons to recommend more specific tours. But to start these are best ones! Enjoy your trip!

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