Provincial capital
Bilbao is a city in northern Spain, the largest city in the province of Biscay and in the autonomous community of the Basque Country. With a population of 347,342 as of 2024, it is the 11th most populous city in Spain, and the most populous in northern Spain. The Bilbao metropolitan area has 1,037,847 inhabitants, making it the most populous metropolitan area in northern Spain. The comarca of Greater Bilbao is the fifth-largest urban area in Spain. Bilbao is also the main urban area in what is defined as the Greater Basque region.
Bilbao is located in the north-central part of Spain, some 16 kilometres (10 mi) south of the Bay of Biscay, where the economic social development is located, where the estuary of Bilbao is formed. Its main urban core is surrounded by two small mountain ranges with an average elevation of 400 metres (1,300 ft). Its climate is shaped by the Bay of Biscay low-pressure systems and mild air, moderating summer temperatures by Iberian standards, with low sunshine and high rainfall. The annual temperature range is low for its latitude.
After its foundation in the late 13th century by Diego López V de Haro, head of the powerful Haro family, Bilbao was one of the commercial hubs of the Basque Country that enjoyed significant importance in the Crown of Castile. This was due to its thriving port activity based on the export of wool and iron commodities extracted from the Biscayan quarries to all over Europe.
Throughout the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth, Bilbao experienced heavy industrialisation, making it the centre of the second-most industrialised region of Spain, behind Barcelona. At the same time an extraordinary population explosion prompted the annexation of several adjacent municipalities.
Text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)
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Parks, beaches and places to stay that OpenStreetMap marks as dog-friendly. Many places allow dogs without it being marked: ask when you book.
Data from OpenStreetMap (ODbL), extract from October 2026: we count what is mapped within the municipal boundary. "No data" means OpenStreetMap doesn't have it, not that it doesn't exist. Completed with Overture Maps (CDLA-Permissive-2.0): the pharmacies, health centres, petrol stations, banks, cash machines, food shops and schools that OpenStreetMap was missing. Connectivity: Spanish Ministry for Digital Transformation, % of homes covered in June 2025.
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Official figures, each with its source, its year and whether it refers to the village or the province. They are medians and averages: your case may differ.
| Renting a flat (median)MIVAU, rent indices · 2024 · figure for Bilbao · 13,799 leases | €800/month |
|---|---|
| Renting a house (median)MIVAU, rent indices · 2024 · figure for Bilbao | €702/month |
| Buying a home (appraised value)MIVAU, appraised value of private housing · Q2 2026 · figure for Bilbao | €3,529/m² |
| Average net household incomeINE, Income Distribution Atlas · 2023 · figure for Bilbao | €44,813/year |
| Petrol 95Ministry, fuel prices · 15 October 2026 · average of 51 petrol stations within 10 km | €1.839/litre |
| DieselMinistry, fuel prices · 15 October 2026 · average of 51 petrol stations within 10 km | €1.947/litre |
Sources: State Housing Rent Index System and appraised housing value (Spanish Ministry of Housing and Urban Agenda); Household Income Distribution Atlas (INE); fuel prices (Spanish Ministry for the Ecological Transition). Open data, reusable with attribution. The set lunch menu and coffee aren't shown: there are no public statistics on those prices by village or by province.
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