• For 2024 Pilgrims: €50,- donation = 1 year with no ads on the forum + 90% off any 2024 Guide. More here.
    (Discount code sent to you by Private Message after your donation)
  • ⚠️ Emergency contact in Spain - Dial 112 and AlertCops app. More on this here.
  • Get your Camino del Norte Guidebook here.
This is a mobile optimized page that loads fast, if you want to load the real page, click this text.

Bilbao to Portugalete routes

N

nangiakki

New Member
Time of past OR future Camino
hopefully - Northern Route/Primitivo (2015)
Hi - I have looked around the forum and haven't found anything about this so hopefully y'all can help me.
I keep reading about how there are 3-4 different routes from Bilbao to Portugalete but they are all "Ugly". Can anyone tell me which one is the least ugly and how I find it?
Thanks!
 
Altus 24 Liters daypack (DENON 24 H30)
Technical backpack for day trips with backpack cover and internal compartment for the hydration bladder. Ideal daypack for excursions where we need a medium capacity backpack. The back with Air Flow System creates large air channels that will keep our back as cool as possible.

€83,-
2 routes: a) is longer and hillier, the "official" route. The other is by the "river" or actually through e industrial zone, parralel to the metro, ugly, but flat and short.
 
Anemone del Camino said:
2 routes: a) is longer and hillier, the "official" route. The other is by the "river" or actually through e industrial zone, parralel to the metro, ugly, but flat and short.
Click to expand...
Thank you! So route A is longer and hillier but more scenic? Do you think it is worth the extra time? I really don't like the idea of walking through industrial zones - are there other areas like this on the Norte?
 
Camino Inspired & Tested Gear!
New Original Camino Gear Designed Especially with The Modern Peregrino In Mind!
nangiakki said:
Thank you! So route A is longer and hillier but more scenic? Do you think it is worth the extra time? I really don't like the idea of walking through industrial zones - are there other areas like this on the Norte?
Click to expand...
Honestly, no idea. I walked the industrial zoane in the wee hours of the am vecause I could not wait out to get lut of the albergue and its drunks. It wa not pretty, and quote stupid of me, as in: there in way I would hve done it back home so why in Spain?!

This being said, I heard avout this route from someone who lives in bilbao and could not find a reason for the "real way" to go the other way.

Oh, did I say you can also take the metro to Portugalete? It's just a few stops.
 
I walked every step from Hendaye in France to Santiago de Compostela 2 years ago. I chosed the riverbank walk (eastside) from Bilbao to Portugalete. It was not a pleasant walk, so it is better to take the metro to Portugalete.
 
nangiakki said:
Thank you! So route A is longer and hillier but more scenic? Do you think it is worth the extra time? I really don't like the idea of walking through industrial zones - are there other areas like this on the Norte?
Click to expand...

The 4-5 hours out of Santander might qualify, as would the stretch between Gijon and Aviles. I tell people that they only need walk it if they have a strong personal reason to walk every step; otherwise, the local train will take you for a few stops out of Santander, and there are buses to cover the Gijon-Aviles stretch. I have only taken the metro from Bilbao to Portugalete, but might be interested to do the east bank walk so that I could take the moving bridge at Portugalete.
 
More 2024 Camino Guides available
The 2024 Camino guides will be coming out little by little. Here is a collection of the ones that are out so far.
At the moving bridge you will have 2 choices to cross: The lower moving part and the higher footbridge. If you are afraid of heights, don't choose the footbridge.
 

The walk along the northern side of the river is the shortest route. You pass through Bilbao, a beautiful city, and go past the museum. It does get a bit industrial but it is a nice walk along the river. Then there is an interesting bridge where you can cross by air or sea^^. I have never taken the southern route. Try the Gronze.com guide or Eroski for more information.

Ultreya,
Joe
 
oursonpolaire said:
?..but might be interested to do the east bank walk so that I could take the moving bridge at Portugalete.
Click to expand...
Or take the "offical route" or the metro, arrive in Portugalete, go doew the hill, jump on the bridge to cross it, and then comr back
 
Camino Way markers in Bronze
The one from Galicia (the round) and the one from Castilla & Leon. Individually numbered and made by the same people that make the ones you see on your walk.
MendiWalker said:
Why isn´t that one the "official route" ?

Ondo Ibili !
Click to expand...
Well, I suppose we could say that there is no Camino per say since after all all routes will take you to Rome? Eroski doesn't mention the short cut, Gronze has it as an alternative, Editorial Buen Camino doesn't mention it. Rother does,have it as the main route. And if memory serves me right, it's not marked, or at least wasn't last fall when I walked it. Perhaps you would like to give us your definition of what constitutes the Camino route? If local organisations bother having meetings on route tracing, seems to me it must be for a reason.

Oh wait, Gronze clearly refers to it as the "camino oficial". Who a I to say otherwise?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I 'recommended' the official route or the metro is response to Pursonpolair's post where he or she "recommends" the ria to cross the river on the bridge. I was offering an alternative getting to portugalete and still taking a ride on the bridge. So no extremes here. Sorry.
 
Altus Poncho (ATMOSPHERIC H30)
Very light, comfortable and compressible poncho. Specially designed for protection against water for any activity.

Our Atmospheric H30 poncho offers lightness and waterproofness. Easily compressible and made with our Waterproof fabric, its heat-sealed interior seams guarantee its waterproofness. Includes carrying bag.

€60,-
No need to get touchy? Who questioned my used of the word "official" and demanded an explanation. As to extremes, again, I refer you to my statement: it was offering 2 alternatives to a third that had just been suggested. An alternative, therefor not repeating what Oursonpolair had said. You are hellbent on wanting me to say walk the ria, which is what she had already stated. Where is the logic in that?

Another waste of time today.
 

Nangiakki,

On this forum I responed to a thread about the route from Bilbao to Potrugalete. It was suggested to me to take the river route on the Northeast side of the river by the attendant at the Tourist Information Office. I started on that route (May 6th this year.) but after about 2-3 km I had to turn back and go by the Southwest river route. There was a big construction project going on then which resulted in the trail and the road "literally being cut in half" where I turned around. A local woman saw me go by and chased me down to tell me about the construction. This was not the only time the tourist info office got it wrong. I followed the markers, poorly laid out and a lot missing, through the industrial area to Sestao, where the markers totally dissapeared. I had to take a cab to the pension in Portugalete (about a half km) to get back on course.

If I had it to do over again, I would take the Camino Oficial through the hills.

Hope this helps.

WV
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest Camino Photo

Most read last week in this forum

Similar threads

Bilbao to Portugalete
Replies
34
Views
4K
HadleyC
H
Bilbao Airport to Portugalete
Replies
6
Views
2K
jsalt
Transport from Bilbao to Unquera
Replies
3
Views
691
TexasIndia
Menu
Log in
Register