The Guggenheim Bilbao hardly ever runs out of places for a whole day. What does happen, especially at weekends, at Easter, in summer and on rainy days, is that the time you wanted is already full or the box office queue grows by mid-morning. Neither means you miss the museum. These are the routes, in the order worth trying them.
Which option should you choose?
| If you want… | Option | From |
|---|---|---|
| The top rated (tour in Spanish) | Guggenheim guided tour with entry, 4.9★ (182) Book | €49 |
| A small group and more time with the guide | VIP small-group tour with entry, 4.5★ (763) Book | €95 |
1. Check the official website again
Official sales are on guggenheim-bilbao.eus, and the museum recommends buying only there to avoid ticket fraud. On the day we checked, general admission was €12 and reduced €6 (students aged 18 to 26, over-65s and pensioners, with ID at the desk). Under-18s get in free, and every ticket includes an audio guide. The price can change with the exhibitions on view, so check the rate for the day you pick.
- Try other times on the same day. If yours is full, there's usually more room first thing or late in the afternoon than between 11:00 and 14:00.
- Mind the opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00 to 19:00. At Easter and in summer (15 June to 13 September in 2026) it closes at 20:00, and on 24 and 31 December at 17:00.
- Check it's open that day. It's closed on Mondays, except listed ones: for the rest of 2026, 7 and 28 December. It's also closed on 25 December and 1 January.
- If you want to add the Fine Arts Museum, there's a combined adult ticket for €16.
Buy once your date is fixed: the museum states that tickets already issued are not refunded.
2. The museum box office
If you can't find a time online, you can try the box office, which sells while capacity lasts. It closes half an hour before the museum (18:30 on normal days) and the galleries are cleared a quarter of an hour before closing. In high season, go at the 10:00 opening, when it's quietest.
A tip if you're on a budget: on the last day of each temporary exhibition, from 16:00 to 19:00, tickets are 50% off. It does tend to be busier that day, though.
3. The free outdoor works
Even if you can't get in, you won't miss the building. Several works from the collection are outside and free to see:
- Puppy, by Jeff Koons, the flower dog greeting you in the entrance square.
- Maman, Louise Bourgeois's giant spider, on the terrace by the river.
- Fog Sculpture, by Fujiko Nakaya, also by the river: it comes on every hour, on the hour, for eight minutes.
- Tall Tree & the Eye, by Anish Kapoor, 73 mirrored steel spheres over the pond.
Walking round the museum along the riverside takes half an hour, and La Salve bridge gives you the best view of the building.
4. A guided tour with entry
When the official site doesn't have the time you want, tour operators usually still have places because they book their allocations ahead. You pay more than for the ticket alone, but you go in with the group at a fixed time and someone explains what you're looking at:
- Guided tour with entry (from €49): the top rated of the ones we link, covering the key works and the building. It's run in Spanish only, so it suits you if you're comfortable following a guide in Spanish.
- VIP small-group tour with entry (from €95): smaller groups, so you can ask questions and move round the galleries more easily.
Before paying, check the listing says "museum entry included" and read the cancellation policy: some tours only cover the outside.
Mistakes to avoid
- Buying from sites that look like the official one. The museum itself warns about ticket fraud. The official one is
guggenheim-bilbao.eus. - Turning up on a Monday without checking. It's closed on almost every Monday of the year and only opens on those listed in its calendar.
- Arriving at 18:30 expecting to get in. The box office has already closed and the galleries are cleared at 18:45.
- Buying before your date is fixed. Issued tickets aren't refunded.
In one sentence
If your time is full, try another on the official site or the box office at 10:00, and if you'd rather skip the queues book a guided tour with entry included; meanwhile Puppy, Maman and the fog can be seen for free from outside, and to plan the rest of your day see Bilbao in one day and our day trips from Bilbao.
