Most European museums close on Monday. This one closes on Tuesday, gives away every Wednesday for nothing, and occupies a Jesuit college that opened its doors in 1610, in the middle of Bilbao’s Old Town.
When is the Basque Museum in Bilbao free? Euskal Museoa Bilbao charges nothing on any Wednesday of the year and closes on Tuesdays. On other days a standard ticket costs €10, the reduced rate €5 and registered unemployed visitors pay €3. It opens 10am to 7pm, and on Sundays only 10am to 2.30pm.
Euskal Museoa Bilbao is the city’s museum of Basque history and culture, in the Old Town on Cruz street.
A free day that asks for nothing
Free museum days in Spain often come with a filter attached: a residency roll, a national ID card, a membership. Wednesday at the Euskal Museoa carries none, according to the museum, which labels the day simply as Museum Day.
That makes it unusually easy to use as a visitor. Turn up any Wednesday between 10am and 7pm, walk in, pay nothing. The only requirement worth remembering is that last admission is an hour before closing, so arriving at 6.30pm is arriving too late.
The counterpart to the free Wednesday is a closed Tuesday, and travellers assume the Monday closure that most of Europe runs on. Tuesday here is a locked door, which is worth checking against the rest of a museum itinerary.
Where it sits and what is inside
The site is the former Jesuit college and church of San Andrés, opened in 1610 on the Askao side of the Casco Viejo, Bilbao’s Old Town. After the Jesuits were expelled the building passed in 1775 to the city’s Santa Casa de Misericordia, which put bakeries, ovens and weaving workshops inside it, and turned the first cloister into a garden in 1832.
The core of the visit is a semi-permanent display on Basque history, heritage and culture. Around it the museum runs temporary work in two distinct spaces: the cloister, an arcaded courtyard at the centre of the building, and Kukula, used for contemporary commissions.
Two temporary shows share the building at present. Uhinak, by the artist Ra Asensi, occupies Kukula with a sculptural installation reworking the collection around the women tied to Basque pottery traditions. In the cloister, Bilboko Erraldoiak is given over to the city’s carnival giants.
The ticket bands, including one for the unemployed
A standard ticket costs €10 and the reduced rate €5, which as published by the Euskal Museoa covers under-26s, over-65s, students, large families and groups of more than ten people.
Beneath those sits a third band that rarely appears on a museum tariff sheet: €3 for people officially registered as unemployed, on production of proof.
Free admission is not limited to Wednesdays. It also applies permanently to under-18s, Friends of the museum, teachers with a professional card, ICOM-ICOMOS holders, working journalists, and disabled visitors together with their companion.
| Visitor | Price | Proof required |
|---|---|---|
| Standard adult | €10 | None |
| Under-26, over-65, student, large family | €5 | Card or document |
| Group of more than 10 people | €5 per person | Booking |
| Registered unemployed | €3 | Official document |
| Under-18 | Free | None |
| ICOM-ICOMOS, teacher or journalist card | Free | Professional card |
| Disabled visitor and companion | Free | Certificate |
What the name tells you before you arrive
Signage in Bilbao runs in Basque and Spanish, and the Euskal Museoa carries both names on the same façade: Euskal Museoa and Museo Vasco. Neither is a translation of a brand; they are the same institution in the two official languages of the Basque Country.
That pattern repeats across the city and is worth knowing at street level. The Old Town appears as Casco Viejo and as Zazpi Kaleak, the Seven Streets. Museum labels, opening notices and event listings can appear in Basque only, including some the museum publishes about its own programme.
For a visitor the practical consequence is small but real: search for the Basque form when the Spanish one returns nothing, because the institution’s own announcements are often posted that way first.
The nine days without a ticket desk
From 22 to 30 August the museum drops its admission charge entirely for the Aste Nagusia, the city’s summer festival week. Hours over those days run, according to the Euskal Museoa, 10am to 7pm Monday to Saturday, with two published exceptions: Friday 28 and Sunday 30, when it closes at 2pm.
The cloister exhibition changes character during that week. Each morning the giants leave the museum to parade through the Seven Streets and return to the cloister afterwards, where they stay on view for the rest of the day. A second generation of giants is displayed at the San Francisco archaeological site, at Conde Mirasol 2.
Buying, timing and going with children
Tickets are sold at the desk and online at the same price, with no booking fee either way. Each ticket allows one entry only, so leaving for lunch and coming back needs a second ticket, and refunds are not given unless the museum itself cannot deliver the service.
No booking is needed for a standard visit. Guided visits are the exception, since places are limited, and groups are handled separately up to 20 people.
Two rules apply to families. Under-12s must be accompanied by an adult who buys their own ticket, and each adult may bring in five under-12s at most. Everyone under 18 enters free anyway, so the cost of a family visit is the adults.
Picking your day
- Want it free, any week of the year → Wednesday, 10am to 7pm
- Only Tuesday available → the museum is closed, try the Itsasmuseum instead
- Sunday visitor → doors open 10am and close at 2pm
- Carrying an ICOM or teacher card → free entry any day, card at the desk
- Registered unemployed → €3 with official proof
- Travelling in late August → free entry from 22 to 30 for the festival week
The nearest comparison is the maritime museum on the estuary, which runs its free afternoon on Sunday and its resident day on Tuesday, set out in the guide to the Itsasmuseum Bilbao. The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao has no free day at all and charges €18 to an adult, as covered in the guide to Guggenheim tickets and hours.
Frequently asked questions about the Euskal Museoa
Which day is the Basque Museum in Bilbao free?
Every Wednesday, all day, for any visitor. No residency, age or membership is required, and the museum calls it Museum Day. On other days a standard ticket is €10 and the reduced rate €5.
Is the Euskal Museoa open on Tuesdays?
No. Tuesday is its weekly closing day. It opens Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 10am to 7pm, and Sundays and public holidays from 10am to 2pm, with last admission an hour before closing.
Do ICOM and teacher cards get in free at the Basque Museum?
Yes. ICOM-ICOMOS holders, teachers with a professional card, working journalists, museum Friends, under-18s, and disabled visitors with their companion all enter free of charge, on production of the relevant document.
What is the Basque Museum in Bilbao about?
It covers Basque history, heritage and culture through a semi-permanent display inside the former Jesuit college of San Andrés, opened in 1610 in the Old Town, alongside temporary exhibitions in its cloister and in a contemporary space called Kukula.
Can children visit the Euskal Museoa on their own?
Children under 12 must be accompanied by an adult who buys their own ticket, and each adult may bring in a maximum of five under-12s. Everyone under 18 enters free of charge regardless of the day.
A museum that closes on the day the rest of the city opens rewards anyone who reads the week before booking the flight.