Every night line in Bilbao carries a G and ends in the same place. Not most of them. All eight. Once you know which square that is, a network of 45 lines turns into a single instruction, and the map stops mattering.
How does the night bus work in Bilbao? Bilbobus runs eight night lines, G1 to G8, and Bilbao city council lists every one of them as ending at Plaza Circular. A journey costs €0.73 with a Barik card against €1.70 paid on board. The metro itself runs to 2am only on winter Fridays and Saturdays.
Bilbobus is the city council’s urban bus operator, running 45 lines across 538 stops inside the Bilbao municipal boundary.
Eight spokes, one hub
Read the night lines by their full names and the shape of the network appears: G1 Arabella-Plaza Circular, G2 Otxarkoaga-Plaza Circular, G3 Larraskitu-Plaza Circular, G4 La Peña-Plaza Circular, G5 Miribilla-Plaza Circular, G6 Zorrotza-Plaza Circular, G7 Mina del Morro-Plaza Circular and G8 Arangoiti-Plaza Circular.
Not one of them links two districts to each other. Each runs from a neighbourhood to the square and back. That makes Plaza Circular the place any night journey is decided from: stand there and eight corridors are open to you; stand anywhere else and the first job is reaching it.
For a visitor the consequence is useful rather than limiting. Nightlife concentrates in the Old Town and the Ensanche, and the square sits within walking distance of both, so the hub is where you already are.
What happens when the metro stops
The metro closes at 23:00 and stretches to 02:00 on Fridays and Saturdays in winter according to Getxo Town Council, which publishes the timetable the operator’s own site does not render. The Gautxori exists for the hours and the hillsides that leaves uncovered.
That division matters because Bilbao is built on slopes. Districts such as Arabella, Larraskitu, Mina del Morro and La Peña sit above the valley floor where the three lines of Metro Bilbao run, and no rail service reaches them at any hour. What each of those lines does cover is set out in the guide to Bilbao metro lines and the tram. The night bus is not a fallback there; it is the only service.
Bilbobus also posts one-off shuttle notices for concerts, with lines that do not appear among the regular 45 and exist only for that night.
Two buses climb to Artxanda
Two of the 45 lines reach the top of Mount Artxanda, and they go largely unnoticed because the funicular takes all the attention. A7 links Artxanda with the Arenal, and E5 connects Plaza del Funicular with Artxanda.
The price gap is the reason to know them. A Bilbobus journey costs €0.73 on Creditrans with a Barik card, or €1.70 paid on board according to the Consorcio de Transportes de Bizkaia, against the €3.50 single fare the municipal funicular operator charges. Whether the card pays for itself is worked through in the guide to the Barik card. Going up by bus with a card costs under a quarter of the funicular ticket.
What you give up is the ride itself. The funicular is short and has the view; the bus is a bus. Coming down, or going up with a pushchair or a bicycle, the bus route wins without a queue.
| Way up to Artxanda | Fare | Runs | Trade-off |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bilbobus with Barik | €0.73 | Daytime, lines A7 and E5 | An ordinary bus, no view |
| Bilbobus paid on board | €1.70 | Daytime, lines A7 and E5 | Same ride, double the fare |
| Funicular single | €3.50 | Daily, from Plaza del Funicular | Queues at peak, three-minute ascent |
Reading the line numbers
Bilbobus does not number its 45 lines in one sequence. It sorts them into families you can recognise from the prefix alone, which saves searching the wrong list.
- Plain numbers, 01 to 88 — the daytime trunk network, such as 11 Deustu-Atxuri, 18 San Ignacio-Zorrotza and 38 Otxarkoaga-Intermodal
- A for auzolinea, nine lines — neighbourhood routes for the slopes, including A4 Zorrotzaurre-Deustu and A7 Artxanda-Arenal
- E for special — venue and corridor services such as E5 Plaza del Funicular-Artxanda and E7 Abando-Bilbao Arena
- G for Gautxori, eight lines — the night network, all bound for Plaza Circular
- BT — the Bus Turístico, a sightseeing route rather than a transport line
The prefix also tells you when a line runs. An E may only operate on event days, and a G only after dark, so a line existing on the map is not the same as a line existing tonight.
Seasons, and why Aste Nagusia is not separate
Bilbobus runs on seasons, and its own timetable search asks you to pick one before it will show any departure. The summer season began on 1 July and includes Aste Nagusia, the August festival week, inside the same timetable rather than as a separate arrangement.
The customer office changes hours too. In winter it opens Monday to Friday 7:30 to 20:00 and Saturdays 9:00 to 14:00, closing Sundays and public holidays. In July and August it runs Monday to Friday 8:00 to 15:00, five hours less each day and no Saturday opening.
The network in numbers
For scale, Bilbobus carried 23,783,929 passengers across 6,383,877 kilometres in the last published year. Spread over its 45 lines and 538 stops, that works out at roughly 528,000 passengers per line and more than 44,000 kilometres per stop.
Of those 45 lines, 8 exist purely for the hours when the metro is shut and 9 are auzolineas built for the slopes, so 17 of the total serve terrain or times the three metro lines cannot reach at a fare of €0.73 with a card.
Frequently asked questions about the Bilbao night bus
Where do Bilbao night buses depart from?
Plaza Circular, for all eight of them. Bilbao City Council lists the Gautxori lines as G1 Arabella, G2 Otxarkoaga, G3 Larraskitu, G4 La Peña, G5 Miribilla, G6 Zorrotza, G7 Mina del Morro and G8 Arangoiti, each paired with the same square.
Can I get between two Bilbao neighbourhoods at night by bus?
Not directly. Every night line runs between one district and Plaza Circular, and none links two districts to each other, so any cross-city trip after the metro closes means two buses and a change in the square, even between neighbours.
What does the G stand for on Bilbao bus numbers?
Gautxori, the name of the night service. Bilbobus groups its 45 lines by prefix: plain numbers for regular daytime routes, A for the nine neighbourhood auzolineas, E for special services to venues, and G for the eight night lines.
Is there a bus up to Artxanda instead of the funicular?
Two of them. Line A7 links Artxanda with the Arenal and line E5 connects Plaza del Funicular with Artxanda. A bus ride costs €0.73 on a Barik card against the €3.50 single fare the municipal funicular operator charges.
A network with eight spokes and one hub does not need to be memorised. Find the square and the rest follows.