As days are getting longer, the conditions are ideal for going on a day trip to one of our coastal towns, catching the first rays of the season on our beaches, walking across the rural interior areas and their neighbourhoods to explore hundreds of corners full of history, taking your backpack and following the paths of any of our beautiful regional nature parks, taking pleasure in the wonderful local cuisine, or discovering the secrets behind txakoli wine. You can live thousands of adventures at Easter thanks to everything Bilbao Biscay has to offer.

Something you cannot miss during the Holy Week in Biscay is the Living Passion in Balmaseda. Since the late 19th century, this tradition has evolved into a most impressive representation in which over 650 people take part. On Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, the town’s streets turn into a live stage. Here Jesus, the Apostles, the priests, Pilate, the Virgin, Mary Magdalene, the thieves, and other characters who were part of the story of the Passion, are accompanied by the extraordinary performance given by background actors and Roman legionaries. We also recommend visiting the Balmaseda Living Passion Interpretation Centre, housed in the Convent of Santa Clara, to fully appreciate all the clothing, the Pasos (floats), items, images, and sounds that appear in the representation.

Traditions derived from the Passion of Christ are deep-rooted, not only in Balmaseda but in the entire Biscay. Towns such as Bermeo, Orduña, Durango, Berango, and Markina-Xemein–together with the neighbourhood of Arkotxa in Zaratamo–are also home to popular recreations of the Holy Week acted out by its inhabitants.

In the Biscayan capital, we can admire traditional Pasos and Holy Week processions that date back to as far as 1554, the time in which the arrival of a splinter from the True Cross prompted the foundation of the first confraternity in Bilbao. Over 460 years later, these solemn processions still take place today and they can be seen in the streets of the Botxo year after year. Amongst the most important processions that exist nowadays, we find the Procesión del Borriquito, held on Palm Sunday along at the Ensanche, or the Procesión del Nazareno, which traverses the Barrios Altos of the city accompanied by the fervent singing of saetas.

The Museo de Pasos in Bilbao, hidden on the popular Calle Iturribide in Casco Viejo, displays an interesting collection of Pasos, habits, insignias, and banners that belong to the confraternities in the city. The building that accommodates the museum has an interesting story too: it was built in the 18th century as a wine warehouse, later served as a coal bunker, and ended up being a donkey rental place–hence its name ‘La Burrera’.

Basque Fest, experience the Basque culture

Coinciding with the Easter holiday, Bilbao hosts the Bilbao basque FEST–the Basque Festival of Culture and Avant-garde–, an event intended for fun and to help spread Basque music, dances, street theatres, handicrafts, designs, and traditional sports.

More than 300 artists participate in this major Basque culture festival, in which over 30 venues are dotted all over the city. This is the perfect occasion to come to Bilbao and have five days of fun taking part in any of the events, organised for people of all ages, where you will have the chance to experience the best of our cuisine, culture, music, artisan products, designs, films, and sports. The Basque language has got a space in the festival too, featured in an exhibition where you can learn about the most common characteristics and expressions of this thousands-of-years-old language.

The locations at which some of the over 200 organised events will take place during the basque FEST are spectacular in themselves: the Azkuna Zentroa, an old wine warehouse converted into a striking cultural centre; the Plaza Nueva, the nerve centre of Casco Viejo in the heart of the city; Bilborock, an old church transformed into a temple of modern music; the Muelle de Marzana, a nice place for relaxing and having a snack sitting at one of its terraces with views over the Mercado de La Ribera; Artxanda, where there is a great vantage point of Bilbao accessible by funicular; or the Edificio Ensanche, once the main market of the most cosmopolitan area in Bilbao.

Doña Casilda Park, Etxebarria Park, the Arenal Kiosk, the Reproductions Museum Bilbao, the esplanade by the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, the Arriaga Theatre, some of the liveliest streets of the city, its hotels, and even the Esturay of Bilbao will accommodate different shows and activities for this open and plural festival, aiming to showcase the best of the Basque culture.