Getxo (tours to Bilbao) cruise port, Spain
Basque country, at the mouth of the river up to Bilbao. The Vizcaya Bridge here is the oldest transporter bridge in the world, opened in 1893: rather than a deck, it hangs a gondola from a girder and shuttles cars across, and it is a World Heritage site for it.
Worth knowing. It has been carrying people for over 130 years, including through the Civil War, when the span was blown up and then put back. The crossing takes about ninety seconds.
What to do in Getxo (tours to Bilbao) for free
The bridge is three kilometres down the front, about forty minutes on foot, and the free port bus to Areeta station puts you beside it. Standing underneath and watching it work costs nothing. The seafront at Getxo runs past a line of mansions the shipping families built when this was where the money lived.
What costs money
The ship's own excursions usually cost more than booking the same trip yourself. Two things come with the price. The ship waits for its own excursions and does not wait for you. And if the port is missed, P&O refunds its own without you asking. A trip you booked yourself is a claim on your travel insurance, so check what your policy covers. The ship sells its own trips to all of these, and the desk is open on board if you would rather do it that way.
Bilbao and the Guggenheim. The metro from Neguri or Gobela, a walk from the ship, runs into the city in about twenty minutes. Moyua station is the one for the Guggenheim and Casco Viejo is the one for the old town.
Crossing on the bridge itself. You ride over on the platform with the cars, or you go up in the lift and walk back along the top of the span. The walkway is open grating and it is fifty metres above the water.
Which ship calls at Getxo (tours to Bilbao), and when
Every call here between 15 August and 28 November 2026, with the hours ashore P&O published. These times are a guide, not a promise: the captain gives the real ones the day before.
| Ship | Sails | Day | Ashore |
|---|---|---|---|
| Iona | 29 August 2026, 7 nights | Day 3 | 08:00 to 16:30 |
| Iona | 17 October 2026, 7 nights | Day 6 | 09:00 to 19:00 |
| Iona | 24 October 2026, 7 nights | Day 3 | 08:00 to 17:00 |
| Arvia | 11 April 2027, 14 nights | Day 10 | 08:00 to 17:00 |
| Arvia | 18 April 2027, 7 nights | Day 3 | 08:00 to 17:00 |
| Arvia | 23 May 2027, 7 nights | Day 3 | 08:00 to 17:00 |
| Arvia | 30 May 2027, 7 nights | Day 3 | 08:00 to 17:00 |
| Arvia | 1 August 2027, 7 nights | Day 3 | 08:00 to 17:00 |
| Arvia | 8 August 2027, 7 nights | Day 3 | 08:00 to 17:00 |
| Arvia | 15 October 2027, 7 nights | Day 3 | 08:00 to 17:00 |
| Iona | 23 October 2027, 7 nights | Day 4 | 08:00 to 17:00 |
| Arvia | 26 March 2028, 7 nights | Day 3 | 08:00 to 17:00 |
| Arvia | 26 March 2028, 14 nights | Day 3 | 08:00 to 17:00 |
| Arvia | 2 April 2028, 14 nights | Day 10 | 08:00 to 17:00 |
| Arvia | 9 April 2028, 7 nights | Day 3 | 08:00 to 17:00 |
| Arvia | 9 April 2028, 14 nights | Day 3 | 08:00 to 17:00 |
| Arvia | 16 April 2028, 14 nights | Day 10 | 08:00 to 17:00 |
| Arvia | 23 April 2028, 7 nights | Day 3 | 08:00 to 17:00 |
| Arvia | 23 April 2028, 14 nights | Day 3 | 08:00 to 17:00 |
| Arvia | 30 April 2028, 14 nights | Day 10 | 08:00 to 17:00 |
| Arvia | 7 May 2028, 7 nights | Day 3 | 08:00 to 17:00 |
| Arvia | 7 May 2028, 14 nights | Day 3 | 08:00 to 17:00 |
| Arvia | 14 May 2028, 14 nights | Day 10 | 08:00 to 17:00 |
| Arvia | 21 May 2028, 7 nights | Day 3 | 08:00 to 17:00 |
| Arvia | 21 May 2028, 14 nights | Day 3 | 08:00 to 17:00 |
| Arvia | 28 May 2028, 14 nights | Day 10 | 08:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 4 June 2028, 7 nights | Day 3 | 08:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 4 June 2028, 14 nights | Day 3 | 08:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 11 June 2028, 14 nights | Day 10 | 08:00 to 17:00 |
| Arvia | 18 June 2028, 7 nights | Day 3 | 08:00 to 17:00 |
| Arvia | 18 June 2028, 14 nights | Day 3 | 08:00 to 17:00 |
| Arvia | 25 June 2028, 14 nights | Day 13 | 08:00 to 17:00 |
| Arvia | 2 July 2028, 7 nights | Day 6 | 08:00 to 17:00 |
| Arvia | 2 July 2028, 14 nights | Day 6 | 08:00 to 17:00 |
| Arvia | 9 July 2028, 14 nights | Day 10 | 08:00 to 17:00 |
| Arvia | 16 July 2028, 7 nights | Day 3 | 08:00 to 17:00 |
| Arvia | 16 July 2028, 14 nights | Day 3 | 08:00 to 17:00 |
| Arvia | 23 July 2028, 14 nights | Day 10 | 08:00 to 00:00 |
| Arvia | 23 July 2028, 14 nights | Day 11 | 00:00 to 17:00 |
| Arvia | 30 July 2028, 7 nights | Day 3 | 08:00 to 00:00 |
| Arvia | 30 July 2028, 7 nights | Day 4 | 00:00 to 17:00 |
| Arvia | 30 July 2028, 14 nights | Day 3 | 08:00 to 00:00 |
| Arvia | 30 July 2028, 14 nights | Day 4 | 00:00 to 17:00 |
| Arvia | 6 August 2028, 14 nights | Day 10 | 08:00 to 17:00 |
| Arvia | 13 August 2028, 7 nights | Day 3 | 08:00 to 17:00 |
| Arvia | 13 August 2028, 14 nights | Day 3 | 08:00 to 17:00 |
| Arvia | 20 August 2028, 14 nights | Day 12 | 07:00 to 17:00 |
| Arvia | 27 August 2028, 7 nights | Day 5 | 07:00 to 17:00 |
| Arvia | 27 August 2028, 14 nights | Day 5 | 07:00 to 17:00 |
| Arvia | 3 September 2028, 14 nights | Day 10 | 08:00 to 17:00 |
| Arvia | 10 September 2028, 7 nights | Day 3 | 08:00 to 17:00 |
| Arvia | 10 September 2028, 14 nights | Day 3 | 08:00 to 17:00 |
| Arvia | 17 September 2028, 14 nights | Day 13 | 08:00 to 17:00 |
| Arvia | 24 September 2028, 7 nights | Day 6 | 08:00 to 17:00 |
| Arvia | 1 October 2028, 7 nights | Day 3 | 08:00 to 17:00 |
| Arvia | 8 October 2028, 7 nights | Day 3 | 08:00 to 00:00 |
| Arvia | 8 October 2028, 7 nights | Day 4 | 00:00 to 17:00 |
| Iona | 14 October 2028, 7 nights | Day 3 | 08:00 to 17:00 |
How long you get ashore in Getxo (tours to Bilbao)
The published times give you between about 8.5 and 17 hours alongside, depending on the sailing. Take off the time it takes a few thousand people to get off, and the time you need to be back on board before the ship leaves, and that is your day. P&O give the real hours the day before, and the all-aboard time is earlier than the departure time.
The other stops on these cruises
Every one of these is on at least one of the sailings that calls at Getxo (tours to Bilbao).
- AlesundThe whole town burned down in one night in January 1904 and was rebuilt at speed in Art Nouveau, with materials Kaiser Wilhelm II sent by ship.
- CherbourgTitanic's last call on mainland Europe, on the evening of 10 April 1912, and she never came alongside: tenders carried the passengers out to her.
- Cobh (tours to Cork)Titanic's last port of call, on 11 April 1912, when the town was called Queenstown.
- HaugesundNorway calls this its birthplace: Harald Fairhair, who pulled the country into one kingdom in the 870s, had his seat at Avaldsnes, just down the coast.
- HellesyltA waterfall runs straight through the middle of the village and into the fjord.
- KristiansandLaid out as a grid in 1641 by Christian IV of Denmark-Norway, who wanted a fortress town guarding the entrance to the Skagerrak and had one built on the sand at the river mouth.
- La CorunaThe Spanish Armada sailed from this harbour in 1588, and it is still guarded by the Tower of Hercules, a Roman lighthouse from about the year 100 which has never stopped working: the oldest one on earth still doing its job.
- La RochelleThree medieval towers stand at the mouth of the old harbour, and a chain was slung between two of them to shut the port at night.
- Le HavreFour fifths of the town was destroyed in September 1944 and Auguste Perret rebuilt the centre in reinforced concrete on a grid, which is now a World Heritage site, listed for the planning rather than for anything old.
- Le Verdon (for Bordeaux)The mouth of the Gironde, where the estuary meets the Atlantic, and a deep water quay built for cargo rather than for a town.
- OldenA village of a few hundred people at the head of Nordfjord, 100 km in from the open sea.
- SkjoldenThe innermost point of the Sognefjord, about 200 kilometres from open water.
- StavangerA herring and sardine-canning town that struck North Sea oil in 1969 and became Norway's richest city.
- VigoEurope's biggest fishing port by weight landed, and it smells honestly of it near the market.
Money and language in Spain
Euro (EUR, €). Cards are normal, though a small market stall or a taxi may want coins. The Canary Islands are Spain and use the euro too. Onboard is always charged in sterling, so this only matters ashore.
English is common in the ports and thinner a street back.
| English | Spanish | Say it |
|---|---|---|
| Hello | Hola | OH-la |
| Goodbye | Adiós | ah-DYOSS |
| How much? | ¿Cuánto cuesta? | KWAN-toh KWESS-ta |
| Thank you | Gracias | GRA-syass, and GRA-thyass on the mainland if you want to blend in |
| Please | Por favor | por fa-VOR |
Free, and it works with no internet. Give it the dates you sail and it works out your own stops and saves the street map for each one. It shows you round the ship too.
All the ports written up so far, the things to do before you sail, or the ship pages for Iona and Arvia.