Every summer in the third week of August, Bilbao goes into party mode for nine days, with concerts, theatre productions and different kinds of cultural activities taking place all across the city.
In this post we’ll explain what Aste Nagusia is and give you some tips and recommendations for making the most of Bilbao’s Big Week!
What is Aste Nagusia?
Bilbainos’ favourite part of the year, Aste Nagusia (Basque for ‘Big Week’ or ‘Great Week’) has been organised annually since 1978. The festivities always begin on the first Saturday after August 15 and last for nine days, this year starting on Saturday August 22.
The programme of events is varied and can essentially be split between day time and night time activities.
During the day, everything is more family orientated. There are traditional Basque dance and singing concerts, theatre workshops, food competitions, sports events, poetry recitals and much more.
However, once the sun sets, it’s a different beast. Every night at 22:30 huge crowds gather around the City Council building to watch massive firework displays (each night the firework show is based on a different country) before heading to the ‘txosnas’ (huge pop-up tent bars that normally have stages for concerts) to drink and party into the early hours with their friends.
Each txosna is managed by dedicated groups that usually have a particular social cause. For example, the ‘pinpilinpauxa’ txosna promotes LGBTQ+ rights.
Click here to see the events schedule for Aste Nagusia 2026. (In Spanish)
The Aste Nagusia organisers also set up an app to make sure you don’t miss out on any event.
Main traditions
The festivities kick off with a ceremony called the ‘txupinazo’ outside the Arriaga Theatre. Two special guests, a famous personality from Bilbao and one of the festival organisers, are joined on the theatre’s balcony by Marijaia (a four-foot tall puppet inspired by an ancient Basque goddess called Anbotoko Mari). A flare is let off to signal the start of the party and the enormous crowd below goes wild whilst singing a song about Marijaia.
NOTE: If you want to attend the ‘txupinazo’, wear old clothes. When the flare goes off, the crowds respond by throwing wine, flour, glitter and powdered paint into the air. It’s fun, but it gets messy!
The festival’s ending also involves Marijaia. The puppet floats down the river on a platform and is set on fire.
A lot of people celebrate Aste Nagusia by wearing traditional Basque clothing. For women the costume consists of a long skirt, a blouse, a neckerchief and espadrilles, while men wear long trousers, a waist sash and a txapela (beret). Specially-made neckerchiefs are produced for the week and everyone wears one even if they don’t decide to go all out with the traditional clothing.
In general, Aste Nagusia is a fantastic time to learn more about Basque culture. You’ll have the opportunity to see Basque dancers, giant puppets, bertsolaris (Basque improv poets), Basque sports like pelota vasca, stone drilling (Harri Zulaketa) and wood chopping (Aizkolaritza), and so much more.
Transport during Aste Nagusia
Bear in mind that traffic is cut off in many parts of the city during Bilbao’s Big Week, especially around Gran Via and Arenal. However, the metro system does run 24/7 for the entire nine days.
