Calle Ledesma is a long, vibrant pedestrian street full of great bars and restaurants serving fantastic pintxos.
Below we recommend three of our favourite pintxo spots along this famed road as well as some other places worth seeing.
How to get to Calle Ledesma
A famous pedestrian street packed with bars and restaurants, Calle Ledesma runs parallel to Bilbao’s main road, Gran Vía, for most of the stretch from Plaza Moyua up to Areatza Bridge, which connects Abando with Casco Viejo.
Getting to Calle Ledesma via public transport is extremely easy. The simplest option is to get the metro to Abando and then take the Berastegui exit, which will leave you right at the bottom of the street.
If you don’t fancy getting on the metro you can also get a bus. There are four stops on Gran Via on the section which goes from El Corte Inglés up until Plaza Biribila (Abando Roundabout). Check out the map below to see which lines stop there.
Where to eat and drink
If you’re going to Ledesma, the perfect plan is to do a sort of crawl from the top down or the bottom up, stopping off in several bars for pintxos and kañas (beers) along the way.
However, you should bear in mind that Ledesma has become quite touristy and it’s slightly more pricey than going into a random bar in another neighbourhood. It’s also a popular nightlife spot and gets very busy between 7pm to 11pm, especially from Thursday to Saturday.
Ledesma is split into three sections due to the roads and paths that cut through it. We’re going to focus on the main part, the middle section. But we’ll also give you some tips for the other two sections.
Bar El Ledesma
A Calle Ledesma classic, Bar El Ledesma (shown in the cover image) is about halfway down the middle segment of the street. The staff are kind and attentive and there’s a great selection of pintxos and tortillas de patata (Spanish omelette).
Be aware that the bar can get quite busy around lunchtime and in the evening.
The bar recently had one of its pintxos nominated for best traditional pintxo in the Bizkaia Championships. The pintxo consists of two small portions of black pudding coated in breadcrumbs stacked together and skewered on top of a local red pepper.
Cafeteria Visenta
Located at the top of the middle section, Visenta is more modern spot than Bar Ledesma. But the pintxos are still top notch. If you’re into seafood ask to try the sea urchin.
Restaurante Atseden
One of the first bars on the left after coming up from the metro station. They serve a huge, and delicious, ham croquette. One of our favourite things about Atseden is that they have extra seating inside the restaurant at the back. It’s perfect if you’re looking for a chill place to hang while getting a pintxo and a coffee.
Other suggestions
There are some fantastic bars at very top of Ledesma. It’s not a pintxo bar as such, but Magnum is worth checking out. They specialise in wines and Spanish cold meats.
A couple of doors down from Magnum, you have El Puertito de Ledesma, which is similar to Magnum, but serves oysters.
When you get to street level after coming up from the metro, instead of turning left onto Ledesma, go straight ahead for two more great bars. First on your right is Pepi&To, where they serve extraordinary pepito sandwiches. Get the ‘original’ and then try the rest!
Not far from Pepi&To, up on the left before crossing the road to Jardines de Albia you’ll see Cafe Iruña, one of Bilbao’s oldest and most iconic eateries. Head inside, get a coffee and a slice of tortilla and let yourself be entranced by the tiled art covering walls. Iruña is also famous for selling extremely tasty ‘pintxos morunos’ (lamb shish kebabs) in the evening.
