Entertainment in Aragón, Basque Country & Navarra
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Bar Corto Maltés
Calle del Temple, southwest of Plaza del Pilar, is the spiritual home of Zaragoza’s roaring nightlife. This is where the city’s considerable student population heads out to drink and there are more bars lined up along this street than anywhere else in Aragón. It’s the sort of street that you can wander down as late as 11pm and wonder if the action has moved elsewhere – no, it hasn’t yet arrived and doesn’t really get going until well after midnight. On this street, Bar Corto Maltés is always full and one of the favourites.
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Quo Vadis
You don’t need to be as sleek and cool as the bar staff or as shiny as the Modernista decor at this smart but easy-going bar to feel welcome here. There’s a great friendly mood to go with the background music that ranges from 1970s and ’80s to indie, but never too far from rock. It opens during the day for breakfast and snacks. To get here, walk southwest along Paseo de la Independencia, then turn right onto Calle de Cádiz and follow it to the end.
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Kafe Antzokia
This is the vibrant heart of contemporary Basque Bilbao, featuring international rock bands, blues and reggae, but also the cream of Basque rock-pop. Weekend concerts run from 10pm to 1am, followed by DJs until 5am. Cover charge for concerts can range from about €10 upwards. During the day it's a cafe, restaurant and cultural centre all rolled into one and has frequent exciting events on.
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Mesón del Caballo Blanco
Country comes to town at this enduring favourite. It's in a converted church just inside the city wall to the north of the cathedral. Inside and out you have a charming sense of escaping claustrophobic city streets and the across-country views are refreshing. It also does decent food and fairly good wine.
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Café Iruña
Opened on the eve of Sanfermines in 1888, Café Iruña's dominant position, powerful sense of history and frilly belle-époque decor make this by far the most famous and popular watering hole in the city. As well as caffeine and alcohol, it also has a good range of pintxos and light meals.
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Bars
Calle de Espoz y Mina and Calle Mayor, a stone's throw from Plaza del Pilar, have plenty of varied bars from which to choose. There's a satisfying buzz round the Plaza del Carmen area in the newer part of town where a string of café-bars and restaurants keeps things lively day and night.
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La Rotonda
Be bright, beautiful and be ready to swerve well into the morning at this ultra-smooth dance venue, right at beach level below the Paseo. Nothing much happens until after midnight when things start strolling with soul followed by Spanish rock. By 04:00 harder techno house takes over.
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Euskalduna Palace
About 600m downriver from the Guggenheim is another modernist gem, built on the riverbank in a style that echoes the great shipbuilding works of the 19th century. The Euskalduna houses the Bilbao Symphony Orchestra and the Basque Symphony Orchestra.
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Estación del Silencio
Paying homage to local music heroes Los Héroes de Silencio, this bar blends rock memorabilia with a mixed, dressed-down crowd of local celebrities. It's a real Zaragoza love-in, which makes up for it being a fair hike south of the centre.
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El Cantor de Jazz
This popular place pays heavy tribute, by its name alone, to the first film talkie. A nice selection of jazzy instruments is part of the décor and the sounds are a mix of blues, R&B and even a bit of jazz, with occasional live turns.
reviewed
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Zen Gong Café
This place wouldn’t look out of place in Madrid or Barcelona, with stylish decor, weird-and-wonderful lighting and a breadth of atmospheres from breakfast cafe to lunchtime wine bar and then on into pop, house and even drag acts by night.
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El Balcón de la Lola
One of Bilbao's most popular mixed gay-and-straight clubs, this is the place to come if you're looking for hip industrial decor and a packed Saturday-night disco. It's located under the railway lines – look for the Betty Boo pictures.
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Be Bop
Grind your hips in this sultry bar-club, tricked out in bright red, green and cream and burnished by the evening sun. Cheesy pop anthems kick off the night, salsa turns things sexy later on and regular guest DJs add spice.
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Herria Bar
Basque Donostia flies the flag with enthusiastic style in many of the bars in Juan de Bilbao. Drinks are fairly cheap here. Herria's name (the Nation) says it all, as do the sloganeering T-shirts for sale behind the bar.
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M.A.D
Musica, Arte and, well, we’re not sure what the ‘D’ stands for, but otherwise it does what it says on the label. Alternative music blasts day and night, and photos and psychedelic art adorn the blood-red walls.
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Dioni's
More a spot for a black coffee in the early hours, this relaxed and very gay-friendly place has an '80s cocktail-bar ambience and is the perfect spot in which to watch the Eurovision Song Contest.
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Exo
You don't need to be as sleek and cool as the bar staff or as shiny as the modernist decor at this smart but easygoing bar. There's a great friendly mood to go with the background Spanish rock.
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Arriaga Theatre
The Baroque façade of this venue commands the open spaces of El Arenal between the Casco Viejo and the river. Regular performances of dance, opera and drama are scheduled in this theatre.
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Rock & Blues Café
Rock ‘n’ roll paraphernalia and homage to the likes of Jimi Hendrix set the tone for the music and style of this long-standing favourite. There’s live pop, rock or blues on Thursdays at 10pm.
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Bar Ondarra
Head over to Gros for this terrific bar that's just across the road from the beach. There's a great chilled-out mixed crowd and, in the rockin' downstairs bar, every kind of sound gets aired.
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La Casa del Loco
Hugely popular, especially when there's a live band playing. It's mostly rock with a mixed young-retro crowd. After the bands go home, DJs ensure that things get really lively until late.
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Paradys
There are a couple of gay clubs just south of Paseo de María Augustin. Paradys is a friendly, stylish place, where red satin curtains separate the bar from the crowded dance floor.
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Oasis
A few streets west of the old centre, Oasis began life long ago as a variety theatre. It’s currently going strong as a club with good techno house, but with a bit of ‘anything goes’.
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Kamin
Laid-back listening in rosy light among the Bilbao cognoscenti. The music trails sweetly through everything from rock and pop to alternative and fresh new sounds on the Basque scene. To get there head down Calle Ercilla from Plaza de Federico Moyua, turn right onto Alameda de Urquijo and it's three blocks down on the right.
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Soma 107
Amsterdam in Donostia. Very laid-back venue where just hovering round the streetside hatch can get your mind drifting and where the creative interior is in keeping with the vibe.
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