Bilbao, verdict by verdict

Bilbao is the comeback story that actually worked: an industrial port that bet on architecture and food and won. The Guggenheim is the headline, Gehry's titanium curves wrapping a cathedral-like atrium, but the real pleasure is the package: a handsome, walkable city where the pintxos bar is a way of life and even the 1909 warehouse the Azkuna Zentroa occupies got Starcked into 43 different columns. Ride the Artxanda funicular at dusk for the whole bowl of the city, the river curve and the museum in one frame.

The catches are weather and scale. Green Spain earned its name and rain can fall in any month; the funicular panorama is weather-hostage, a paid ride to look at fog on a clouded ridge. The monument list beyond the museum is short, so travelers wanting monument-dense classic Spain should look to Seville or Granada, and reports are split on the Guggenheim's art versus its architecture. The pintxos crawl is the nightlife, and the Casco Viejo's weekend bar noise runs late. Guided pintxos tours decode the etiquette beautifully but cost roughly three do-it-yourself crawls.

Two to three days covers the centre, the regenerated riverside, Casco Viejo's Seven Streets and the funicular, with San Sebastian and San Juan de Gaztelugatxe, zigzag staircase and all, as the standout day trips. Sleep in Abando or the Ensanche for the connected, quiet base. Mid-August's Semana Grande is wonderful and crowded. Bilbao suits food-first travelers and anyone who roots for a second act.