The emblematic hundred-year-old funicular railway of Bilbao

Visit free of charge

Saturdays at 11:30 from Plaza del Funicular. Duration: 90 minutes

SERVICE AND OPENING HOURS

Every 15 minutes:

Weekdays: 07:15 – 22:00

Public holidays: 08:15 – 22:00

The Artxanda Funicular was inaugurated in 1915 and is a major emblem of Bilbao. It links Campo Volantín (on the river) with Monte Artxanda, a hill with some of the best views of Bilbao. The cog railway ascends the 770 metres to the viewpoint of Artxanda, one of the best-known and popular views over Bilbao, after a trip of just 3 minutes.

The idea of implementing a funicular to link the city with the nearby hill was by an engineer from San Sebastian, Evaristo San Martín y Larraz, who wrote to Bilbao City Council in 1913 with the idea of ‘building a great park on Mount Archanda, in the ‘sky’ of Bilbao that could serve [as a place of] healthy expansion and recreation for the people of the city, a series of buildings and a funicular railway that, starting from the side of the public abattoir in Calle Castaños, would facilitate access to these amenities’.

The train has only stopped running on two occasions over the years: during the siege of Bilbao in the Civil War after its tracks and station had been bombed, and in 1976 following an accident caused by a change of cables; nobody was seriously injured.

Nowadays the Funicular de Artxanda is an emblem of Bilbao. Although the fun fair at the top no longer exists, Artxanda has consolidated itself as a leisure area with a variety of restaurants and recreational facilities. Particularly popular are the public swimming pools, the football pitch and the bars and restaurants located on top of the hill.