Bilbao and its metropolitan area make up a strategic enclave with excellent transport links and infrastructures. The new Metropolitan area of Bilbao, which includes Barakaldo, has undergone a remarkable transformation in terms of services and quality of life. Top ranking architects including Norman Foster, Cesar Pelli and Santiago Calatrava have changed the face of the city and its river estuary, turning it into a high profile international centre for trade, tourism and culture in Europe. A new system of dual carriageways, a new airport and a mainline station located in the city centre and linked to the Metro network, mean that the Bilbao Exhibition Centre is extraordinarily easy to get to.

There are several excellent hotels close to the BEC! World-renowned chains such as Meliá designer-built hotels such as the Silken Gran Hotel Domine Bilbao, Miró and Novotel, and classics such as the López de Haro, Carlton, Silken Indautxu or Ercilla are among the members of the Destino Bilbao association. In the wake of the city’s urban regeneration plan, Bilbao now has a great many new attractions including several new shopping centres, public buildings and renovated industrial buildings, modern residential areas and green spaces centred on the river, plus of course the Guggenheim Museum. The Bilbao Exhibition Centre stands in a privileged location on the Atlantic Rim of Europe, on the axis between Bordeaux (France) and Porto (Portugal) along the north-west of the Iberian Peninsula, which is the centre’s main hinterland.

With its extensive road network, an international airport just 20 km away and a nearby sea port, and with Bilbao city centre just 10 minutes away on the Metro, the Centre is exceptionally well connected.