Cycling UK Forum

Has anyone done this? By what method?
I've found out that local buses will take bikes but I doubt if the bus driver would be happy if 2 loaded bikes got on and tbh I don't fancy carrying a bike up the steps of a coach and then that narrow turn into the passenger area. Even without steps it would be difficult.
There is a metro but no airport station.

So it looks like a bike ride of 15km. I can find a route online but it'll be busy and the highway bit looks bad, not something I'd choose to ride. Hopefully there's a quieter way.

I've ridden from Bilbao airport to Mundaka on the coast which is in the opposite direction!
However, from what I remember it was a small airport and easy to out of. I am flying back fro there is June and plan to ride to the airport.

I did a route from the airport to the city centre on Cycle Travel and it looked OK, give it a try.

http://cycle.travel/map.

Yes, I've done this, albeit a few years ago now. Had a very basic streetplan of Bilbao and bumbled our way to the centre where we stopped the night before catching a local train out to the Picos the next morning (well that was the plan, but the train only went halfway, where we transferred to a train replacement bus. The driver hardly batted an eyelid and slid our fully laden touring bikes in the hold, under the bus). The river through Bilbao was jolly useful for getting our bearings. If any of the city roads appear a bit dangerous just get off and walk a while. So long as you are not in a rush you will be fine.

As Woof says try the cycle.travel planner. Small quiet roads although would recommend double checking the early sections on Google map and streetview. The N-663 out of the airport soon becomes an Autovia on which cycles are not allowed although the signs are absent travelling from the airport. So turn off at the BI-3737 junction about 400m after leaving the airport.

As burroc say cycles go under the bus

That's interesting. I've read that local buses, just like here, don't have luggage storage underneath but you can take bikes on the buses proving you strap them in with a seatbelt. We'll check them out when we arrive. Longer distance buses are coaches.
I've plotted a course with cycle.travel which is surprisingly good. I checked out dodgy bits of road with streetview and its mainly ok apart from the bit where you go down a flight of steps, through an underpass then up steps so I altered that and other small bits. Lots of bike paths. A lot easier than the average UK city.
We're hiring a car for 2 days to drive along the coast to San Sebastion as a holiday. Leaving SB for Hendaye on bike is okay until you get to a long hill on the narrow main road full of trucks. There's a quieter road which I'm surprised that c.t didn't route along. Of course you can catch the train to avoid all that.