Guggenheim Bilbao Tickets 2026: Prices, Free Entry & Booking Tips

The Guggenheim Bilbao is one of the most visited museums in Spain, and unlike the Prado or the Picasso Museum, it has no free evening window — whatever you've read elsewhere. It also changes its price depending on what's on view. Here's what you're actually paying, what you can genuinely see for free, and how to book without overpaying.

Ticket prices

The adult price is not fixed by season: it follows the exhibitions on view. On the museum's booking engine it was €18 adult (18–64) and €9 reduced on 6 October 2026, and €12 adult and €6 reduced from 13 October, the day after the Jasper Johns show closed. The reduced rate covers people over 65, pensioners, visitors with a disability, and students aged 18–25. Under 18: always free, but the ticket still has to be issued, so add them to your booking (must be accompanied by an adult if under 12).

Check the price on the museum's booking page before you commit — it shows the rate for the date you pick, and that rate is the one most guides get wrong.

The Combo ticket covers the Guggenheim and the Museo de Bellas Artes, which reopened on 6 October 2026. From 14 October to 11 November it costs €16 adult and €8 reduced, against €12 at each museum on its own, so it saves €8. You pick a timed Guggenheim slot and have four days either side to use the Bellas Artes. One exception: the Bellas Artes collections are free on Tuesdays, so if your second museum day is a Tuesday, buy the Guggenheim ticket alone.

Book at tickets.guggenheim-bilbao.eus. Tickets are timed — you choose a 30-minute entry window. Don't use third-party resellers; they charge more for the same ticket with no benefit.

When is it free?

It isn't — and this is worth getting straight. A lot of travel sites, and most AI assistants, will tell you the Guggenheim Bilbao is free on Tuesday evenings from 6:00 to 8:00 PM. It is not. We opened the museum's own booking engine on a Tuesday in July 2026 and priced the 18:00 slot: €18, the full adult rate, exactly like every other slot that week. The museum's own "Offers and Savings" page lists no free evening window either.

If you've budgeted your Bilbao trip around a free Tuesday, rebudget now.

What is actually discounted:

Last day of each temporary exhibition: 50% off from 4:00 to 7:00 PM. This is the only real discount window, and it's easy to miss because it depends on exhibition end dates rather than a fixed weekday. Check the museum's website for the closing date of whatever show you want to see.

17 and 18 October 2026: free entry for everyone for the museum's 29th anniversary. Tickets are released online from 14 October.

Under 18: free any day, any time — but they still need a ticket issued, so add them to your booking.

Seniors 65+, pensioners, visitors with a disability, and students 18–25: half price (€6 from 13 October 2026). A companion of a visitor with a disability enters free. Bring ID; it's checked at the door.

The rest of the city is a different story: three other Bilbao museums do have genuine free windows, including one that is free every Wednesday. Our guide to which Bilbao museums are worth your time maps the free days against the closing days, which is where most itineraries go wrong.

What are the Guggenheim Bilbao opening hours in 2026?

Tuesday to Sunday: 10:00–19:00. The museum extends to 20:00 during Easter week (March 30–April 12) and summer (June 15–September 13).

Closed most Mondays, with these exceptions: March 30, April 6, all Mondays from June 15 to September 7, October 12, December 7, December 28.

Closed 25 December and 1 January. On 24 and 31 December the museum closes at 17:00. Ticket desks close 30 minutes before the museum.

Best time to visit: Tuesday to Thursday at opening (10:00), or after 16:00 any weekday. The museum fills up between 11:00 and 14:00, especially on weekends and rainy days when locals also head indoors.

What's free outside

The exterior sculptures are publicly accessible at no cost, any day, any time. Jeff Koons' Puppy (a 12-metre dog covered in 60,000 flowers) is at the main entrance. Louise Bourgeois' Maman (a 9-metre bronze spider) is near the riverfront. Fujiko Nakaya's fog sculpture activates every hour for about eight minutes.

Frequently asked questions

How much are Guggenheim Bilbao tickets?

It depends on the date, because the price follows what is on view. The museum's booking engine charged €18 adult (€9 reduced: 65+, pensioners, students 18–25) on 6 October 2026 and €12 adult (€6 reduced) from 13 October, after the Jasper Johns show closed. Under 18 is free year-round, and on 17 and 18 October 2026 entry is free for everyone for the museum's 29th anniversary. The Combo ticket with the Museo de Bellas Artes costs €16 adult (€8 reduced) from 14 October to 11 November 2026, against €24 for the two tickets bought separately.

How much does Guggenheim Bilbao admission cost?

General admission varies by date: €18 on 6 October 2026, €12 from 13 October, as priced on the museum's booking engine. That one ticket covers everything inside — the permanent collection and every temporary exhibition, with no extra charge per show. Reduced admission is half (€9 or €6: 65+, pensioners, students 18–25); under-18s enter free. The Combo ticket adds the Museo de Bellas Artes for €16 in total (14 October to 11 November 2026), which saves €8 if you visit both on a day the Bellas Artes charges.

When is Guggenheim Bilbao free?

There is no regular free entry day. Under-18s are free year-round, though they still need a ticket. On 17 and 18 October 2026 the whole museum is free for its 29th anniversary, with tickets released from 14 October. On the last day of each temporary exhibition, admission is 50% off from 4:00 to 7:00 PM.

Is the Guggenheim Bilbao free on Tuesdays?

No. This is the most persistent myth about the museum, repeated across travel sites and AI answers. We checked the official booking engine on a Tuesday in July 2026: the 18:00 slot charges the full €18 adult rate, same as any other day. The Guggenheim Bilbao has no free Tuesday evening window. You may be thinking of other Spanish museums — the Prado and Reina Sofía do run free evening slots.

Do you need to book in advance?

Yes, and the reason isn't the queue. Entry is by timed slot, so the question isn't whether you'll get in but whether you'll get in at the hour you planned. Turn up at 11:30 on a July Saturday without a booking and you may be offered 15:00, which rearranges your whole day in a city you're only in for two.

When you genuinely need to book ahead: weekends from June to September, Easter week, and any day it's raining, which in Bilbao is a lot of them. Also the final day of a temporary exhibition, when the 50% discount from 16:00 pulls in a local crowd on top of the visitors.

When you can reasonably walk up: a weekday morning outside summer, especially Tuesday or Wednesday at opening. The museum takes 1.3 million visitors a year, but they're not spread evenly, and a wet February Tuesday is a different building from an August Saturday.

Book on the museum's own site, tickets.guggenheim-bilbao.eus. There's no markup, the slots are the real ones, and admission already includes the audio guide. Resellers charge more for the identical ticket, and some sell tours rather than entry, which is a different product at four or five times the price.

One detail that catches families out: under-18s enter free, but the ticket still has to be issued. Add them to the booking or you'll be sorting it out at the desk while your slot runs.

What are the opening hours?

Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00–19:00. Extended to 20:00 during Easter week (March 30–April 12) and summer (June 15–September 13). Closed most Mondays, plus 25 December and 1 January. On 24 and 31 December it closes at 17:00.

For what to see once you're inside, the Guggenheim Bilbao guide covers the key works, the best route, and what most visitors miss.