The best pastry shops Bilbao

For more than 100 years, this tea room has been delighting gourmands at breakfast or snack time. Try the house's speciality, carolinas, a delicious meringue pastry.

Just a stone's throw from the Teatro Arriaga, a pretty retro décor for a sweet break based on home-made biscuits and cakes. Among these sweets, classic or international recipes, refined pastries and a fine selection of Basque specialities: tiramisu, scones, bollos de mantequilla (typical Bilbao brioche), Basque cake, cheese or carrot cake... All to be enjoyed in a pretty stone setting with coffee, hot chocolate or fresh fruit juice. Unmistakable: the hojaldre (puff pastry cake)!

The first Martina pastry shop in Zuricalday dates back to 1830. It is therefore today the oldest artisan pastry shop in the Basque Country. The sixth generation of the family now runs the four eponymous shops and continues to delight gourmets with its famous bollos de mantequilla (brioche with custard), cakes and other varied delicacies (macaroons, financiers, cupcakes, etc.). Other specialities from Bilbao include the Carolina (tartlet topped with a meringue-chocolate cone) and the bollo suizo (sugar brioche).

Since 1852, this pastry shop is an institution of the city. Its decoration, which has remained practically unchanged for a hundred years, preserves beautiful pieces of furniture such as this superb Carrara marble counter. A wide variety of cakes and chocolates have been delighting Bilbao's people for generations, but the house's great specialty is the chocolate truffle, whose traditional preparation has remained unchanged for decades. Sold in boxes and assortments, it is a good souvenir idea for your greedy friends!