San Mamés
“La Catedral” (53,331 seats) meets FIFA standards, but Bilbao has set out its conditions and has to make up its mind before November 2026.
🇪🇸 Spain · 1 stadium
Bilbao
San Mamés sits in the city centre, but there is no high-speed line from Madrid (4 h 45 min at best) and the city’s participation is still conditional.
Bilbao and its 53,331-seat San Mamés have formed a joint Basque bid with San Sebastián since June 2026 (two matches per stadium). The city has set out conditions for FIFA and has to decide before November 2026.
Getting there
Train from Madrid: 4 h 47 min at best, 6 hours on average, 4 trains a day (no high-speed line). ALSA buses from €12.90, 4 h 10 min to 5 h 20 min, 14 departures a day. Loiu airport is 12 km away (A3247 bus).
Getting around
Metro (zone 1: €2.00 in cash, €1.02 with a Barik card), tram and Bilbobus buses. San Mamés has its own metro station (lines 1 and 2).
Don’t miss
- Guggenheim Museum — The Frank Gehry building that transformed the city (guggenheim-bilbao.eus).
- Casco Viejo and the Ribera market — The “seven streets” and a covered market billed as one of the largest in Europe, with pintxos everywhere.
- Fine Arts Museum — From Goya to Bacon, next to Doña Casilda park.
Sources
Last checked : 30 August 2026