The Vizcaya Transporter Bridge

Opened in 1893 between Portugalete and Getxo, the Vizcaya bridge solved a specific problem: how to link two banks of a working river without blocking the ships using it. Alberto Palacio's answer was a high iron lattice on four towers with a gondola hung from cables below, which slides across in about a minute and a half carrying cars, bikes and people. It was the first bridge in the world built this way, and around a dozen transporter bridges survive globally, of which this is the oldest still in daily service. A lift takes visitors to the walkway forty five metres up, which is a separate ticket and a completely different experience.

What you actually see

• The gondola crossing - a suspended platform carrying cars and foot passengers over the river.
• The iron lattice - Palacio's riveted structure, engineered rather than styled.
• The high walkway - the upper deck, reached by lift, above the estuary traffic.
• The two banks - Portugalete's stepped old town on one side, Getxo's villas on the other.

When to go

Late spring to early autumn gives the best chance of clear estuary views, though Bilbao's weather is unreliable in any month. The walkway closes in high wind, which happens more often than you would expect. Crossings run from early morning to late at night, so an evening trip when the structure is lit is worth considering.

Honest expectations

The famous crossing lasts ninety seconds and costs small change, while the walkway ticket costs many times that for a view of docks, cranes and apartment blocks. The setting is a working industrial estuary, not scenery. It is windy and exposed up top, and beyond Getxo's promenade there is little else nearby to build a day around.

Nearby

Getxo's seafront promenade, Bilbao's old quarter and the beaches at Sopelana.