Only in English
Vizcaya Bridge / Puente Colgante or The Hanging Bridge
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Hours and Days of Operation for the Vizcaya Bridge Gondola: The gondola operates 24 hours a day; every eight minutes during the day and once an hour at night.
Elevators / lifts accessing the walkways at the top of the bridge open at 10am through 7pm (19.00) from November through March.
April through October the hours are 10am through 8pm (20.00) except for Friday and Saturday nights when evening hours are extended until 9pm (21.00).
July and August the hours are 9am through 8pm (20.00) except for Friday and Saturday nights when evening hours are extended until 9pm (21.00).
Admission for the Vizcaya Bridge Gondola: Pedestrian crossing on the gondola is 0.35€.
Admission for using the lifts to visit and cross the walkway at the top of the bridge: Adults: 7€; seniors and children aged 5 to 12: 5.6€; children under 5 years are free.
Tickets can be purchased on either side of the bridge.
The Vizcaya Bridge spans the River Nervión just after where the Bay of Biscay begins to flow into the river. The bridge also connects Getxo and Portugalete, two neighboring towns on either bank of the river. Both are about 12 kilometers / 7.5 miles north of Bilbao’s city center.
The Vizcaya Bridge, or Puente Colgante, translating into “Hanging Bridge” and how most people refer to it, is one of the world’s most unique bridges. The reddish steel structure is considered to be among Europe’s most important construction feats to come out of the Industrial Revolution. Listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site since 2006, the bridge serves as a monumental reminder of the area’s industrial past.
In the late 1800s, when the transporter bridge was constructed, the city of Bilbao was going through a period of growth fueled primarily by the ship building and mining industries. Ships packed with iron-ore would travel from Bilbao up the Nervión on their way to England. With an ever increasing amount of ocean going traffic, construction of a traditional bridge at the mouth of the bay would have been far too limiting, would have caused untold delays in ocean going traffic and would not have offered the ideal solution of unimpeded flow of people and goods across the river.
A different solution was required. And the revolutionary concept of a Transporter Bridge was born. The concept was unheard of then and remains a rarity for bridges built even now. Designed by Alberto de Palacio, one of Gustave Eiffel's disciples, and built in 1893, Puente Colgante remains a marvel more than a century later.
So what exactly is a Transporter Bridge? The answer lies in the term “Hanging Bridge” because that is just what the bridge does. It hangs. More specifically, people and goods are transported across the river by a gondola suspended by cables from the steel structure that towers 61 meters or slightly over 200 feet above and across the river. In a mere 90 seconds, the gondola transports 6 cars and 200 people from one side of the Nervión to the other. And it does so without obstructing the passage of even the largest ship.
Fun Facts: Since its completion in 1893, the Vizcaya Bridge has transported approximately 650 million people – the equivalent to the population of the European Union and the USA combined. If you were to add up all of those trips, the total distance traveled by the gondola is equal to that of 31 trips around the Earth!
And for the rest of the day? Getxo, located on the right bank of the Nervión by the Hanging Bridge, has traditionally been considered the “posh” side of the river. The town is characterized by large houses and elegant mansions built primarily between the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century. Take a walk along the “Path of the Grand Villes”, wander the town or perhaps amble down to either of Getxo’s two beaches closest to Vizcaya - Las Arenas and Ereaga and enjoy some well-deserved relaxation.
Elevators / lifts accessing the walkways at the top of the bridge open at 10am through 7pm (19.00) from November through March.
April through October the hours are 10am through 8pm (20.00) except for Friday and Saturday nights when evening hours are extended until 9pm (21.00).
July and August the hours are 9am through 8pm (20.00) except for Friday and Saturday nights when evening hours are extended until 9pm (21.00).
Admission for the Vizcaya Bridge Gondola: Pedestrian crossing on the gondola is 0.35€.
Admission for using the lifts to visit and cross the walkway at the top of the bridge: Adults: 7€; seniors and children aged 5 to 12: 5.6€; children under 5 years are free.
Tickets can be purchased on either side of the bridge.
The Vizcaya Bridge spans the River Nervión just after where the Bay of Biscay begins to flow into the river. The bridge also connects Getxo and Portugalete, two neighboring towns on either bank of the river. Both are about 12 kilometers / 7.5 miles north of Bilbao’s city center.
The Vizcaya Bridge, or Puente Colgante, translating into “Hanging Bridge” and how most people refer to it, is one of the world’s most unique bridges. The reddish steel structure is considered to be among Europe’s most important construction feats to come out of the Industrial Revolution. Listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site since 2006, the bridge serves as a monumental reminder of the area’s industrial past.
In the late 1800s, when the transporter bridge was constructed, the city of Bilbao was going through a period of growth fueled primarily by the ship building and mining industries. Ships packed with iron-ore would travel from Bilbao up the Nervión on their way to England. With an ever increasing amount of ocean going traffic, construction of a traditional bridge at the mouth of the bay would have been far too limiting, would have caused untold delays in ocean going traffic and would not have offered the ideal solution of unimpeded flow of people and goods across the river.
A different solution was required. And the revolutionary concept of a Transporter Bridge was born. The concept was unheard of then and remains a rarity for bridges built even now. Designed by Alberto de Palacio, one of Gustave Eiffel's disciples, and built in 1893, Puente Colgante remains a marvel more than a century later.
So what exactly is a Transporter Bridge? The answer lies in the term “Hanging Bridge” because that is just what the bridge does. It hangs. More specifically, people and goods are transported across the river by a gondola suspended by cables from the steel structure that towers 61 meters or slightly over 200 feet above and across the river. In a mere 90 seconds, the gondola transports 6 cars and 200 people from one side of the Nervión to the other. And it does so without obstructing the passage of even the largest ship.
Fun Facts: Since its completion in 1893, the Vizcaya Bridge has transported approximately 650 million people – the equivalent to the population of the European Union and the USA combined. If you were to add up all of those trips, the total distance traveled by the gondola is equal to that of 31 trips around the Earth!
And for the rest of the day? Getxo, located on the right bank of the Nervión by the Hanging Bridge, has traditionally been considered the “posh” side of the river. The town is characterized by large houses and elegant mansions built primarily between the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century. Take a walk along the “Path of the Grand Villes”, wander the town or perhaps amble down to either of Getxo’s two beaches closest to Vizcaya - Las Arenas and Ereaga and enjoy some well-deserved relaxation.
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